2012-09-09 Sunday

2012-09-09 Sunday

Roncesvalles / Zubiri

Camino Day 2. Paulo and I woke up when the alarm clock went off at 0600, and slowly crawled out of the bed, feeling very stiff. The preparation for the walk includes the smearing of the toes with Vaseline,  applying Second Skin on the tender or hot spots on the feet to prevent blisters, applying Body Glide to the bottom and sides of the feet, and putting everything back in the pack. 

We met up with Terry and Nancy at 0700 at the lobby and went across the street to the local bar breakfast; that's their scheduled opening time, but there was already a long line of pilgrims waiting to get in. It took a while, but we finally we were able to belly up to the bar and put our order of coffee with milk and toasted French bread with butter, which we ate quickly.  I also took one Aleeve for the muscle and joint pains. 

Paulo, Nancy, Terry and Erico, departing Ronscesvalles

We hit the trail at 0740, stiff at first, but then the pain killers kicked in and we were able to hit our stride. Lots of pilgrims on the trail, on weekends many Spaniards take to the Camino, on the few long and straight stretches we could see a long line of pilgrims ahead and behind us. The plan for the day is to see if we could reach Larrasoana,  27Km away. 

We walked in a group, sometimes in a single file, sometimes paired up, with the pairs changing, but always within sight of each other. Today's segment is much less strenuous than Yesterday's, with just one significant hill with steep ascend and descend, but it does not mean that it is easy, it's our second day and we are feeling all our muscles and joints. We started having short conversations with fellow pilgrims, we met people from all over the world. 

Another difference from Yesterday is that there are small villages every few kilometers. We stopped at around 1100 in one of the villages for a coffee break and when we were getting ready to leave Cathy showed up, Linda was left behind; Cathy was walking without her pack, having shipped it to their next destination. We chatted briefly with her and then took off, leaving her there to wait for Linda.

We keep bumping into the same people over and over, because we keep leapfrogging each other as we take breaks at different times and places. 

Close to Zubiri we saw a sign saying that the Albergue at Larrasoaña was closed  Sept 8-11; we had no choice but to change our destination to Zubiri, the next city with a place to stay beyond that is now Pamplona, but that is an additional 25 Km, there's no way we could make it to Pamplona today. Another consequence of this closing is that EVERYBODY now have to stop in Zubiri, and there is not enough lodging for all. We quickened up the pace and reached Zubiri at 1350, doing 21 Km in 6 hours and 15 minutes, not bad considering how sore we are. 

The Albergue was full, but we found a hostel with a room for 4 with private bathroom, it was the last room available. Lots of desperate pilgrims roaming the streets trying to find a place to stay. 

We booked dinner at the hostel for the 1930 seating because we do not have the energy to walk around town to find a better place to eat and most places are closed on Sundays anyways. Our room was large, with four beds instead of the usual bunk beads. The hostal offered laundry services and we quickly gave the receptionists our dirty clothes for washing and drying. By the way, a single person worked the reception, did the laundry, sold dinner tickets, and later helped the cook serve dinner and clean tables. 

We ended up having to go out to find a place to eat something to tide us over until dinner, but everything was closed; we found a bar/restaurant open but the kitchen had just closed, and the snack options were just a few bags of chips, we ended up ordering a few beers and ate a couple of bags of potato chips. 

Dinner was a 3-course meal, simple but satisfying. There was no place for the four of us to seat together, Paulo, Nancy and Terry sat at a long comunal table and I set on a table for four with 3 60-something guys from Netherlands who were doing the camino together (in fact one was Dutch, one was Swiss and one was American, but they all lived in Netherlands and were close friends) , I kept bumping into them later on on the Camino.