emilyonearth

Today was hard work. I may have begun to repress the memories already, as by the time we got to our albergue I thought nothing had happened and I had nothing to write about, until I looked at the photos!

Today was a big climb up to Alto del Perdón, part of a mountain range just south of Pamplona. We left early, around 6:10am, as we wanted to beat the day’s forecast 32°C (Spoiler: we were not successful). While the slope was again challenging at times, heading up wasn’t terrible. We passed a lot of crops: barley, wheat, rapeseed, peas, grapes, and (as we learned from our waitress at dinner) asparagus. The slugs today were outnumbered by snails. The ridge line of the mountain range was dotted with windmills. Once we got to the top there was a monument to the pilgrims who walk the Camino to Santiago and we stopped for photos and a short rest. It was also at this point that I dropped my phone, and I didn’t notice at the time but my screen has cracked, which I’m rather annoyed by. Shortly before I came away I had the battery replaced, and the repair people removed the screen protector, and I never put a new one on, so now it’s broken.

The way down was another gruelling descent. The path was rocky and uneven and steep, making it very hard work. By the bottom of it my knees where very unhappy. unfortunately, this was still not the final decline of the day, and by the time we finally reached Puente la Reina my knees felt like they were on fire.

Our usual afternoon routine ensued: shower, do laundry, lie on the bed incapable of movement, finally gather the energy to go in search of food, eat, return, sleep. We had a set menu for dinner tonight – a very common thing in Spain where for a set price you have a choice of entree, main, dessert, and drink. It’s nothing super fancy, but it doesn’t need to be – imagine getting a 3 course meal plus a drink (including wine/beer) for $30 in New Zealand!! Impossible.

Anyways, tomorrow we’ve planned a shorter walking day of around 12km to give my knees and mum’s blistered toes the chance to hopefully recover a bit. Hopefully it helps!