Day 3,4,5-Cathy’s View

The days are melding together and I seem to be behind in my blog. The rhythm of the days start with a wake-up at 6am ( sometimes earlier if early risers start to move), wash and brush, packup, breakfast sometimes and out the door around 7am before the sun rises. We have discovered that breakfast in the albergues is usually bread and jam with mediocre coffee. Our preference has been to start walking and find breakfast on the road. Even the local gas stations serve good coffee. If we are lucky we find a place early that has Tortilla Jamon y queso, if not we settle for a pastry and stop later for something more substantial. The path can vary from very groomed to rough and always up and down.

We walk until two or three in the afternoon, find an albergue, have a shower, handwash our clothes, have a nap, find dinner often with others, back to the albergue ( there is a curfew) and then usually to bed between 9 and 9:30. Our albergues cost anywhere from 5 to 16 euros and they are pretty comfortable. You do get used to sleeping with a variety of people, mixed genders and different nationalities. Most washrooms are co-ed and that sometimes leads to interesting situations. You lose any worry about what you look like when you wake up as everyone is in the same boat and no one worries.

Tauno met us in Pamplona and took us around the pincho bars. Pinchos are tapas which are delicious morsels. A glass of local wine and two or three pinchos and you have a wonderful dinner. In Spain there isn’t such a thing as bad wine and it is usually cheaper than water. We left Tauno and carried on our walk the next day . This took us past The Way of the Wind where it meets the Way of the Stars. Sounds high up doesn’t it? It was. And it truly was the Way of the Wind.

Did I mention I got my first blister? Just a little one on my toe. I think it is my badge of honour…. That could change.