We are now well into our Camino. Day 8 and over 220kms/136 miles. We are over 1/4 of the way to Santiago de Compostela.

The memories flood back and I share memories of caminos past even as we are creating new memories. Every Camino is different and unique and transforming. Now we are past where Noël has walked before so all new.

I spent the last year and a half preparing. I wrote about being Camino Ready…always wanting to be Camino ready. For me this means if someone were to ask “would you like to go on the Camino?” I could ask, “when do you want to leave?”

For me this includes being physically ready, mentally ready, and spiritually ready. All of that takes preparation but also an openness, a readiness to pivot and shift if things are difficult and challenging.

As I prepared for this camino I focused first on the physical. It was a gentle start walking 10.000 steps a day or approximately 7-8 kms. Along with that adding in some longer hikes with packs. As the months past and it got closer to our pilgrimage I was walking 15-20kms a day. Great physical readiness.

And the challenge comes because the Netherlands is flat. And the first day of the Camino Frances is 20 kms up 1420 meters. And then a 6kms down steep. The first day kicked my butt. I got nauseated. I had to take a LOT of breaks. And then I remembered the first day kicked my butt every time I’ve done it. And life is like that. Some days just kick your butt.

That first day I remembered humility. And along with that humility came perseverance and resilience. The humility taught me that I can be Camino ready and still struggle. And also that within me are reserves to keep going and stop when it is time.

I must say that I feel stronger and more prepared for this Camino than I have in my previous Caminos. I will share more about that coming up. Buen Camino!!

Wow what a five days it has been. Plus the two days traveling to Saint Jean Pied de Port. Let the adventure begin…

Netherlands to Belgium to Spain and spending the night in Pamplona. Spain to SJPdP France to start the adventure. This actually went very smoothly some minor delays but really quite smoothly.

On Tuesday we ran errands and had lunch and then made our way to the bus station. We got on the bus and all was fine until we were passing into France and a girl said, “I thought this bus was going to San Sebastián, Spain.” Nope. So she was distressed trying to figure out what to do. She figured it out without the help of all the pilgrims tryptophan solve her problem.

In SJPdP we found our accommodations and went to the pilgrim office for our credentials. Then showered and went exploring. The challenge was we wanted to eat early and no restaurant was open before 7:30. So we found a wine cave with tapas. Good enough. Afterwards we went back to our albergue and had a glass of wine with other pilgrims and enjoyed the company.

We made it the next day from SJPdP to Roncesvalles in about 9 hours. 1420meters and 27kms. I threw up and struggled but the next day felt great.

Day 2 from Roncesvalles to Larrasoaña (28 kms) was all down. Some slippery and scary but we made it without a fall. my first camino I went down hard once the slippery stones. We stopped in zubiri to get a photo from where we met and then headed out. We got stopped at a house by a man who photographs pilgrims. He said the next time we come that we have a beer with him. Cheers 🍻

Our lives got a bit complicated when we didn’t hear from the albergue in Zuriain. I was trying to find WiFi for a couple of coaching appointments so we stopped at a market in Larrasoaña. The owner was very accommodating. And we ended up staying across the street at anytime albergue. We had a great dinner at the market. All fresh and yummy. And I met another pilgrim with an amazing story. More to come on this.

We got started super early the next morning so we could make it to our booked accommodations. It would not have been so far from Zuriain but we had to make due. We walked 41.15 kms. Not quite a marathon. When we arrived in Puente la Reina is was almost 6 pm. We walked 12 hours. At the end of the day we met Linda from California. We walked with her and forgot our pain. We showered. Dressed. Had dinner. And I fell asleep immediately afterwards. 😂😴

From Puente la Reina to Estella was an easier day. We felt good. Only 23 kms. Which is a perfect day. I had a coaching session and then we had dinner at El Mundo run by two Dutch women,, sisters. Awesome!! We got back to our albergue and realized that we had left our earphones. So we hopped, skipped, and ran our way back before they closed only to find out they didn’t close so early. And the earphones were there. Whew!!

Today. Was. Hard. I don’t like walking in the heat. Add a backpack and forget it. Today was long stretches with no villages. That’s fine. But in the heat and no shade well it takes it’s toll. At the end as we are arriving to the town we are staying I started sobbing, “I just want shadows, give me shade” at first Noël thought I was being silly and then realized I was in a full out sob.

Well we made it to our place fir the night. We showered. I was probably dehydrated. But we had a nice dinner and can go to sleep and await tomorrow’s adventures. Buen Camino!!

Buenas Dias mis amigos. Good morning my friends. Goedemorgen mijn vrienden.

Yesterday spending that much time traveling was exhausting. Neither one of us is used to spending that much time sitting with 14 hours of traveling we sat about 10 hours. After our late dinner we went back to where we are staying and collapsed.

This morning has been go, go, go. We found the bus station, repacked our packs (getting rid of 5kgs/11lbs, went to the correos and mailed it home. We may still have too much but we think it’s good.

After that we went on a scavenger hunt for sticks for Noël and a hairbrush for me. I talked him into good sticks. 🙂 Then it was back to the hotel, checkout and wait for our bus to St. Jean Pied de Port. So we sat down in the square (well one of them) and split a burger and fries. Wow that was good.

We caught the bus and there was no problems until…a girl in the front asked in Spanish if the bus was going to San Sebastián. No. It’s going to France. Oh dear. She handled it well but poor girl.

We got into our gite (French for Albergue) and then went and got our credential for stamps and started to walk around. We discovered that nothing is open for dinner until 7. But we found a nice little wine cave and got some tapas and wine. It was nice. Then back to Albergue for shower and chat with other pilgrims from the Netherlands and Ireland. Nice day.

The morning came and the adventure continues. Our ride to the airport was great. Highly recommend OnyVa. Our driver was great and got us here on time, early even. Made it through security and are ready for our flight. 

So super smooth sailing at the airport. Then the plane sat for 30-40 minutes on the tarmac. We finally took off and even arrived on time. We changed clothes because the weather here is much hotter than home. Then got our baggage and headed to meet our taxi. We had pre-booked. Will never do that again. He was supposed to be waiting on us but kept texting he was in traffic. I finally told Noël “Cancel we are grabbing a cab. We don’t want to miss our train.”

We made it to the train station 30 minutes before our departure but couldn’t find our platform. I walked up to people asking and they just pointed. Noël asked they just pointed. We took a gamble and went through security and made it through security (supposed to be there 30 minutes before train departure). Again I asked and with no eye contact the woman indicated the direction we were going. We asked a security guard and he pointed to platform 6 and sure enough it was going to Madrid but stopping in Zaragoza. Whew.

So we made it to Zaragoza early. We had to wait for two hours and had no idea where the train to Pamplona would be leaving from. We had a bite to eat. And then with only one change of the platform we got on the train. It would just be shy of 2 hours. We pulled out of the station and the train stalled. We waited and after a bit it started up and then stalled again. Finally we were on our way. And once again got to Pamplona on time.

Then it was a 3.7 km walk to our hotel. Noël suggested a taxi and I said “no way we are here to walk. Let’s not spend more money on a taxi!” Well after 2 kms and the reality of going from 17c (64F) to 33C (91F) temperature hit hard. And then there was an uphill climb. We got to where we were staying sopping wet from sweat. So we showered and headed out for dinner around 8:30 along with all the Spaniards. We had a yummy pizza and walked a little bit to let our food settle.

Tomorrow on to Saint Jean Pied de Port. More to follow!