Camino Day 2 July 24 Orisson to Roncevalled

Camino Day 2 July 24 Orisson to Roncevalles (Albergue Convento) 12.8 miles Total to date 19.9

No two ways about it, today was both a bitch and a magical journey. About ten minutes after I started this morning, on what proved to be a long brutal climb, with my muscles tired from yesterday, I thought, "I can't do this." But some how I kept climbing forward and my muscles quieted down. 

The scenery was gorgeous and there were hundreds of haltered horses, some pregnant and some with foals. I saw a soaring vulture and two hawks, thousands of sheep and herds of cattle. 

The first part of today's journey was on a small local road and toward the end of this segment I looked up and there was a guy with a van welcoming pilgrims and selling coffee, sandwich's, juice, hard boiled eggs, and other stuff at very cheap prices. The coffee  was welcome, but overall the French make very weak coffee, even when using an expresso machine. I don't get it. Give me Spanish coffee any day. 

Just around the hill from the coffee guy and right before the turn off to get off the main road and on the trail, there was another van with two guys. I stopped to chat with them. After a while one of the guys asks me if I'm going to Santiago de Compestela. I tell him I am and he asks me if I would like mission. Well, doesn't everyone? He explains tha they are with a religious order that helps people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Imagine that! I'm sensing God in here somewhere. 

So he has a bunch of little papers with the names of those who still suffer and he wants me to pick a paper, pray for that person, and take the paper to Santiago. So I agree and ask him to put the paper in the little pouch that Sandy gave me with the rocks from Australia. So now it has my rock and sea shell from El Moro, Sandy's rock from Australia, and Daniel. I will pray for Daniel as I walk the Camino and all of you can help pray for him too. The guy with the van also had blank papers for people like me to write to those that seek help. So I wrote that I hoped they would find what I found in recovery.

The walk on the trail was difficult at first. It was a very rough and rocky goat trail, but after we crossed the Spanish border it changed. I had to go through a group of horses and tried not to get to close to their behinds. I have never been kicked by a horse, but I know people who have and it doesn't sound like a pleasant experience. Once over the Spanish border it was beautiful, walking through forests on beds of leaves. Through the trees I watched sheep grazing. I was still climbing, but the environment was so enchanting, I didn't care. 

Then we we came to the highest point of the climb and I thought "oh goody, I get to go downhill. Wrong! Down hill was worse than uphill. It was a really steep descent on a goat trail. The last two miles I just wanted to cry.  It's funny the last two days when we were climbing I welcomed the few downhill segments because they allowed a little rest, but I cursed them simultaneously because I knew we hadn't reached our highest altitude, so anything we lost in going down would have to be climbed again. The same thing happened on the downhill. Every time we went uphill, I thought "oh no, that just adds more to the descent.” I just have to bitch! lol By this time my right knee was screaming and my legs felt like silly string. But I finally made it to Roncevalles.

I got checked into the alberque and got my bunk. There are 180 bunkbeds in this alberque, but they are in cubicles of four, which makes it seem more secluded. I took a shower, washed my clothes by hand in a sink and hung them on the line to dry. Tonight I will have a Pilgrim's dinner at La Posada with a bunch of other pilgrims (peregrinos.)

The Pilgrim's dinner was filling. They had pasta with marinara sauce, parmesan cheese, and a little bit of chorizo. I thought that was the main course so I ate 3 helpings while talking to my table mates. I was seated with a young couple from Yorkshire, England and an older couple (maybe as old as me lol) from Italy who are doing the Camino in a caravana ( motorhome or camping bus.) I don't know exactly how that works. The wife didn't know any English and the husband only knew a little, so I didn't want to try to ask how you do the Camino in a caravana for fear of offending them. They were delightful people. They had done the Camino in the regular way when they were younger.  The young couple, from England, were very nice, but much more ordinary. 

Anyway, I'm stuffing my face, and the waitress comes with what is actually the main course, trout and french fries. I'm thinking, "uh oh, I ate too much pasta. I'm already stuffed. But I found some room and learned how to eat trout when it is served with everything but it's head by watching the others. We had yogurt for desert. All that for nine euros. Oh yeah, and as much wine or water as you can drink. Oh yeah, and bread too.