CAMINO DE SANTIAGO - Week Two
MONDAY 05 MAY 2025
This is a page from a twelfth century manuscript called the Codex Calixtinus. It was written to provide tips and help to Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. It was sort of a twelfth century Fodor's Guide through Spain.
I included it here because it also has a prayer in it for the Catholic pilgrims. I am not Catholic, but a good, honest prayer to God that comes from a person's true heart is what I believe He is always waiting to hear from His children. This is a translation from the original Latin and is in my Pilgrim's passport:
God, You called upon your servant Abraham from Ur in Chaldea watching over him in all his wanderings, and guided the Hebrew people as they crossed the desert. Guard these your children who, for the love of your Name, make a pilgrimage to Compostela. Be their companion on the way, their guide at the crossroads, their strength in weariness, their defense in dangers, their shelter on the path, their shade in the heat, their light in the darkness, their comfort in in discouragement, and the firmness of their intentions; that through your guidance, they may arrive safely at the end of their journey and enriched with the grace and virtue, may return to their homes filled with salutry and lasting joy.
Amen
That prayer is over 900 years old. Even if you are not a Pilgrim, you could substitute Walk through life for pilgrimage to Compostella and the prayer is as valid today at home as it has been for Pilgrims for nine centuries.
I am starting the walk this morning. I have read this prayer again and it has spoken to my heart. I have already been praying for the Pilgrims on their journey here in Spain and regular people at home just going through life. I believe that God answers all true and honest prayers that we pray to Him. It may not always be the answer we want to hear, but I believe it is always the answer that completes a portion of the plan God has for each of us.
My hotel for last night was built as a house in 1720 and there are only six rooms. It was called the Plan B. There is a hostel just up the street from the Plan B and, no joke, I had planned to stay there. When I went inside the hostel, it was about 80 degrees and I left. The Plan B had one room available and got it. I guess I was not the first person to Use Plan B!
I left the hotel this morning at 06:15. I had originally planned to leave at 05:30, but it was raining hard and I wanted to try to let it clear up a bit. When I went out the door if my hotel it was about 50 or so degrees and the rain had slacked up. I went down the main Street in Saint Jean Pied de Port and through the fortress gate that once guarded the city. This little town still has a wall around the original buildings and a gate to keep invaders out. Once out of the gate, I walked up the same road we had traveled yesterday by bus to get to town.
My goal for today was to get over the Pyrenees mountains and back into Spain. I walked up and up. The rain had mostly stopped by about 7:30 or 8:00. I was thinking to myself that the sun was going to come out and it would be beautiful. NOPE, THAT WAS WRONG. As I'm gained a bit of altitude, the warmer moist air temperature was mixing with the cold air and pretty soon I was walking in the clouds! You could only see about ten feet in any direction. Then the wind began to blow. It was gusting to about 30 miles an hour and about 15 to 20 sustained. On this leg of the trip, when you finally get to the top, you have reached about 5,000 feet in altitude. The wind was still howling and the temperature had dropped into the lower forties. Curiously, the only thing that was really cold for me were my fingers. The wet and the cold made them numb. I reached the top right at noon. The top is also the border between France and Spain. There are no guards, just a cattle crossing built into the trail. The livestock up here basically roam free because there is so much open land. By 12:30 I had gotten below the cloud layer and if you were in the right places, there was very little wind.
The downhill side for me is always a little quicker to complete. I was down the Spanish side of the Pyrenees by 3:15. I then walked another one or two miles to the next villiage where I am staying tonight. I plan to go to bed very early.
If you are like me, you have always heard of the French people eating snails. I understand it now. They are everywhere!
Check out this dude! He is about four inches long.
That was my Monday.
TUESDAY, 06 MAY 2025
I started my walk this morning in Burguete Spain. It is a farming villiage that raises sheep, cows and hay, wheat, and dairy. These are my people. There are literally miles of mountainside where the livestock roam and eat. Think of the opening scenes of The Sound of Music, that is what it looks like. Curiously, there are not many fences. The head cow and the head sheep (I have no idea how they are chosen) wear bells around their necks and their friends just follow along as they graze the days away. Both the cows and sheep seem to be larger here than their American cousins by a bunch. As I am walking along the path, I can hear the bells at different places on the hillside. Each one has a different tone. I guess both the livestock and the owners know who owns what.
Today's hike is not nearly as demanding as I the one I had yesterday. First off, it is just sprinkling on and off with the passing clouds. The hike today is also much more flat. I am for that. Yesterday on the downhill portions I aggravated the IT band on my left knee. It is better today, but it needs some more normal hiking to let it rest. Today is that day. The length of this section is also a couple of kilometers shorter than yesterday. That also helps. Finally, I have some RockTape. It is made for rock climbers. You can use it like an Ace Bandage, IT tape, or even blister protection. I am going to tape my knee after I have a shower.
I am staying at a hostel in Zubieri, the town at the end of today's section. I am sleeping on a bunk bed. As of this writing, I have no one above me. That could change before they close. I really have not slept in a bunk bed since I started college 40 years ago. I have ear plugs so I am set.
This hostel has a WELL in the registration section of the building. It is about five feet across, and the water is about 12 or 15 feet below the rim. There is a sheet of what looks like bullet proof glass over the hole. I guess this building is old or they just built over the well. Either way it is cool.
I am also eating here tonight. The menu is pork ribs and peppers. I can enjoy that.
WEDNESDAY, 07 MAY 2025
Last night's meal was very delicious. The first course was a mixed green salad. I am not normally a salad eater, but it smelled good and I thought I would give it a try and see. The dressing was an olive oil based recipe that was seasoned with black pepper and salt. There was homemade bread as well. Next, we had a rice cake with a tomato sauce on it. I think maybe the rice cake had been fried or baked a bit to hold it together. The tomato sauce was not like spaghetti sauce. It was again made with olive oil, tomato sauce, and some spices I could not identify. It was good as well. Then we had split pea soup. I confess I passed on the soup. I don't like thick soup at all. The main course came next. When I checked into the hostel, I was offered the choice of either fish or pork ribs. I went with the pig. The ribs had been braised and were very tender. Along with it were fried potatoes and some red bell peppers that had been cooked. I think they had been steamed. Finally, dessert was gellato. I got my bed, that supper, and breakfast for thirty eight dollars. That stay was the best yet.
When I left the hostel I immediately turned right and started walking through town. I should have turned left. After a quarter of a mile I realized I was going the wrong way. The town was full of hikers and no one was around. I turned around and right back by the hostel and was on my way. Almost immediately I came upon a very large plant of some kind. I think it may have been a concrete plant or a gravel yard, but whatever it was, it had a lot of moving parts and I would like to have seen the inside. I love plant tours.
Today's walk was pretty flat. I am taking care not to re-aggrivate my knee problem from yesterday. It is better this morning. My plan is to go very slowly on the downhill portions of the walk. I find that if I plant my poles before I step with my left foot, the poles take the shock and it does not seem to make my knee hurt. The only problem is that it is very slow going down hills. That is ok as I am not on any schedule.
Down a hill and a walk through the woods and I came upon a couple from Australia. They were walking through an old neighborhood, looking at all of the buildings. The man told me they were photographing interesting doors. Knock yourself out, dude.
Just past the neighborhood with the apparently very interesting doors, the trail turned and began to run beside a river. The river was not too wide, but it had a lot of water in it. I walked a mile or so beside the river until I came to the next villiage. The trail crossed the river and immediately there was a little restaurant / bar kind of place. There was no indoor seating. It was all out on a deck by the river. It was about ten thirty a.m. and I stopped for a break. I got a Coca Cola and a little croissant that had been filled with some kind of vanilla cream. Curiously, it is hard to find places with ice. Here the Coke was cold, but there was no ice in the glass. Also, there are no fountain drinks. It is bottle or can only.
Back on the trail, I walked up for a while through the woods and then came to a very old church and maybe a monastery in the middle of the woods. I suppose that before roads, the trail was the main thoroughfare. Just across the trail from the front door of the church was a watering trough that had iron rings attached so you could tie your horse and let it drink while you were inside.
Another mile or so down the trail was another church that was under some repair. All of these churches are at least 300 hundred years old. The trail turned left beside the church and back down the hill. Now I was walking by the same river, but just on the other side. The trail ran around a large field of some kind of grass. The closest thing I can relate to it is Johnson grass. It looked a lot like that, except the stem was not as big. When I say the field was large, I mean it was huge. I would say it was probably a half mile by a half mile. That grass had been sowed in the field. It didn't come up voluntarily. I am thinking it is going to be hay in about a month or six weeks. Incidentally, the farms around here use round bales. The difference is that these round bales are individually wrapped and completely sealed. I have seen at home people wrapping all of their bales together in a kind of tube so the fresh hay heats up. With the individual bales here, the result is the same, but they use less storage space because the bales are stacked up high.
After another couple of hours on the trail, I reached the outskirts of Pamplona and the newer part of the city. I walked a couple of miles through the new city until I reached the walls of the old city. Originally, the entire city of Pamplona was contained inside a fortress in order to fend off the Moors. Today, you enter the city like everyone has done since 1552. You cross the draw bridge which lets you into the outer ring and then through the main gate into the city. The gate into the city could be closed so that if the drawbridge was breached, the invaders would then be trapped. And by the way, this drawbridge is not for show. Cars coming into Pamplona drive across it even today.
A short walk up the hill got me to the alburgue at which I am staying tonight. I am showered and clean, sitting on my bed. The bunks are configured like old sleeper cars on trains. There is a curtain across the front, a light, a compartment for your belongings and lockable storage beneath. They are also clean!
THURSDAY, 08 MAY 2025
I stepped out of the alburgue at about 07:30 this morning. It was a great time to walk through the almost deserted streets of the old city in Pamplona. As I was walking, I started thinking I would like to eat something. I don't know about all of Spain, but the places where I have been all have bakeries that open at seven. I spotted one that had old motorcycles inside the store! This guy was getting my business. I opened the door and asked if he was open, and he waved me in with a big smile. I told him his bikes were beautiful. He had six in the shop. He also had a Harley Davidson sitting there that he rode a lot. He told me he rode it to the Cathedral of Santiago just like I was walking. I told him I liked his Harley and he smiled and said "look". The dude had a bald head and was wearing a cap. He turned around and took off his cap. That dude had a tattoo of that Harley engine on the back of his head and neck! I shook his hand and told him it was wonderful. He grinned and asked where I was from. When I told him the US and Georgia, he said "Oh, Atlanta!" I said almost, but not quite. He let me take a picture of his head. Here it is:
I left there and walked on toward the bridge that let's you out of the city. I crossed the bridge and started away from Pamplona. As an aside, I would recommend anyone who is coming to Spain to take a couple of days and explore old Pamplona.
I walked about a quarter of a mile and found a hiker (Pilgrim) sitting on a bench with four guys who also were Pilgrims talking to her. It was a bit problematic. She was from Taiwan and they were speaking what I think was French and they were all speaking at once and loudly. The problem was the girl was having a major nose bleed. She had a napkin or a paper towel and it was soaked. As I passed by I saw that the girl was just holding the napkin to her nostrils. I turned around and waded into the crowd and told her to pinch her nose just below the bone and lean her head back. One of the guys produced another napkin for her. I told her to stay that way for a few minutes and the nosebleed should stop. She said thank you and off I went.
Today's section was about fifteen or so miles. The track was uphill, but not too steep because the duration of the climb was about five miles. I guess the terrain around here is like a series of bowls placed next to each other. The high points at the lip of the bowl are narrow and just about the time you get to the top of the lip, you start back down into the next one. All of the insides of those "bowls" are planted in wheat. There are literally square miles of wheat. The Pilgrims walk around the edges of the fields to get from one side to the other.
Yesterday I was writing about the grass that was planted in the field and I did not know what it was. This morning it hit me. It is young wheat! This epiphany hit me between the eyes as I left Pamplona and waded into the WHEAT FIELDS. Sometimes it takes a minute for me to get a tally on stuff.
As I am writing this, someone has a radio on to a Spanish news station. They are announcing that a new Pope has been elected by the conclave in Rome. All the churches here in Puente La Reina are ringing their bells in celebration.
After about five hours, I reached the lip of the biggest bowl yet. At that lip is the Alto del Perdon Pilgrim sculpture.
Apparently it is consistently windy here an probably around thirty wind turbines are also on the lip. If you have never been near one, the wind turbines are huge. Most of them were turning today. A few were still and I wondered if they could be cut off or powered less if demand did not require all to turn at once. As I started down into the next bowl, I heard the sounds coming from the turbines change. Sure enough, about half of them had been turned off. This was just after noon.
The trail coming down from the sculpture was pretty steep. I did not want to aggrivate my knee again so I went very slowly. As I was walking into the bowl, I noticed these big piles of river rocks at various places along the trail. People apparently think these piles are kairns and start piling even more rocks on the big pile. These rocks are going to be used to fill the ruts in the trail. They have nothing to with kairns! It took more than an hour to get to the bottom of the next bowl. This field was growing more wheat and some kind of flowers that look like the flowers the English wear on their lapels on Remberance Day in November. It looked like a red poppy.
Once on flat ground, I made up some time and finished this section at about two thirty. It was hot and I was tired, but I had made it to Puente La Reina.
Friday, 09 May 2025
Today started early as I was out the door and walking by 07:00. I spent Thursday night at the municipal alburgue in Puente La Reina. It cost nine Euros. For the nine Euros you get a clean bed, and hot shower, the chance to wash clothes and the opportunity to talk to friends or make new ones, or not.
I had not gone 200 yards when I accidentally pulled the road tip off of one of my trekking poles. I was passing over some kind of grate in the street and let the tip get pulled off the pole when I stuck it in the grate. No my poles go "click/clunk", "click/clunk" when I am walking on pavement. I will either buy another tip or take the other one off. That drives me crazy.
If you have seen The Way with Martin Sheen, the scene in the movie where he sits on the side of a bridge and his backpack falls into the river was shot in Puente La Reina. I crossed that bridge this morning.
I think I crossed a total of three bridges today in my walk to Estella. The one in the movie was the best.A few miles out of Puente La Reina I crossed under a canal. How, you ask does one cross under a water filled ditch. Easy when the ditch is fifty feet in the air. I do not know where it is coming from or where it is going, but I think it is cool.
As has happened a couple of times this week, it made a wrong turn and had to backtrack. I had to do it again this afternoon, but today was a little different. As I was retracing my steps through one of the little villages where the Camino winds through the beginning of wine country, an old man was coming down the street in a very old Citroën. He backed into a parking spot an quickly motioned for me to stop. When I did, he used his finger to draw a map in the air to get me back to the Camino. I thanked him, and smiled and pointed to his car. He smiled and again used his fingers to tell me it was fifty years old. Car people are the same all over the world. You know them anywhere.
I bought myself a knee brace today from the nicest lady in a farmacia a couple of blocks from where I am staying. My knee is better, but the farther into the day it gets, the more it hurts. I have been taping it, but it needs more. I went into her shop and pointed to a mannequin wearing what I wanted she said " Buen Camino " and smiled at me. I smiled at her and said "Yep"! She had several models from which to choose and I picked out one, and she measured my leg for the size. She showed me how to put it on correctly and the relief was immediate. The cost was worth every nickle.
Tomorrow there is a one hundred percent chance of rain, thunder, and lightning. I am going to take a zero day to rest my Camino knee and wash my clothes. The weather is supposed to begin to clear Sunday and then be nice some next week. Through this afternoon, I have walked 69.5 miles.
SATURDAY, 10 MAY 2025
I want to explain how a typical day goes for me on the Camino. I wake up at 05:30 or 06:00 and begin to pack my stuff and get on the Camino by 07:15 or so. I usually eat while I walk. Lately there have been some very good bakeries along the way. At about 10:30, I like to stop and rest and eat a snack. I seem to do better by eating small portions throughout my day instead of three big meals. It seems to even out the fill up / starve problem too. Lately I have been stopping for coffee at about noon. I must say I enjoy Spanish coffee. If coffee tasted like this in the U.S., I would drink it at home. By about 3:00 or so the day is about over for hiking. I get a bed, get a shower, type this blog, maybe post to Instagram and then I fall asleep.
Today was not a typical day. Like I said yesterday, I washed clothes, straightened up my gear and mostly laid on my bed resting. My Camino knee feels much better today. I hope it holds up tomorrow. The Camino gains a little altitude tomorrow on the 14 mile section. It also goes by the fountain that dispenses both water and wine. I will let you know how that goes!
