Todays post is about a guy and his dog who we keep meeting along the way.
I first saw Muffin and Tobias at Orrison. We were having dinner and I looked out the window and there was a young man with a huge backpack tieing his dog to the fence while he came in and bought two bottles of water before going on into the evening with this dog. I wondered where they were going since there was only an hour of daylight left and no albergues until Roncevalles, another 5 or 6 hard hours away.
The next day heading up the mountain we stopped at a mobile van/cafe for a cup of coffee and end up sitting next to them. We are introduced. He is German and lives 10 km from where Cathy and I were born.
We were woken by barking. It sounded like Muffin. Tobias and Muffin were camped in the backyard. I remembered I had been carrying around a ball I found for him and went out in the dark to give e it to him just as Tobias lifted a scared Muffin into his arms. Muffin got freaked out in the dark by the donkey who lived next door.
He and his boyfriend had recently broken up so this trip was a last minute decision. Not only that he was about to start a new job, so finances dictated he would tent it. He had never camped before and he spent his first night wide-eyed listening to sheep and cow bells.
We ran into them again two days later. The day after the rainstorm. Tobias had a very wet night the night it poured. Muffin had to go out in the middle of the night and came back into the tent dripping wet and shook allover soaking everything in the tent. Tobias had to stay at a hotel that allowed dogs the next night. It was very expensive for him but they had a washer and a dryer and he could dry everything.
The next time we met him was up where ‘the path of the wind meets that of the Stars.’ We saw Muffin coming over the hill followed by Tobias and once again Muffin came running over and joined us for lunch.
We waved goodbye to them at 7 this morning. Tobias was waiting until a store opened at 9 to buy Muffin dog food.
Once again I thought we would lose them but this afternoon they turned up again. The albergue agreed to let Tobias stay in a bunk while Muffin slept in the adjoining courtyard where he could still see Tobias.
Kilometers walked: 18k
Highlight: Cathy falling out of her bunk
Food Highlight:
Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa 