As noted previously, today’s walk was a short one to test out our gear and make sure we are okay carrying everything again. Tomorrow will be similar. We are also still getting over jet lag so starting slow is wise. We will pick up the pace and mileage on day three. 

The plan was to get up with the sun around 8:00am, pack everything, have a small breakfast, walk 10.7km to Zariquiegui, have a bite and a rest, then walk off the Camino trail to Astráin to catch a bus back to our room in Pamplona. Add in the 2km to Astráin and the 900m from the bus depot to our hotel, it’s not a bad start. The packs were no problem for either of us.  The sun was a bit intense later in the walk but we had no bad surprises so that is a winning day.

We met lots of pilgrims along the way.  There were only a few though that got much more than the usual “Hola”, Buen Camino”, and / or “Buenos días”.  The first pilgrims we chatted with were a Danish couple who live in Panama. They were walking from St. Jean Pied de Port to Leon.  Because they were walking a full day, they will likely be a day ahead of us all the way to Leon unless they take a rest day. They looked pretty fit even though they were a little slower. I think they are still getting over the effort to cross the Pyrenees.  

Another pilgrim we chatted with was from Maine. He was I bit older than us, definitely slower but he looks like the type of pilgrim who doesn’t mind arriving at an albergue at 6:00pm and still makes it to the communal pilgrim meal at 7:00pm. He won’t stop short of Santiago either. We actually met him three times today as we passed him at the beginning of the walk, then again about 20 minutes later when we had to stop and reset my GPS watch, finally again after we had stopped for a while after our delayed breakfast.  The Camino rule is that after the third “buen Camino” to the same person, you just have to talk with your new friend. It turns out that the Maine man has walked a  Camino before and he didn’t need any advice from me about the tough climb and descent he was in for today.  I guess he made it over the Pyrenees, he should be able to handle the Alto de Perdón.  He is not booking any beds in advanced he just walks until he is tired. That was how we did the first two Camino walks so I am impressed by him.  

Finally, we did also chat with a young girl at the laundromat back in Pamplona.  Somehow I was the authority on how the machines work. She had had a bedbug scare though so she really wanted the hottest water setting. She wanted to melt the little vermin if it really was a bedbug.  She also confirmed that the climb over the Pyrenees four days ago was a doozy of a day (in the bad sense). They were always in a cloud so they saw no great vistas. Also, the freezing rains were whipping down at the summit, similar to what we experienced a few years ago.  That is a tough day for unprepared pilgrims. 

I should also mention another group we met up with briefly.  They were about 60 high school students along with their teachers / chaperons.  Once I saw them ahead of us, I dreaded catching up with them. I expected loud, rowdy kids causing havoc. As it turned out, we only caught up to most of them when we reached Zariquiegui. To my surprise, they were very respectful, mostly at a reasonable decibel level and not taking over the only village bar / albergue at that little village.  It looked like they were waiting for their bus which would likely deliver them to a local school where they would sleep on the gym floor. It’s a Spanish style field trip.

Tomorrow, the first bus leaves for Astráin at 10:am so we will take a taxi there to do our second “wake up and gear test” short day. It’s a tough one though. We will finish the climb over the famous Alto de Perdón and then deal with the steep rocky descent toward Puente la Reina. 

That’s it for today. Sorry but I forgot to take photos. I’ll try harder tomorrow.  Peace y’all and if George is reading this to Leo and Stella at bedtime, we love you all and we’ll see you soon.