Uterga

This morning we started out at about 8:15am (note to self- start earlier). In total we walked about 12 miles with a significant elevation gain which took us through the windmill farms outside of Pamplona. Today’s walk took us through the University of Navarre and along a hard surface road that lead to gravel and dirt. The views looking back Pamplona were exceptional! What a beautiful city! The significant elevation gains needed for this segment are challenging. When combined with 85+ degrees it often felt beyond challenging! Fortunately there was a strong wind which helped keep us cool 💨

At the top of the mountain is a wonderful sculpture dedicated to pilgrims on the Camino!

After about 8 hours of hard hiking we came to Uterga which is a tiny village with two Alberges and nothing else except some very nice looking apartments. There are about 30 dormitory bunk beds and a couple of single rooms with a full bed. We took it! There were mostly English speakers at dinner and the pilgrim meal was terrific! Chris and I both enjoy the local Spanish Rioja wines! Tomorrow we’ll get an earlier start. Buen Camino! 😎

Rockin’ in Pamplona

Rockin’ Crowd in Pamplona

The nightlife in Pamplona included an excellent rock band that had everyone rockin’ in the plaza! It was so fun stumbling onto free entertainment after tapas. Buen Camino 😎

Exploring the Streets of Pamplona

Cathedral de Santa Maria

Pamplona is a wonderful town for exploring! It’s lively “vibe” is felt throughout the town. Our exploring led us to the Cathedral de Santa Maria where we joined the congregants in the Rosary and Mass. We also explored the Plaza del Castillo and most of the old town. Our evening concluded with an open air heavy metal band. They were pretty amazing! Tomorrow we’ll walk from Pamplona to Uterga. Buen Camino 😎

One of the oldest structures in Pamplona

Street Vibe

Madrid to Pamplona

We are now leaving Madrid and heading to Pamplona via the Renfe train at Atocha Station. The train trip is about 3 1/2 hours on a direct train (no transfers). Our stay in Madrid was wonderful if not too short. We’ll return to Madrid at the end of our travels. We are excited about this next phase of our Camino!

Final Preparations

This is one of the signs we’ll be watching for along the Camino

We are on the eve of leaving for Spain 🇪🇸 and the Camino de Santiago. For this type of travel, packing is basic, yet difficult. For all of us, our packing choices often include our fears. For the Camino, this is especially true. The Camino includes reflecting on our fears and returning to a more simple existence. Easier said than done but definitely doable 👍🏻 I’ll update you on how we did!

Good shoes and the Brierley Camino book are essentials

Estella (July 4, 2017)

First of all to our American friends…Happy 4th of July!  This is our second time not being in the US for the 4th and we must say that we miss our friends, bar-b-que, the beach, and the fireworks over the San Clemente pier! Here in Spain it’s Tuesday…that’s it.     We are writing this blog having a beer and watching children play in the main plaza in Estella.  

Probably the most important thing to pay attention to on the Camino is your feet.  I didn’t mention yesterday that our feet were majorly stressed as a result of the heat, the stones and shale, the uphills and, more importantly, the downhills.  Last night when we went to sleep a toe on my left foot was sore and red.  I thought it was nothing but when I awoke this morning my toe was completely swollen, red, and hot.  In addition it was painful to step on it.  Not a good start to the day!  We thought about what to do.  Given that the day ahead involved several uphills, downhills, and very hot walking for about 15 miles, we decided that we did not want to compromise our entire trip by further aggravating the foot.  One of the realities of the Camino is that once you start walking you are often on remote paths with very limited options for assistance and transportation should we encounter problems on the trail.  So the plan became…ice the foot…rest the foot…take public transportation to Estella…and spend the day really seeing the sites of Estella using my sandals instead of my hiking shoes.  In addition, we decided to get something to immobilize the toe for the walk to Los Arcos, hopefully, tomorrow.   This turned out to be an excellent decision because Estella is a town of about 14,000 with many exquisite churches dating back to the 11th century.  Typically on the Camino you start walking early in the morning, walk until mid to late afternoon, get to the next town, get settled, perhaps see a site or two, eat, prepare for the next day and then sleep.  Of course there are those who walk less, stop earlier, and see more depending on their time constraints.  The books written about the Camino often include point A to B to C explanations often leading to a Point A to B to C experience.  While the best books try to discourage this, it is easy to approach the Camino this way.  We have been guilty of this ourselves. Today we were able to take our time and leisurely enjoy Estella seeing several churches (my knees are sore), relaxing over a 2 hour lunch, having a beer in the early evening (and writing this blog), and going to the Pilgrim’s mass at 8 pm. 

Despite my comment about sore knees, the churches in Estella are worth a day and a few of them are right on the Camino.  We started exploring Estella by walking over a bridge and seeing children playing in the river.  The picture I took has an ethereal look to it with a ray from heaven.  We started at the Church of San Pedro de la Rua enjoying its 13th century arched door, a Baroque chapel, and the cloisters. Worth the walk up the hill!  Further on, we went to the Romanesque church of Santa Maria Jus Del Castillo which was a Jewish synagogue until 1145.  It stands at the foot of the castle of Belmecher.  The next stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which began construction in the 12th century and was finished during the 14th century.  While we could not go inside, the entrance door with the elements of the Passion was beautiful!  The church is just above a lovely spot overlooking the River Ega.  Our final stop in the early afternoon was the Church of Saint Michael.  The altarpiece of Saint Helena is from 1416.  Our Mass was at the Church of Saint John the Baptist which includes both Gothic and Romanesque architecture.  There was an incredible statue of the pilgrim on his way to Santiago.

Tonight there will be more icing of my toes and tomorrow taping and, hopefully, walking from Estella to Los Arcos. Buen Camino.

Pamplona to Puente de la Reina (17.3 miles) July 3, 2017

Our morning began with a quick breakfast and then on to the Camino.  What a difference a couple of days make!  The weather has turned hot and today would find us traveling along a path with little shade.   The dry heat and Spanish sun reminded us of the California desert.  The first part of our walk was out of Pamplona.  The outskirts were beautiful with parks and apartment buildings. Along this part of the Camino it was mostly pavement and asphalt which was very hard on our feet. The Camino markings were excellent navigation markers!  We soon climbed to Czur Menor.  This hour of the morning found wonderful long shadows of our pilgrim silhouettes!  Soon we encountered sunflowers…. along with rolling hills and endless fields of grain. We had excellent views of Pamplona. By mid-morning the trail was quite hot so staying hydrated became very important.  Our first rest stop was in Zariquiegui.  There was an exquisite church with a Romanesque doorway.  The altar inside was beautiful and the music being played matched this church.  We spent several minutes praying and reflecting on our journey.  Relief from the heat was a cold orange soda and two chairs in the shade!  Leaving our respite, we headed for Alto del Perdon and the enormous wind turbines.  You could hear their whooshing sound from a mile away!  Again, the path, for several hours, was long, steep and very hot!  At the top of the mountain, near the turbines, is the famous monument to the pilgrims.  There is a reason they put the turbines where they are!  The wind was blowing like mad!  We found shelter and ate a quick lunch of avocado, nuts, and chocolate.  The chocolate was part of a bar that we bought at Area 103 between Madrid and Pamplona.  It was a local chocolate which might be the best I ever have eaten (and I love chocolate!).   The descent from Alto del Perdon was steep, rocky, and treacherous.  Coming up was hard on our cardio and going down required careful patience.  Not sure which I prefer!  Uterga was the next stop for a cold soft drink and time to change socks.  We also came across a boy selling lemonade!  The relief from the intense heat was wonderful!  Finally, after about 8 hours, we entered Puente de la Reina. We stopped at the Iglesia Del Crucifijo for reflection.  And then a cool beer seemed in order before sorting out our things and preparing for tomorrow.  The weather tomorrow is supposed to be hotter than today so we plan to leave around 6:00 am.  Buen Camino!

Injury and Discovery on the Camino

June 28, 2017

This blog today is being written by Mark.  The photos above were taken on July 2-3, 2016.

“What is the value of a path without challenges?”

While most of the blog posts on the American Pilgrims on the Camino (APOC) emphasize the beauty and fellowship on the Camino, today’s blog will be a little different because our path on the morning of July 1, 2016 took an unexpected turn from the one we had anticipated.  If you were following our 2014 & 2016 Camino blogs, you might have noticed that they stopped on June 30, 2016.  The reason for this is because on July 1, 2016 my left boot caught itself on the shale on a downhill slope leading into Zubiri.  With nothing to break the fall, my head landed on the sharp edge of a rock resulting in a concussion and two severe gashes which, ultimately, required about 40 stitches.  This is where the Camino story of discovery really started for us!

A Camino Angel

You might have noticed that for the first few days of our Camino in 2016, we were taking half sections which put us out of sync with many other Camino travelers.  So, on the morning of July 1, 2016, we started off early.  We had planned to have our cafe con leche in Zubiri.  On our path that morning, because it was early and we were completely out of sync with other pilgrims, we never saw anyone else on the trail.  We started from Viskarret and were about 2 1/2 hours into our walk.  On a steep downhill stretch about 1/2 mile before Zubiri, I caught the side of my boot on some shale and fell forward with my forehead hitting first on a sharp rock.  You can tell from the pictures the place where my forehead hit.  The other gash was from my sunglasses.  All I really remember is the moment just before I hit the rock and then Chris yelling “Are you OK?”  When I went to get up, I was bleeding profusely but still did not know the extent of the injury.  Chris said that it was bad with a very large, deep gash of about 3-4 inches long on my forehead and another one about 2 inches long above my left eye.  We used some antiseptic wipes and pressure to slow the bleeding but it was clear that the injury was pretty bad and that I most likely had a concussion.  We decided that we could not stay where we were and that the only option was to try to walk down the trail into Zubiri and look for help.  I was very worried about the potential for blacking out and any secondary issues that might arise from the concussion.  It was no more than a minute or so after we started to walk that another pilgrim came from behind us and asked if he could help. Please remember that we had not seen anyone on the trail the entire morning.  This pilgrim turned out to be a fluent English-speaking Spaniard named Victor who had started out that morning from Roncesvalles which means by 8:30 a.m. he had walked almost 20km.  What time did he leave?  Why had we not seen him on the trail behind us when we had stopped for water breaks?  It turns out that Victor was not only fluent in English (which is important because neither of us speaks Spanish very well) but he was experienced in emergency medical procedures and had an app on his iPhone which told him that there was a medical clinic in Zubiri.  What are the odds of this happening?  Victor helped us navigate down the trail and into Zubiri.  Victor’s asked a man on the street how far the clinic was and he said that it was about 500 meters away from where we entered Zubiri.  We had walked no more than 20-30 feet into Zubiri when a woman who runs an albergue (Pension Usoa) came out of her albergue and saw us on the street.  She took one look at me and said that we needed to get to the clinic in Zubiri immediately and put the three of us into her car and drove straight to the clinic.  It turns out that the clinic was much farther than we thought and, as we arrived, the doctor and her assistant were just leaving the clinic to head to another clinic in another village.  They reopened the clinic and the doctor spent the next hour or so stitching me up.  While the doctor was stitching me up, both Victor and the thoughtful owner of the albergue stayed with us.  Victor provided translations because the doctor and her assistant did not speak English.  The albergue owner, whose name turned out to be Araceli,  thought I might need to be transported to Pamplona so she stayed just in case.  Afterwards, Araceli took all of us back to her albergue.  Victor called a taxi to take us to Pamplona because they have a trauma center and are better equipped in case the concussion progressed to something more dangerous.  In Pamplona we saw another doctor (who also did not speak English) who examined my stitches and checked my eyes.  We spent the next four days in Pamplona watching for secondary concussion symptoms.  When nothing developed, we left for Madrid where we saw an English-speaking doctor who said I still displayed concussion symptoms but I would be OK to return to the US for treatment and monitoring.  Needless to say we were very disappointed to stop our trip.

Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo and Crosses on the Camino

As yesterday’s walk was so long, hot, and tiring, we decided to shorten today’s walk to 6 miles. When we started in the morning it was nice and cool and our walk took us through lovely vineyards. Unlike the vineyards in La Rioja, these vineyards produce a Mencia wine which is similar to a Cabernet Franc. We will have to give it a taste at dinner! Walking through the rolling hills and vineyards on a cool morning was delightful! It was so nice to be walking in cooler weather and through rolling hills like La Rioja. When we arrived in Villafranca del Bierzo on the river Burbia, we discovered a quaint 11th century town that has developed on the Camino. The church of Santiago was built in the 11th century and the Monasterio de San Francisco was founded in the 13th century. We went to the pilgrims Mass at the newer 16th century Iglesia Colegiata.

As the Camino de Santiago has been a pilgrims path since the early 800s, there are numerous religious symbols along the way. I have included pictures of just a few. Tomorrow will be a rest day in Villafranca so that we can begin the final part of our walk on Sunday into Galicia. Buen Camino!