el peregringo

I began the Camino de Santiago today, starting from the Spanish town of Roncesvalles, just across the French border. I got a very late start since we had to drop the girls off at school and Ana had some business to conduct, so I didn’t actually set out with my documents from the pilgrim office until just before noon. It rained off and on again all day today, though there were a few breaks of sun when I was able to pull out the camera and get a few shots. I was able to do some audio recordings and I’ll get them online as soon as possible.

The path out of Roncesvalles is quite wooded and very nice. On occasion you will hear and/or see a few cattle or sheep grazing in adjacent clearings. I love the sound of the cowbells.

This section of the Camino is really tough–realistically, planning 22 km. the first day was optimistic, but I still managed to cover the distance in the 5 hours I had planned as an average over time. Some of the climbs were brutal, and given the weather, the mud on the path, and the slippery rocks, I was lucky to make the kind of time I did. The climbs were hard, but the descents were dangerous. With my left knee (plastic and metal as it is), I had to concentrate while going downhill to make sure I didn’t do any damage or twist anything.

This section of the road crosses three tributary rivers (of the Ebro) in separate valleys, and as such, there are three pretty tough climbs and associated descents. The descents are the worst and I really feel them in my calves and the front of my thighs…

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been taking training walks out of Pamplona along the Camino, and I’ve been very surprised to see the footwear in use among the pilgrims. Of course out of Pamplona, it’s all paved, but still, sandals and flip-flops seem a bit ridiculous. Apparently, the last climb before Zubiri, was too much for this pilgrim.

Given my late start, I was surprised to encounter any other pilgrims on the road at all, but as I was making the last big climb before Zubiri (climing to about 800 m. before the descent back down into the village), I passed three pilgrims moving pretty slowly. Once at roughly 800 m., the views down into the valleys were spectacular:

In the Alto de Erro pass, there was once an inn for pilgrims called the Venta del Puerto. Sadly, it’s now a cattle barn.

I shot these images because I thought the building was cool–and a bit sad. The cattle inside seemed quite happy. Only after arriving in Zubiri and pulling out the Gitlitz and Davidson book did I realize what it was that I had photographed.

Descending into Zubiri, I passed a Japanese couple walking and then a German couple resting at the entrance to the town. Zubiri has a wonderful old bridge, part of which is Roman, and part reconstructed during medieval times. Here are a couple of quick shots. Note the lack of mortar in the first image.

Arriving in Zubiri just before 6 pm, as I feared, both of the albergues were full, as well as the two pensiones in town. The Camino doesn’t actually go right through the town, but they do have street named after it…

I finally came to the Hostería Zubiri, despite the much higher cost, and was told there was only one room remaining, and that that one was reserved. However, the hotel policy was to hold reservations only until 6pm without pre-pay, and after a couple of beers, the hotel owner gave me the room. A hot shower later, and a connection to their wireless network, and I’m ready to go…