Today has been interesting. I had a restless night of sleep. We walked over 20 miles yesterday, with achey feet, chafing blisters, and no shade. I know our pictures are full of beauty and fun, but we plodded into town after 5pm, very tired and hurting.

I pulled off my shoe, and my least offensive blister had doubled in size to a little over a quarter-sized “growth” on the side of my heel. Gross! We struggled to have the energy to shower, but managed to get it done. Sweaty clothes had to wait to get washed, however. We just didn’t have it in us.

By the time we had taken a short rest, it was time to head down to dinner. We had a sweet time with one of our old pilgrim friends from the second day. She was so sweet and it is fun to come across others on the way that we haven’t seen in awhile. She was a bright spot in my “cloudy” space. After dinner we went straight to bed. Our alarm was set for 5:30am, because we had a similar day, minus 3km, planned for today.

When the alarm woke us up, I had to share with Theressa that I thought we needed a rest.

I immediately felt shame, and wanted to change my mind.

Why?

Why do I feel badly for speaking up when I know what I need? I had to coach myself through the emotions that threatened to spew all around. Thankfully, we survived myself.

I feel like it was perhaps as hard to say I needed a break as it would have been to walk the 19 miles.

But this is the journey of El Camino. It is a journey of grace and trust, patience and learning, strength and humility, and more. It surpasses the simplicity of grit gained after a hard race. Life is more, if I can remain open to receive it.

Buen Camino

Some days are rainy. They sometimes inspire fear and loneliness in people like me. My husband and daughter love the rain! But it is different when there are miles to walk under the weeping skies.

Yesterday and today were just such days. My legs and feet feel pretty good, but I was afraid that would not stay the case if I had to walk for 2 days in wet shoes.

However, on El Camino there aren’t really short cuts. I mean, you can skip the walking with a taxi to the next town, but that’s not really a necessity for me at this point. Rain does make me aware that there could be long days of hard ahead. Fear wells up, and catastrophic thinking sets in.

I spent the first few hours crying with the skies. It seemed appropriate to “let some feels out” while nobody watched. I noticed my fears and sadness, and considered what would be helpful. For me, music is an easy reset. So, instead of listening to my audible book I turned up the tunes.

Shortly after, we stopped for breakfast. We saw some other pilgrims we knew, and had some laughs about the rainy weather. Somehow, things didn’t feel too bad anymore. By the time we arrived at our destination, I was downright cheery!

This journey is so good for me. Taking life so slowly helps me to be mindful of all that is happening. It is really difficult to to do this in normal life, with so many distractions and duties to adequately perform. Life is good! Buen Camino!

From Pamplona to Puerta La Reina to Estella to Torres Del Rio to Lagonia- phew! My feet are feeling it now! We crossed the 100 mile mark today, and that is exciting! We celebrated with ice cream!

We also hit rain today for the first time so far. I had cinched up my poncho hood and had a small amount of visibility. I stuck to watching my feet, ensuring that they moved to stable terrain safely. It reminded me of times when all I can see is a portion of the big picture, but moving forward one step at a time is the only way to move through a stormy season. There are so many similar lessons learned on El Camino.

We arrive at our destination weary and feeling like we can’t go another step, but the next morning, we get up and do it again.

We encounter a hill that seems hard, but we remind ourselves that it’s nothing we haven’t done already. And we power through.

The Camino is like an embodiment of every reality that life teaches us. We meet beautiful people, and we see beautiful sights. We feel grateful. We make judgments, and then are surprised when we learn we didn’t fully understand. We’re grateful for the lesson. We accomplish more than we believed possible. We’re grateful. We experience provision, and we’re grateful. We experience pain and hurt. We heal and are grateful. We are never in it alone, and we’re grateful.

I’m rambling. I’m tired, but grateful. That’s the bottom line. We’re experiencing things that embody the best parts and the hardest parts. So thankful for your thoughts and words and prayers. Thankful for people who care about how we’re doing. And thankful that we’re doing ok. No, better than ok. ❤️

We made our way from Zubiri to Pamplona on day 4. It didn’t feel too bad! I hadn’t slept well the night before, and had gone to the restroom to get some good stretches in. We have been sleeping in hostels on bunk beds, so it’s easy to be wakened in the night with bathroom visits or just being restless. That’s part of the experience though, so it’s all good! I was lying in bed imagining the worst while my body hurt, so getting up and going somewhere to really stretch helped physically and mentally!

We had an amazing treat on our way to Pamplona! We were heads down trekking, when we heard live music! We look up, and see a cafe with a small band playing at 10:30am! We had already planned to stop for breakfast, and we were excited to see that some of our fellow pilgrims were said band! People were grooving and clapping! It was such a treat!!

We arrived in Pamplona at the end of our 15 miles. I had mistakenly booked an albergue in a different city, but we needed a place in Pamplona. Theressa is so handy with her Spanish, but after calling every hostel, we were left with no options except a hotel. We ended up booking 2 nights there, so we could have a chance to see some sights while in the biggest city on our journey.

Our free day in Pamplona, we did laundry first, which was awesome! We usually hand wash our clothes on a daily basis, and they never seem very fresh. It felt great to have them all clean and smelling good! We then visited The Citidel https://www.pamplona.es/turismo/murallas and The Cathedral, which was incredible! Lastly, we had dinner and had a second night of amazing sleep!

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Today we left Pamplona around 7:15, feeling ready for another 15-16 mile day! Our next stop was Puerta La Reina. The skies looked ominous all day, but we were grateful for the cloud cover! There was a fairly significant incline and decline again today, but we’re getting used to those! The views were incredible once again, and I continue to be impressed that I’m not bored! Today was the first day that we spent time listening to music! It was fun to have something to pick up our spirits at the end of the day.

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We arrived at our albergue around 3, showered, washed clothes, and chilled out! After a few hours of resting and connecting with home, we went out to see what we could see. The streets were alive with festivities, yet we just settled for dinner with new friends! Tomorrow we will walk around 14 miles. Life is good! Buen Camino!

Well, here it is the end of day 3, and we’ve journeyed around 35 miles of the El Camino de Frances! Can you believe it? If it were not for my sore legs, I wouldn’t! We have been preparing for this for so long, and our journey is finally happening! And it is amazing so far!

The walk itself is beautiful! We began by working our way over the Pyrenees mountains. The views were amazing and vast. I felt like a small, but not insignificant, piece of a beautiful work of art. Today we were still in the foothills, moving up and down hills with 15-20 lbs of backpack! The road changes often and offers sprawling views, unique walkways, farms, charming homes, and more. The terrain included some steep parts with rocky portions to navigate. Yet we are only 2 of hundreds of “pilgrims” who also are taking this journey! Not all are going the whole way, but many are. I’d estimate that 20-30 percent are much older than we are, and it’s amazing and inspiring!

The beauty and interesting nuance of the trail is mirrored by the diversity of the travelers. There’s the couple who are always visiting with anyone who will share a table with them. There are the three friends who met on WhatsApp and decided to travel the El Camino for a week. There is a man who has done portions of El Camino 12 times, and his wife is joining him. They hope to finish it this time. A family of 4 is walking together; 2 are here a week, but “mom and daughter” plan finish it! There’s our one bunk mate who has a pack way too heavy, but her evident joy and generosity is more abundant than the weight of the items in her pack—we were happy to see another pilgrim carrying her pack for her today. There’s the Minnesota ladies— 3 who came together, and 2 who came alone. We shared a room with the group of 3 one night, and we have enjoyed their company for a significant portion of our time here. And SO many more travelers with stories!!!

I cannot overstate the beautiful, communal experience that we are already having after just 3 days. l believe the community piece will be a major part of “my Camino.” It is so powerful— especially after such a difficult, divisive season that our world continues to be injured from—to be with people from all over the world, listening to them cheer on one another with a clink of a wine glass and/or the “carry on” message of ”Buen Camino!”

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We arrived in St. Jean Pied de Port around noon. We had a delicious crepe lunch and looked around the lovely town. The small village had its origins all the way back to the 12th century. It is old and very charming with many hostels and other accommodations for “pilgrims” beginning El Camino.

After lunch we walked a small piece to the ” pilgrims office” to get our credentials. Basically, that’s a card that declares that we are going on this journey as a pilgrimage, and we we acquire stamps along the way to affirm our continued dedication. Many of the hostels will require us to oshow these when we check in. While waiting outside, I found it interesting that we were among the younger of pilgrims represented. Also, most everyone was speaking other languages than we were, of course!

We got our credentials and after a bit more exploring checked into our hostel. We are 2 of 7 in our room. The other 5 are men. It feels a little bit strange, but also feels like a normal part of a pilgrimage like this.

We chose a Basque restaurant for dinner. Basque is the name of the indigenous community who have their origins in St. Jean Pied de Port. I ordered a trout dish and was served a whole fish! I actually enjoyed it very much.

The best part of our dinner was being joined by a young lady who is also doing El Camino. She was from Scotland, and quite a bit younger than we, but we had such a nice time connecting over the things we have in common. I think this will be one of my favorite parts of El Camino— connecting with so many people, from so many different cultures, over a common journey.

After dinner we went back to the hostel, or auberge as it’s called here, and went to sleep. We managed fine, even though we were sharing a room with several men. We all kept to ourselves, which worked just fine. 😊

Tomorrow, we begin our walk! Buen Camino!!