Happy Hour

There's not much going on in Los Arcos, unless its Friday night between 8 & 10.  It's a town wide happy hour where all seven bars offer a glass of wine or beer with a pincho for 1.5e. 

One of the things people remember and mention most often about the Camino is the two-headed fountain that pours both water and wine. 

I learned two things about that fountain:

1) it's in a spot that most people pass at around 9:00 am. 

2) it was out of wine when I passed it at around 10:30am. 

Just Posting To Say Hello

I'm just tired. Not much to say. I gave the URL for the blog to some of my fellow pilgrims so now I can't really cant talk about them. Not that I would anyway of course. 

But check out this ancient roman road. It's weird to think that I'm complaining about the walking comfort of a road that's lasted 2000 years. 

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than Today

As nice as the Le Puy route was, it didn't have a stage that was as spectacular as today's walk from Pamplona to Puente la Reina. 

As much as I've raved about Pamplona, I'd only seen the eastern part of town. This morning started at my hostel near the Plaza del Castillo and proceeded out of town to the west. It took about five km to clear the suburbs and then the day's objective became clear, the Alto del Perdon (Hill of Forgiveness). It's one of the most famous spots on the Camino, where there's a sculpture of pilgrims headed west and leaning into the wind. 

The Camino crosses a line of about 50 wind turbines that run along the ridge from north to south, about 3/4 of the way to the top. The climb is about 1000 feet and there is a beautiful panoramic view back to Pamplona from the top. 

The view west is equally dramatic. In the 60 days I've hiked this year it is the only spot that gives a clear of both the days origin and destination. It's a little hard to describe but if you look at the white smoke in this next picture, Puente la Reina is just under the second of two horizontal green streaks, or the first under the horizon. 

Uncle Bob and Margo asked for some windmill pictures so here you go!

I walked up a few more feet above the Camino to get this shot of the pilgrim sculpture with turbines in the background. 

 And here's a close up. 

I Forgot How Much I Love Pamplona

I'm staying at a hostel that's right near "Hemingway Kabob and Pizza". Not sure whether its where Hemingway went for kabobs and pizza or if he owned the place. 

Ive never been west of here so tomorrow is a new camino frontier for me. I'm excited!

Belgians Bearing Beer

I'd blame Belgian buddies Nico and Fred for being a bad influence, but really I knew better. At least I should have. Yesterday, 8km into the climb up from SJPdP, after a climb of 400 meters in 3km Graham and I arrived at a nice rest stop where they sold refreshments. It was about 11am and out on the deck were these two guys starting on their second beers and lighting up cigarettes. Given the fact that they still had 600 meters to climb in the next 8km, I was impressed. 

I was taking a break on the way from Roncesvalles to Zubiri this morning when they walked by and recognized me from the terrace. 

  "You're from New York?!"

  "You're the guys from the terrace who were drinking beers and smoking cigs a                third of the way up the pass yesterday!?"

We talked a little more and joked about meeting at the next bar. A couple of hours later, at about the halfway point of the 22km walk, I was walking with Doreen from Sweden, who carries a backpack and three shopping bags - and  who do you think we see but Nico and Fred waving us in to have some beer for lunch. 

Decorum of course dictated that each person buy a round, so four beers and two hours later we were off for the final 11km of the day. 

During beerunch, we were joined by Graham and a friend of Doreen's. Thankfully, they were outside the circle of decorum.  As walkers, we dispersed almost immediately with Nico & Fred out front, with me, Graham and Doreen behind.   So anyhow, a couple of hours later Graham, Doreen and I had dispersed and I walked into Zubiri alone. 

To enter Zubiri from the Camino one crosses the Puente de la Rabia. The bridge got its name because apparently if an animal with rabies circles the central arch three times, it will be cured. At first I thought that sounded like a huge pile of crap but to circle that arch I'm pretty sure  you'd have to go into the river. And isn't that the biggest fear of a rabid animal?  

Anyway, I crossed the Puente de la Rabia and walked a few steps into the village square. There they were, Nico drinking a Mahou and Fred drinking a Heineken. Belgians. 

Yeah AMERICA!!

I'm with my peeps. The family whose names I forgot (mom, dad, late teenage son) from North Carolna, Graham the  commodities trader from Baltimore, Terry from Wisconsin, John from California, Marcia from Alaska. We are the USA Camino Class of St. Jean Pied de Port: October 6th 2013!  I talked their ears off. 

I heard that the easier route from SJPdP included 6km on the side of a busy road. I had enough of that on the Tours route so I opted for the high road regardless of the weather. As for the weather, it didn't snow but aside from that it was foggy and once we got up above 1200m it was pretty cold (below 10c). There was a momentary break in the clouds up toward the top of the route and even if I couldn't get it on camera it was a pretty spectacular sight - of SJPdP 1100m below and 22km away. You have to look close, under that little break in the clouds. 

I'm really getting a kick out of being in the same places as in May for a couple days. Since Ive got the same iphone as last time the place I'm at tonight remembers my wifi password, which makes me feel special in a weird sort of way. 

To Make Sure I Won't Ever Need A Sleeping Bag ...

I bought a sleeping bag - the cheapest one I could find. I'm lying in it now and it seems comfortable enough. 

The walk into SJPdP was partly cloudy the whole way - up until the Pilgrim's Gate was practically in sight. The sky opened up with a torrential downpour that managed to soak me to the skin within a half km. 

In May I made a post about the 'running of the lambs' in a town called Gramarth. A big herd of them marching through down the street to get their haircuts. Just as I was remembering that scene it recreated itself, only this time the had just recently been shorn. This picture was taken about 200 meters from the one in May!

Not sure why but I'm kind of nervous about doing the actual Spanish Camino. 

SJPdP reminds me of the first day at a new school in a cliquey kind of way. I probably feel that way because last time I was here I was part of the cool kid clique; the three or four of us who had walked from Le Puy. 

Since my route merged with the Le Puy route I have had a chance to socialize with some fellow walkers, all from Germany. If for no other reason I'm glad to have walked the Tours route because I can say with utter surety and conviction that it sucks compared to the Le Puy route!  I'm glad for other reasons as well though. The Tours route has such a wealth of important history. I've been in at least three towns that claim to host John the Baptist's head. The Germanicus / Tiberius arch in Saints is the kind of thing you won't find on the Le Puy route. 

I had always thought that Leonardo Davinci lived in Florence, or somewhere in Italy but as it turns out, he lived and died in a town just outside of Tours. It was really great being an American up around Tours. Patton liberated that part of the country from the Nazis. So, while the Le Puy route has gorgeous scenery and is pretty much unchanged from how it was a thousand years ago, the Tours route is a completely different experience.