I discovered that I am not as invincible as I thought I was. Probably no surprise to anyone who knows me. But I really thought I could hike a dozen or more miles and still post a bunch of witticisms backed up by photos at the end of each day all while sipping local wines at the nearest bistro and chatting in multiple languages with other perigrinos.
Well, here’s the truth. We aren’t the last to drag into an albergue at the end of a days hike. But others all claim to have walked twice as far. We know this is probably true because we are passed constantly while on the paths. Nancy just showed me a chart from her Camino guide book. It showed the speed in km/ hr of Fast walkers (5), Average walkers(4), and Leisurely walkers(3). I said “what do they call us at (2)?” She said “we didn’t make the chart.”
Obviously we still have learning to do. But for now we’ll settle for a lot of healing. We completed 42 1/4 miles today or 68 kilometers. We are carrying full packs. Nancy’s started out at 16 pounds and mine at 21. We add to that the weight of two liters of water to each of our CamelBak hydration bladders. Plus a couple of apples, maybe a log of bread, a pound of trail mix, or a couple of cookies. Just the standard essentials but our bodies are still getting used to the weight. So speed while walking and distances per day depend mostly on two key things.
Here’s number one. More than half of the walkers, the really fast ones, have their backpacks sent ahead to their next albergue. They walk with mini backpacks that hold a couple bottles of water and an apple or two. It only costs €5 each day to do that and we’ve thought about it but so far haven’t.
Number two is health and Injuries on the paths. Bruised knees from long downhills are really slowing us down. Nancy is showing signs of bruising in her left knee so we stopped today for a brace. My right knee swelled up about double with an icky purplish cast to it so for the last two days I’ve worn the one brace we took with us. Helps a lot and I hope the Spanish one we bought at the Farmacia works as well for Nancy. I destroyed my best knee on a very long steep downhill into Zubiri, thus the brace. Nancy’s knees were damaged too though not as severely at that point. But some nasty paths since then have taken their toll. We’ve seen other old ducks walking with braces on both knees.
So, where have we hiked these last three days while incommunicado? Well the last post I think indicated that we would try to make Zubiri from the Abbey at Roncevalles. We did make it there after a long day of really tough trails. The path meandered up and down, up and down, with the ups tough and the downs steep. Rain had washed out most of the leveling gravel used to build the trails. That left extremely rugged bare rock that was striated at an angle to the trail leaving rows upon rows of rock teeth 4 to 6 inches tall about every two to three feet. This required every footstep to be assessed in advance. So here we are with our walking sticks carefully plying our way through the jaws of hell when we’re overtaken by three college age girls chattering up a storm in Spanish just pertly flitting along with barely a glance at the ground. “Nancy, did you see that?” She said, “Knew you wouldn’t miss those bikini’s” To which I said, “No, I mean yes, but I meant they just flew by and here we are . . . never mind.” We stayed at a Pension in Zubiri that night. Meaning a private room with its own bath I guess because that’s what it was. Very nice and welcome after two days of albergue’s.
My knee was useless after the trail to Zubiri so I put the brace on and next morning we headed in the direction of Pamplona. We made it as far as Larrasoaña that day, only about five kilometers. It was toaster hot and my knee did better but going down hill was painful. We checked in at St Nicole albergue to cool off and recuperate some. This was just five km from Roncevalles. Now, Spanish people don’t seem to know that air conditioning was invented back there in the latter Bronze Age or something. We have yet to see A/C advertised. We even tried to buy a fan in St Jean Pied de Port without success. So our cool off and recoup plan was foiled by the design of the albergue. A hot clay tile roof just below our south facing room radiated oven like temps straight into our room. That was enhanced by a concrete patio just below that that had heatwaves dancing on it like forest sprites. Nancy went to wash clothes. Mine smelled like tossing them in the trash was a better option but they came out fine. Well while Nancy was busy I put my frazzled body in the lower bunk and in spite of the heat slept for three solid hours. Nancy came back with the laundry looking like she had been rotisseried for that same length of time.
We went across the street to a bar/grocery store/swap meet. The Senor there knew English just enough to be effective. He dazzled us with freshly nuked TV dinners that were surprisingly very good. Then a bottle of local wine that must have been 50 proof because I swear Nancy grew two more eyes after the second glass. Nancy wasn’t rotisseried anymore. Just stewed. Senor brought out a tomato from his neighbors garden and wanted to know if we wanted to try it, organically grown and all. Must have been good organics because it was the size of a football. He sliced it and cubed it put olive oil, salt and pepper, and some kind of spice on it. And Oh My God it was good. So we had more wine and found ourselves earnestly discussing the philosophy of female hikers. We found our room across the street. No easy task at that point and napped.
Then it was communal supper time and we all tried to chat in four different languages. I was very happy I had learned English somewhere because almost everyone knows a little of that. I tried talking to two young men from Germany because I had two semesters of German in high school. However the three words I remeber from it didn’t carry the day so I listened into Nancy and the Swedish women on the other end of the table. I discovered I couldn’t understand Nancy either so I just stuck to the wonderful 4 course gourmet dinner, done family style.
It did turn cool. I know because when our alarm went off at six it was cool.
We re-packed our backpacks and continued on to Pamplona. Yup, the home of ‘run with the bulls’ and Bull Fighting. We were warned that it would be even hotter today. Nancy said maybe let’s just go get a bottle of wine and move in with Senor! Ahh well, we didn’t and the hike was long, and hot, and exhausting but here we are in Pamplona. The photo at the top of this post is Nancy trying to stave off heatstroke at a fountain near Catedral de Santa Maria which is within an ancient walled city called Mirador Caballo Blanco with working draw bridge and all. That’s where we are now. In, get this, air conditioned comfort.
We had walked in 35 degree centigrade heat for many many miles and were close to collapse when we saw the sign advertising A/C. Then we saw it was an albergue and knew we had found a roost. We checked in and to our delight they had sleeping capsules instead of bunk beds, providing privacy, storage, and comfort. Hard to describe so won’t but Nancy said it feels like being on a Mars spaceship.
Not sure where the Camino will take us tomorrow.
Quite the adventure you two are on. Glad to get the update. I’d ship the backpacks ahead – save your knees!
HiCheryl,
Thanks. We’ll see how our bodies are when we get up this morning. But sending ahead assumes we will make it to a predefined and reserved albergue. That would make us nervous I guess. Also we want to get our bodies used to the weight.
Glad you’re following our adventure and wish you and Dave were here.
I was wishing I was there…. until I read about the condition of the early trails. I was worried when I wasn’t hearing from you, and worried more now that I have. But I know how much inner strength you both have, and the depth of the struggle can deepen the experience. Still, I wish a few days of easy pathways to rest and heal.
Yeah, that makes sense. This way you can control your time.