I was awoken this morning by the same plastic bag rustlings as the day before when all the early starters got up and moving. The dorm was co-ed and located inside a beautiful old abbey. The dorm was on the main level with the kitchens, laundry and bathrooms down below. Pristine clean and very well organized. I went out into the early cool dawn and gave my myself a quick body checklist rundown. Surprisingly I felt in good shape even my feet were not complaining. I fell in with David, one of my compadres from the day before and it wasn´t long after leaving Roncevilles that we came into Burgette immortalized by Hemingway in The Also Rises . In the midst of the village we found an open cafe by a sign honouring old Ernst and calling this the start of the Ruta de Hemingway where we had a espresso and croissant and then set off following the trail markers through pastures climbing back into the hills. The next few hours were spent traversing through hillside fields fringed and bordered by pine forest. At Lintzoain we had another short ,steep climb where I found myself labouring again. Fortunately the climb was short but at the top I found myself confronted with a shrine to a sixty two year old Japanese pilgrim who had suffered a heart attack and died. This kind of alarmed me because the Japanese aren´t known for heart attacks and I realized I was out here all alone again just like at sea except no Deb to back me up with her watchful eye. Also all my medical ID was in my backpack since I refuse to wear jewellery of any type when travelling. By lunch we had pulled into Zubiri where after some poking around we found a restaurant where I had a great lentil soup with coarse bread. After lunch back down to the river by the ancient bridge where everybody was soaking their dogs. I left David there who was having a foot problem and decided to push on to Larronsona following the track as it ran by the river Arga. Less than two hours later I pulled into Larrasona and got a bed in the municipal albergue where I met Italian Daneillo who I had crossed the mountain with the day before. He and his group invited me along to dinner at the local restaurant and we had a great evening with David also making it in eventually. We managed the second sitting at 8 pm which is still early for the Basques but by ten we were all back in our bunks. The restaurant was very charming full of Basque farming and logging implements with shelves of hard bound books and beautiful framed Camino pictures filling the walls. Dinner was a standard pilgrim offering with white asparagus, steak and yogurt. I headed back to my bunk and crashed. To be continued.... |
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