Hola ,
We walked @ 13.9 miles today to reach our hotel in Pamplona--let's just call it 150 miles even. It was a lot of hills, with some stairways up and then down again, rocky paths, roadways and paved trails.
First I have to say Sam has been wonderful! He has waited for me, encouraged me and navigated us through every step of the 40+ miles so far of the Camino. He is much stronger than I am and he is helping me alot.
Last night we went down to the bar (5 flights down from our hotel room ) and we were surprised and cheered by our 5 new Camino friends with a loud "Mary and Sam made it!" Jenny & Abram (Dutch), Camilla ( South African ), Mike (Cincinnati ), & Jim (Seattle). Hugging and kissing us hello. We had told them we were not going all the way to Zabiri, so they didn't expect us. We sere missing the Brits (Frances and Benny) but figured they stopped 6 miles back). So we all had dinner together and drank for a couple hours. Loads of fun.
Today was extremely difficult. The last 2 miles of these two 13 miles treks are the killers. Everything from my ears down to my toes hurts. Sam is doing much better than I am. His shoulders hurt but he doesn't have the calf, knees, butt and hip pain that I am dealing with. He runs 1/2 marathons and 3.5 miles 3x weekly so his legs muscles are definitely more developed. I run 3 miles x 2-3 weekly...not enough I guess.
Even my hands are sore from using the trekking poles to help me get down the hills---like crutches. I started getting a red spot on my left hand at the webbing between the thumb and index finger so I only used one pole today to rest that hand. Sometimes it was too steep so I had to use two poles. This sounds kinda pathetic.
We walked to our very nice Hotel Villava in Pamplona. I took a nice long hot bath while Sam brought me a cold pint of beer and I soaked for a long time. We went to dinner in the hotel and now I feel alot better.
When we arrived into the city we found 3 little Spanish 8 year old boys playing bullfighting in the streets. It made my day! So cute. See the picture of one boy playing matador with his little red coat and another boy pushing a toy stuffed bull with big horns on a single wheel, trying to gore the little matador. The 3rd boy watching for his turn. I think they were playing in the same road where the Bulls Run in July; but Sam says that I have no facts on that. We will ask somebody tomorrow.
Saturday is a rest day in the hotels. We are planning some site seeing but not much walking. Sunday morning we will resume the Camino.
Thanks for checking on us. We know many people have tried to "comment" but it won't post it. I dunno. I'm getting all my emails, so you can always write us there. Nick, maybe you have some suggestions with posting to our blog for our friends? A few people can comment but most seem blocked...help?
Jenny, Dan and Bob--email me once In A while to let me know that you are surviving without me hovering over you. I miss you . xXOO
Great picture of sam with the waterfall in the background.
ReplyDeleteJeff
I love seeing that your fellow pilgrims have transitioned from nationalities to names - good sign :)
ReplyDeleteLove
Leah