Category Archives: My First Camino

We got up early and were walking by 6:45 – in the dark.  Even so, we were almost the last to leave the albergue.  Again. Sleeping in, while sleeping in a room of 16 beds is impossible especially when the door  squeaks loudly every few minutes after 5 o’clock as another person left. Why can’tContinue reading “Day 13 Tosantos to Agés Oct 11”

Last night was very different. We are staying in the 15th C. church, up a small stone staircase past a window which showed the two feet thick walls and in a room @20’x 30′ built onto the side of the church and into the attic. There are 14 thin mattresses on the floor. In theContinue reading “Day 12 Grañon to Tosanto, Oct 10”

We stayed at a good albergue last night- only two beds per room and no bunk beds! Paradise. The bedspread was a bit scratchy, but I tried to stay in my smooth sleeping bag. The sad story is this morning I stumbled into someone else’s room (it was empty) and saw clean sheets. Back inContinue reading “Day 11 Azofra to Greñon Oct 9th”

The albergue was a ramshackle house with an entrance patio, an entrance hallway stuffed with a beer fridge, a bench for taking off shoes, a wall of shoes, a corner of walking sticks, three doorways, a podium and people entering and leaving. One door led to a dining room with a massage table. This room,Continue reading “Day 8 Los Arcos to Logroño Oct 6”

We had good intentions to start early. We were all out of bed by 6:30 but somehow things dragged. This was our third or fourth day that we have used the luggage transfer services. For a couple of days, we used a big white garbage bag which Linda and I stored clothes and other itemsContinue reading “Day 10, Ventosa to Azofra, Oct 8”

We (Mats, Linda and I) started early enough to walk in the moonlight, although being in the city with Venus behind us and the moon high in front isn’t quite ideal. And, we only walked in the moonlight far enough to find a cafe/bakery open for breakfast. Inside the café, we found Lisa and EmilyContinue reading “Day 9, Logroño to Ventosa, Oct 7”

We decided to use the luggage transfer service.  Rather than using a water bottle, my backpack has a flexible water bladder that slips down into a pocket at the back and has a hose that goes out the side of the pack and dangles down in front. The hose makes it easy to drink, justContinue reading “Day 7, Estella to Los Arcos, Oct 5”

The top priority for today was to buy a new pair of hiking shoes. I couldn’t wear mine anymore, the blisters on the inner side of both feet were too sore and wearing them made them worse.  I also did not want to risk creating new blisters by overusing my sandals so we opted forContinue reading “Day 6 Puente la Reina to Estella Oct 4”

Linda and I climbed the hill into the ramparts of the walled city in the early morning light and stopped to look at the view across the wide valley and over to the ridge that we suspected we would be climbing then we entered the old city and followed the scallop shells in the cobblestonesContinue reading “Day 5 Pamplona to Puente la Reina Oct 3”

Along with Mats and Brad, we shared a room with Santiago, a young man from Brazil whom we met walking alone in the wet the day before, and two other men. I still haven’t adjusted to the new time zone so I am not getting as much sleep as I would like but hey, myContinue reading “Day 4 Zubiri to Pamplona”