End of the trail

I had originally planned to stop walking at Pamplona, and then go help a lady who runs a refugio near Leon. But she says she has help, so I am continuing to walk.

 Once I got out of Pamplona it was rolling fields, with windmills on the ridge. 

I walked 11 km from Pamplona to the small village of Zariquiegui. I had intended to go further, to Uterga, but one refuge there was closed, and the phone number for the other was bad;! it seemed prudent to go with the bird in hand, rathet than risk arriving in town with no place to stay. 

I had a nice dinner with an international group, including Holland, Korea, and Virginia.  

On Sunday I stuck around for the 11:30 am mass, so I got a late start, in the heat. I took a photo at the Alto de Perdon. My left knee hurt a bit on the way down. I had lunch in a village on the Camino Frances, and then detoured to the famous octagonal church of Eunate.  Some believe that it was a church of the Knights Templar. I walked a short bit on the Camino Aragonese, which meets the Frances in Obanos. 

Eunate

Puente la Reina is a large village. I am in a large private refugio, with a third floor deck for socializing. The crowd is pretty young. 

My research shows that I can get a bus from Estella/Lizard to Vitoria, which is near where my friend Blanca lives. This should work well. 

The bad news is that the forecast for later in the week is for 35C, or 95F!  It cools down at night, like Colorado, but it sounds insane to hike in that heat. It makes me think of hotels with air conditioning, or to start hiking at 4 am. :-(

After a hot afternoon walk on Sunday, I got a very early start on Monday, before 7 AM. I arrived in Villatuerta around 11, had a beer, sold a copper scallop shell medallion to a pilgrim who admired it, and then walked to my albergue, La Casa Magica. It is nice, no bunk beds, your choice of sun or shade outside, a fountain running. A bit more money, but worth it. Dinner was with a Frenchman and a South African, with me translating. 

Note that the cold drink machine in the refugio has beer, with coke the same price. 

Tuesday morning I walked to Estella and caught the bus to Vitoria.  My total distance walked was about 200 km, or 125 miles.

To Pamplona

On Wednesday I got up early, got into the refugio to get my stuff, and headed out.  I called and booked the four of us into a refugio in Zubiri. We walked about 22 km with some up and down. I walked mostly alone, and arrived much earlier than the French.

At the refugio, we were able to wash clothes, and ate the pilgrim's meal in a nearby restaurant. My language confusion continued, with French Spanish, and English rattling around my head.

I got up early Thursday. . There was no breakfast at the refugio, So I skipped breakfast. This may not have been a good idea. I chatted with various people from several countries, and generally walked at a good pace. I did fine until I got close to Pamplona, but then I started to drag. I was barely able to get up the hill into the old walled city. I did find the refugio that I had booked, and was able to rest some there. 

We had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant in the main square. There were seven of us, me and my three French, one of their French friends, a German bicyclist who spoke good French, and an Argentinian lady who lived in Utah. Lots of languages around the table.

I have decided to take a rest day here in Pamplona, and do a bit of tourism. Yesterday was a bit much. 

On Friday, I had breakfast with my French friends, saw them off, and walked 20 minutes to a hotel. I laid down a bit, then headed for the Cathedral and its museum, both excellent. I had a snack in  the Goucho cafe bar, did some people watching, and came back to the hotel for a nap.

The people watching is really the best part of Pamplona. 

I saw the Texans again. It took them three days to walk what I did in two days, so they were not surprised that I arrived exhausted. ;-)

I had to laugh. I asked a young lady if the young people used Yelp or another app for restaurants. She said not in Pamplona, but perhaps in Barcelona or Madrid the people are more advanced. ;-)

In the late afternoon I went the museum of Navarra.  It is basically an art museum, but I loved the Roman mosaics. 

I plan to resume walking tomorrow. 

The Pyrenees

We had a pleasant breakfast, and headed out. I made a brief stop in St Jean Pied du Port for Wifi and a bathroom. Unfortunately, I did not realize until 5 km past SJPP that I had forgotten to get cash!  I turned around, and headed down. Luckily, before I got too far, I saw a couple leaving their house, and they gave me a ride to SJPP and back!  I asked for help when I needed it, which is what I learned on my first pilgrimage. I had to walk part of it three times, but not all.

I notice a big change in the pilgrims, starting at SJPP. Before, there were relatiively few, and largely French. Now there are more pilgrims, and I hear more English and German. 

The refugio of Orisson is 7 km up on the pass, at about 800 m altitude. SJPP is about 200 m. We are up here with the clouds, the cows, and the sheep. I ended up with the last bed, the upper bunk in the second sub-basement !  But I did get a shower....

We got up early on Tuesday, and were on the trail at 7:45. The route was consistently up. The weather deteriorated as we went up. There was fog , and the visibility was as low as 100 feet. It was windy, cold, and raining. We started on the road, but then turned onto a muddy trail. The pass showed us why it has a bad reputation. The trail led us to the Spanish border. 

Amusingly, the sign did not say Spain, but Navarra, the name of the state and the old kingdom. It was a treacherous muddy way down. The sun came out as we arrived in Roncellevalles. 

We arrived in Roncellesvalles around 1:30 PM. The refugio is a large municipal one, with our hosts from Holland. The building was recently refurbished, and nicer than the subbasement of last night. I still have an upper bunk, however. It is a big facility, with room for up to 400 pilgrims in peak season. 

I wandered around the complex with Nadyia, an Italian. We fell into a Spanish language tour of the complex, including churches, treasures, art, a crypt with skulls arranged, and the tomb of King Sanchez of Navarra. Our tour guide talked very fast. Apparently the primary reason that Roncesvalles was important was not pilgrims, but the support of the king. It was never a monastery.  However, there was a large hospital for pilgrms. 

Roncesvalles is not much of a village, although it has two restaurants and a hotel. Breakfast will be at the next village, a few km away. I have fallen in with another group of French pilgrims. Tomorrow we will go to Zurbiri, about 22km (13.6 miles) towards Pamplona. 

I had a nice dinner with the Texans, Dina and her brother and their friends.  We then went to multilingual pilgrim"s mass, which made me feel very welcome. 

As part of ny misadventures, I was having trouble with the Wifi in the albergue, so I went to a nearby bar. I was not watching the time, and got locked out of the albergue!  Luckily the nearby hotel was not expensive, so it all worked out. 

Two steps forward, one step back.

On Thursday night I was sick. I could not eat in the morning, and had no energy, so I decided to take public transport to St Jean Pied de Porte. Danielle, who ran the gite, told me there was a bus at 9 am. Unfortunately, she had an old schedule. I ended up taking a taxi with a chatty Basque guy. A visit to the tourist office got me a place to stay. I slept in the hotel for hours. However, I was still super tired, although I walked around the walled city a bit. I was hoping to stay a second night, but the town was booked up for the holiday.

I felt better on Saturday, and waited around for the once a day bus to Larceveau. I checked into a hotel there. I don't want to get back to St Jean until the holiday is over. 

I told another pilgrim that I had lost two days, and he disagreed, that it was all part of the pilgrimage. That makes sense also. 

Mass attendance in rural areas can be a challenge. The masses tend to move around between the churches of the parish. In this case, that is 8 different communities, as every community has a church. My plan was to attend 11 AM mass in Ibarolle (Ibarrole). Given that I am in the Basque country, everything has two names, one in French and one in Basque. 

I got up and walked one hour to Ibarolle.      I ended up an hour early, so I sat on the church steps and ate a bit. They opened the door, and I sat down.  I came in with low expectations, but the church was in great condition, freshly restored. I did not expect a lot of people, but every seat was taken by mass time. 

The mass was in Basque, with a bit of French. There was a men's choir in the choir loft, out of sight from where I was sitting. The choir was amazing, they belted it out in the tiny church. I understood nothing, but I loved it all. I. It was a great experience, perhaps my favorite part of the trip so far. 

After that, I had to cross a mountain pass, the Col de Gamia. It was an hour of steep climbing. The regular trail avoids this pass, but I was south of the trail. I walked one hour to get to mass, three hours after mass, and felt pretty good. 

I found my Gite without much trouble. The older hostess has a Down syndrome daughter. She said that her daughter wants to imitate the pilgrims she sees, put on her pack, and go to Santiago. The following week she and her daughter will be going to Santiago, on a handicapped bus tour sponsored by a charitable group. 

There was no Wifi, so I could not Skype Sandi, which I have been doing every afternoon. 

I met three French ladies at the gite on their 7th annual pilgrimage week. They originally started in Le Puy. They laughed a lot. They were booked at Orisson, so I asked them to book me there also. They were from Avignon area. There was a French guy at dinner who talked a lot, but I could not understand him. 

Tomorrow, to the Pyrenees!

The walk continues......

After a hard day on Tuesday, the gite was very nice, new and modern, run by a delightful young lady. There were many pilgrims, which made for a jovial and social atmosphere. I really felt better in that setting.

The two ladies in the photo are Camila, a French Canadian, and Marie, a midwife from Paris. 

You have probably seen photos of the French landscape, looking very pastoral; this is what we are walking through. 

The walk on Wednesday was alternately sun, clouds, and rain. I decided to walk a somewhat shorter distance than on Tuesday, to Uhart-Mixe. The names are double, Basque and French. When I arrived I in town, I saw a bit of ETA graffiti, reminding me that we were in Basque country. 

The gite is the Escargot. The owner likes Americans. Liz, the English lawyer, booked the gites, since her French is better and we are on the same schedule. It is sort of like an old fashioned restaurant with dorm rooms upstairs. 

On Thursday I had a short walk to Larceveaux. I walked for a bit with a young French nurse, and talked a bit with a young man traveling with his donkey. 

I was In Larceveau by 11 AM, a short day. I had lunch, and went through the museum, basically on Basque gravestones. I walked a km past the gite, because the sign was literally one inch by three inches. I asked at a different gite, and they sent me back. It was like an Irish B&B, living in a home with the owner. Liz and I were the only guests. Our host had a fire going, it was all very pleasant. My French is improving. 

Starting my walk

After a liesurely morning in Lourdes, I took the train to Orthez. On the train, I chatted with two ladies from Australia, on a 6 month tour of Europe; one of them had walked the camimo. I walked 10 km to Maslacq. The hotel which I am in has hiking boots sitting on the porch to dry, and I am seeing other pilgrims. The hotel cost 61 Euros including breakfast and dinner, so very reasonable for a private room with bath. 

I continue to be concerned about the availability of rooms, due this week being between two holiday weekends. But the first place which I called in Navarrenx had a room. So far, so good. 

I walked 22 km today, 14 miles. I did pretty well, walked about the same pace as other walkers, mostly because I took short stops. The trail is mostly on country roads, and the French countryside is pretty, but hilly. I made it to my destination, Navverreaux, a walled city. I went to a pilgrim ceremony at the church. Dinner was in the Gite where I am staying. Three French couples about my age, our young host, and me. I missed most of the conversation, although people were nice. 

My feet feel beat up, so I am unsure how far I should go tomorrow. There are some big gaps between places to stay, which makes it challenging to plan shorter days. 

For Tuesday, I decided to walk 18 km to the village of Aroe. The guy who ran the gite  in Navvereneaux picked the gite, and made the reservation for me. It rained steadily all morning. My leg was hurting, where I injured it skiing. I was walking carefully, to avoid aggravating it. On Monday, I was walking the same speed as most pilgrims, but today I was the slow one. After two hours of steady rain, such that I could not even stop and eat, I got to a covered space with picknic tables, full of pilgrims, as it was the only logical place to stop. But I was glad to be there and take off my pack. 

I asked someone to help me get my poncho straightened, after I put on my pack; he said something profound, which I learned on pilgrimage in 2002. "No one walks alone; this is Camino."

Not long after that, it stopped raining, but the trails were still muddy. I got to the gite about 2 pm.  The gite is nice and new, and I was glad to be there. 

I will probably try to walk about the same distance on Wednesday, and hope for a better day. 

I am now 110 km from Pamplona Spain, where I plan to stop walking. That would make my total distance 160 km.

Lourdes

After a pleasant morning walking around Paris, I rode the TGV (high speed train) from Paris to Bayonne. Even in 2nd class it seemed pretty nice. The first class seats are three across instead of four across. The train traveled very fast for a while, but when it ran out of special tracks, it had to slow down. The high speed tracks only cover parts of the country. 

In the train, I had a very interesting conversation with a guy from Morocco; he is in the oil business, mostly from the economics side. He says that the expectation is that oil prices will go up, probably in the $70/barrel region. He speaks good English, and proper Arabic.  He is based in Paris. I also spoke to the young couple from Barcelona who were across the table. 

Unfortunately, we came to a stop outside Bayonne.  They announced that there was a problem with the signaling system. We were more than 30 minutes late. I was to connect to a local train in Bayonne. They held the connecting train, but no longer than strictly necessary. I had just gotten on when the train left the station!  

The local train to Lourdes was a big  step down from the TGV, old equipment with torn seats. The countryside was rural, and did not look prosperous.  The day had become dark, with heavy overcast, and rather cool. The rivers looked high, and at one point I saw signs promoting rafting and tubing, presumably in the summer. There were small mountains in that area as well. People were wearing jackets. I ended up in a compartment with two unsmiling men; I did not try to start a conversation. This was not an auspicious start of my visit to Lourdes.....

It was raining steadily when I arrived, but I was greeted by a military band!  I was told that this was the international military pilgrimage day. There were 12,000 soldiers from 40 countries; even the Vatican Swiss Guard was there, in their dress uniforms. Some were in dress uniforms, some in historic uniforms, and some in camoflage. 

Security was very tight, due to the nature of the event and recent terrorist attacks in France. Note the six French paratroopers carrying machine guns and helmets, and wearing body armor. 

I saw many people carrying candles, so I followed them to a candlelight procession. The prayers were in multiple languages, many of which I did not recognize. This is why the Catholic church is sometimes called the universal church. There were many people in wheelchairs. 

I concluded that the feast day of the Ascension, which is also a legal holiday in France, was the occasion of the crowds and the procession

So what is Lourdes? 

The reason Lourdes is known worldwide is that Catholics believe that Mary,  the mother of Jesus, appeared to shepherd girls there in 1858. 

Lourdes is a place of faith; there were literally thousands of people from dozens of countries in the procession. 

Lourdes is a place of mass tourism; there are souvenir shops lining the main street full of of junk and some higher-quality items.  The sign is ironic. 

Lourdes' church looks like something out of Walt Disney, too pretty to be real. 

Lourdes is a place of healing. People come from all over the world to bathe in the healing waters and perhaps be healed or helped in some way. My brother in law came when he had cancer, and it brought him some peace. 

I was fortunate enough to be at the grotto when the line was short, so I was able to touch the walls and the water. It was a reverent place. 

Friday was rainy.  I attended the Irish pilgrim's youth mass. They were from Armagh, with 15 priests, a bishop, and a cardinal. The sun came out late in the day. 

Unfortunately, I was spending more time fighting technology issues than I would like. That plus the rainy weather was detrimental to my attitude. 

Saturday morning, I had to admit that I could not start my pilgrimage on Saturday, as I had planned.  The places to stay on the trail were booked, due to the holiday weekend. But it had stopped raining. So I relaxed, watched a military event, and attended mass at the parish church. Since it was the day of our Lady of Fatima, they carried a statue of Mary around the church, while singing hymns to Mary. That was something that I had never seen before. 

After that I went up to the castle, a Château fort, which is also a museum.  I saw some interesting exhibits about the Pyrenees as well as some art related to the Pyrenees. There were fabulous views of Lourdes and of the valley. 

Overall the day was relaxing and pleasant, which I probably needed. 

I am off on pilgrimage - Colorado to Paris

May 12, 2015. I am off to France to start my walking pilgrimage. I started with a bus ride to the airport, and had a routine flight to Toronto.  There were long lines getting through customs and  immigration and security. I had some issues with the wifi and my phone power cable, so I got a bit frustrated, although I was ultimately able to check mail and Facebook.  

There was an amazing and massive Richard Serra metal sculpture in the gate area. It is hard to imagine how to put that shape into thick steel. 

 I announced my departure on email and Facebook; I am starting with good wishes from everyone. Sandi gave me a St. James medal to wear. I made six scallop shell pendants,  one to wear, and five to give away.

On the flight to Paris, I was seated next to an elderly couple headed home to Sri Lanka. The aircraft was a massive 777-300, completely full. I did not sleep.

 I collected my bag, bought a train ticket to Lourdes, and took the bus to downtown. I forgot that the toilets are not free, but a nice Frenchman paid the .70 for me, since I had not gotten Euros yet. I bought my train tickets in French, with some repetition. My French should be OK. 

I took the bus into Paris. I took the metro to the IBIS hotel near Place d'Italue, dropped off my bag, and headed for the sewer museum. At the sewer museum I joined a tour for a group of college students from the US. The sewer system was started by Napoleon, and consists of passageways tall enough to walk in. 

Then I took the metro to the Pere-Lachaise cemetary. I visited the graves of Edith Piaf, the artist Modigliani, and Jim Morrison. 

Perhaps the most interesting thing I did that day, however, was visit the Basilica of our Lady of perpetual help. I found it completely by accident, as it was hidden from the street. The church was full of plaques giving thanks to our lady, a kind of Exvoto. There was a lady there writing in a prayer request notebook. She passionately told me how powerful Our Lady was. I wrote in the notebook too, asking for help on pilgrimage. 

I had dinner at a sidewalk cafe, and chatted with the nice waiter, who had worked in Miami. I was tired, so I went to bed early. 

Thursday I had the morning free, before I take the train to Lourdes. It is a legal holiday, so it is very quiet and relaxing. I walked all morning, including Luxembourg gardens.