The walk today was from Burguette to Pamplona: 25.62 miles, 2491′ of climbing and 58,035 steps per Camilles phone. I think it was perhaps 2491′ of elevation but way more up and down than that since there were A LOT of other ups and downs on the path. No heart rate alarms today, thankfully. It was mostly through wooded areas that felt really old, Camille mentioned something about Hobbits being around and a few minutes later we encountered another Pilgrim who said it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings (so we weren’t the only ones!)
Random thoughts on the day:
- We weren’t too achy at all when we started this morning!
- There IS NOT a straight, nor level road in France nor Spain that we have seen (and a shower curtain salesperson would make a KILLING over here, as I think someone would if they opened their restaurants before 8:30 pm)
- How did people do this without Hoka shoes and waterbottles??!
- We went about 15,000 too many steps for my feet. Ouch.
- When walking it is hard to get really, really irritating songs like, “My knapsack on my back”… Valderie… Valdera… (sorry readers) but I did have special insight into the second verse of It Came Upon the Midnight Clear singing about “ye beneath life’s crushing load whose forms are bending low… who toil along the winding path with painful steps and slow.
- What is it about our look that others we meet just start speaking English to us before we even say a word?? And why do they wince painfully when we try to speak their language?
- I mentioned yesterday hard things can be beautiful. I would add a corollary today that it’s hard to notice the beauty when you are staring at your feet and the immediate path. Beauty may be up but safety is down. Parts of the path looked like this:
Buen Camino!