The Tasty Pilgrim

There is so much to catch up on, now that I am one day behind with my stories. Anyway I stayed in the huge refugio near the cathedral in Pamplona. Very early in the morning people started to walk to the toilets and showers banging the doors. Got up at half past six and left at 7.15 hours. Stopped at a bar for some breakfast, orange juice and a pain chocolat and a large coffee.

Left the town via the university campus and the walking was o.k. after having packed both my feet. After a pleasant walk past the village of Cizur Menor I crossed the road to a bar on the left. I had stopped there before, very clean toilets. Had a conversation with the old man behind the bar. Then the door opened and the three Scandinavian ladies stepped inside.  They had seen me getting in there and were also in for a coffee.

Later on I will tell you two of them are witches, bringing me someone from a previous life. But there is more on my list, such as the dogs , marathon runners etc. This is a very special day. On the starting page you see a photo of a series of statues of pilgrim high in the mountains. It is the Gate of Pardon, if you cross it your sins on the Camino will be forgiven. So sorry but I have not committed any yet. You have to get across a considerable altitude within some ten miles. It is like the excercise in the gym, where the fitness instructors shouts UP UP UP UP .... It was so steep ! Lots of people tried to go too fast and were gasping for air.

Better walk slowly and take it step by step, or rather paso a paso. After four hours you get on the top and take photos, many photos. The witches were also there and we had a great laugh. Here we meet the first Spaniard with some business acumen ! He had driven up here with a small van and sold coffee and bocadillos. Must be the richest man on the mountain at the end of the walking season. He does not anyone to know that he is here, afraid that others will copy. Then it is steeply down and down and down all across rolling stones. Holy smoke ! This makes my heels hurt. But in the end I arrived down the mountain ridge and just walked on and on and on. Now again there was a fountain, to fill up the water bottle. At around three o´ clock I came to a nice restaurant with a terrace. Could eat a whole bear, so hungry was I. A large plate with eggs and bacon and fries and two large coffees. This made me recover my strength. Guess what, here are the witches again stepping inside ! After having sat down for one hour it was time to go on again. I still had to do some kilometers across countryside. Passed a nice refugio in a place called Obanas. But decided to soldier on. At five in the afternoon I arrived in Puente de la Reina. Got into the refugio annex hotel. They gave me a room of my own with hot showers. I peeled of my clothes and turned the shower as hot as possible. Then I stepped into bed for some sleep. In the large dining room there is a buffet from which you can choose.

I composed a large salad and then chose fish. Again the dish with fish is delicious, especially with a few glasses of wine. For desert I had fruit and took some yoghurt and a spoon to my room, meant for tomorow morning. Stepped into bed and instantly fell asleep, dreaming of witches and so on.

This morning I woke up at halfpast seven ! Felt refreshed and had breakfast upstairs and started out by nine.

On the TV I saw that it Madrid was covered in snow. Up here it would be no better. But is all in the game and as pilgrim always survives in the end.

The Tasty Pilgrim