After leaving Albury Friday afternoon… we have had an eventful time that included a massive flight delay in Melbourne, missed connection in China. That means another delay BUT also included an upgrade to premium economy (so worth the delay!) a game of musical chairs… and sighting the Eiffel Tower on landing we made it to Paris 🙂

Sweet Paris where the wonderful French helped us navigate the Rail System… Ally calculated that with 9 very loong lines of waiting, catching at least  5 trains (one beginning the wrong one & another a total fluke!) it’s  Sunday evening and we have finally made it too St Jean Port de Pied thou it was 1130pm!!

So with the fancy Capitol Hotel (one cannot pick and choose that late a night) able to supply beds and Cafe Ttippa able to feed us so late… I am now sitting here enjoying a cafè, orange perriomsse, and croissant (doesn’t beat the bottle of french champagne we had in Paris) after a restful nights sleep.

The day has arrived – time to get our pilgrim passport and start what we have been waiting for!

Buen Camino!

That is how Ally and I are going to make it thru this journey 🙂 so far the French have been wonderful… On our first day the countries we have met people from so far are Austria, Canada, USA, Holland, Spain, Italy, and even Australia! We are all here for the same purpose some going to Santiago others just walking for a week or two – everyone in high spirits on the first day everyone happy to help you 🙂

When reading about the Camino EVERYONE SAYS THE FIRST DAY IS THE HARDEST – and they are not lying!!! WOW so much relief and pride to see the end insight.

Today took us on our biggest climb – imagine the steepest part of FED HILL in Wodonga it’s steep and hard but you see the top from the bottom – short and sweet… Now imagine that part for 10 KM straight and that was the first part we walked today – determination water hydrolites mints and Ally detouring 1/2 K off the trek to a local farm in search of water so I didn’t die (I’m being over dramatic) got us thru oh AND the view. The sights are beautiful the people friendly and after 8 hours trek I’m here sitting watching the washing dry with about 5 different languages speaking around me 🙂

Oh and a KIT KAT – this Alberge is amazing – a million choices in their vending machines so happy right now.

Well off to dinner at one of the local 3 restaurants €10 will get us 3 courses with a bottle of wine 😉

Until next time
Buen Camino

Our set off from Roncesvalles began in the early morning with collecting our wet washing from the line… This meant with the strategic placement of each item on the outside of our bags so they can dry on the walk – we need them to dry because that’s what we’re wearing at the end of the day!! Our new title Human Washing Machines. I pretty sure other pilgrims were impressed with our ingenuity and it will fast become popular on our walk 🙂

Day 2 – they say never as hard as the first… And that’s what we kept reminding ourselves as we climb hills in blistering Spanish heat – sounds harsh I know but the canopy of cool Forrest that met us at the tops of the peaks was what got us to keep going 🙂 they’re right day 2 not as hard as the first and finishing just after 2pm in the little town of Zubiri boots off blisters popped and wine ordered it was a good day.

So what else can I tell you about today… Well we have lied to you! Yes, sorry we didn’t know either 🙁 . After walking over 25km day 1, about 3k’s in on day 2 – we see our first big road sign with a big surprise and a few chuckles we read SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA 790. Yep that’s right we’ve already walked for a day and haven’t even begun to count down from 780km!! Oops we’re walking 815km now 🙂

New friends have been made from Latvia, Ireland, Canada, New Mexico, and Igor a Basque man who came in very handy to have a Spanish translator for us 🙂

Looking forward to day 3 – it starts flat with only a few steep hills in the middle starting early to beat the heat (really we want to get to the pub by 2pm for wine time, it worked well for us today) so it’s 9pm and we’re off to bed! Don’t judge us we’ve had a big day.

Miss you all! Until next time
Buen Camino!

Our night in Zubiri was a good one with new friends and learning new cultures.. We found an Albergue for only €8 set up showered the hills off us, and showed some love for our feet…

There was a Spaniard, an Aussie, & a German at a bar…. Yep sounds like a joke but that was us!! Only 2 Aussies in this scene. And over dinner and a few bottles of the local wine no subject of conversation was left untouched!

What a good night – you’ll see some pics here of me explaining where we live in Australia – I drew a map on the serviette,  much to the amusement of Ally and you could clearly see our beautiful country 🙂 which lead to the question what is Australia’s favourite sport (open to a lot of opinions) I said AFL which lead to a million questions about this! Talk about funny  – I don’t think Ally stopped laughing at my attempts! Don’t worry Australia I converted 2 foreigners to our sport 🙂

Wine makes you sleepy.. Or it might be the combination of wine and 8 hours of walking which does that – either way with ear plugs in (a must in this style if accommodation) we hit the bunks early for an early start to beat the Spanish sol (sun)

Today we made it to Arre a little town outside Pamplona an easy 18 km day after such a mammoth start. Feet are getting used to punishment – we had hills, valleys, rivers, bridges, cobblestones and quaint little villages dotted along the track kept our senses alive 🙂

Note to self – stop and look around – this place is beautiful xxx

An afternoon searching thru this little town for anything to do – eat – or drink was an adventure in itself! The San Fernin Festival is in full swing so that means most (all) shops restaurants and bars shut for 5 or 6 days!! Even the ones selling stuff for San Fernin! We did find a lollie shop open and our new American friend Jamie shouted us a drink at the only bar open 🙂 plus a photo opportunity with some nuns…

Well time to get our red sash and head to Pamplona!
Bull fight tomorrow!
Buen Camino

We’ve been in Pamplona for 24 hours now and this town is crazy!! San Fermin Festival puts everyone in a happy mood, friendly, drunk, and loving… You really do feel sorry for the people who have to work during this festival.

We walked in looking around at the amazing beautiful buildings, distracted by a few party revellers wandering the streets still singing, dancing and drinking from the night before. We hit the main square grabbed prime spots at a kafé and ordered our first delicious churrios – YUM.

A drunk Irishman came over shocked we were not drinking yet and offered us his drink. A drunk Spaniard Paul befriended us too – we had no idea what he was saying, it wasn’t the language barrier it was the drunk barrier!

I know I’ve said drunk a lot already but it is San Fermin Festival!

We found our over priced accommodation easily so close to the heart if the centre, our box for the next 2 nights… Out of place in our trekking clothes it was nice to go shopping!! White and red is the only acceptable attire here! Thousands of people wearing it you feel like a local when you have it on 🙂

The party in the streets happen 24hrs a day! Parades, bands, singing, dancing pop up one after another to get anywhere you just join in!

One motto in this town is – if you can’t beat them.. Join them! And that’s what we did 🙂 the beer is cold the sangria good and the ‘local’ favourite red wine & coke mixed together ‘calmuchle’ – – drunk from a litre plastic cup! We had a go at everything!

After the afternoon at Bar Windsor, where we were befriended by some locals whose only English phrase was Rock and Roll!!! We were very grateful to have to go to catch our authentic Spanish experience…. The Bull Fight!!

The stadium was huge! The crowd excited! The sites, sounds, colours and spectacle was amazing a once in a lifetime experience for both of us. We witnessed 6 bull fights. 500 – 560kg angry bulls running out to the roar of the crowd – a brass band breaks out behind us everyone sings!! Then the drumming group start playing and the cheers happen! It’s a brutal experience  to witness – sadly by the end you are a bit desensitised by it.

On a sweeter note we were adopted by the family beside us 🙂 offering us cake and cherries and their own coffee (with alcohol of course) during the fights and they were amazed how far we had come and were happy for us to be there.

The crowd spills out onto the street afterwards and the night begins we were excited to catch up with our Camino friends Ranier and Igor again – having a local with us was good 🙂 we got around the back alleys, tiny bars and big drinks Igor told us a lot about the Basque Country and culture and we witnessed a crowd break out into dancing their traditional dance the line just got bigger and band turned up and the singing started! Crazy!!!!

And the party never stops… Never. We do wonder what this city would be like outside of the San Fermin Festival? It’s hard to imagine..

With little to no sleep, as you can’t when the band is just outside your window… This morning we made our way to our Balcony spot for our next local experience… Running With The Bulls!!! The whole experience is over in 6 minutes – at our spot (dead mans corner) you witness crazy people running away from 6 massive bulls and its flashed past you in about 6 seconds! You hold your breath the entire time!

We are at Grandma’s apartment and she ushers us in side to watch the rest of it on TV – it was a good run today a bull broke away from the herd and gouged a few runners… Yep that means its a good run!!

Another day in this crazy city awaits us… I wonder what will happen?

It is strange to say but we are both looking forward to putting our backpacks back on tomorrow and start walking again to witness more of the amazing country 🙂

Until then Buen Camino!

Where we left you yesterday, Ally and I were wondering what our rest day in Pamplona would hold… It held a lot!

First and foremost is the finding of the most delicious Mojito ever. Ever.

We stumbled upon food stalls in the local park, must be lunchtime… (Close enough – with our lack of sleep time was irrelevant) what goes perfect with Paella? Mojitos!!! And these would go perfect with anything 🙂 when ordering our third, we didn’t even have to ask, they knew what these 2 Australian chickas wanted 🙂

Restricting our shopping urge was hard.. The markets were good… I’m sure Ally can find room in her bag for a few things….

A good thing was catching up with a familiar face from home – home being Albury! Half way around the world and Ally and I catch up with Rob and his mate Simon – being our second night in Pamplona we were more than happy to show the guys the sites 🙂 from bands and parades to sangria fights and roof top dancing (Spanish grease mega Mix goes off!!) the four of us had a great night meeting new people and telling them that “we bought a Jeep”. With plans to meet up the next morning Ally and I headed home in the hopes of some sleep next to the note club outside our window… (Closing the window, ear plugs, pillows on heads – did not help at all).

6am once the music stops its time to get up to head to the Bull Run again only this time with all the common people down on ground level – with no sign from the boys (they got the wrong bus) we squished in between some Bolivian, American and Canadian tourists ready for our 6 sec glimpse of the bulls running past us again – the atmosphere electric we were happy to be a part of it.

With a quick coffee and breakfast with Rob and Simon once they turned up and a lot of laughing about last nights antics (how did we end up on that balcony listening to Savage Garden and Crowded House???) it was time to strap on the backpacks and follow the shells!!

Today found Ally and I in a moment where it really came to us what we are doing 🙂 With the purchase of our new STICKS we found ourselves upon a mountain after a very hot and hard climb with the Monumento Peregrino. A sight that we both think significant in our journey. A good site, and satisfying and beautiful one…

Then it was down hill- quickly. It’s strange that to get to the top it was long winding hard road – then they decide, that’s enough! Get down the bottom quickly!! In a straight line! Thank god for our sticks….

Having a late start left us hot and bothered in the hard Spanish afternoon sun so we pulled up short on our destination to a quite village which has free wifi so it will do 🙂 plus we can catch up with our new friend Brazil. After a 30km day, dinner had , and the church bells chiming its 9pm we are off to bed.

See you on the other side of another 30km day.

Buen Camino

We left the quiet streets of Obanos early, heading into Puente La Reiena for breakfast – a delightful bakery with good kafé con leché (coffee with milk) and a disgruntled employee who obviously didn’t like working that early…

Things were looking up when our German friend rocked up with his travelling companions Peaches and Chilli the donkeys! They have been travelling on foot from Germany already for 2 1/2 months.. Peaches took a particular liking to me and my kafé and I think we made friends to meet further along the road.

Well it’s time to start walking… With no love from the Spanish sun and a few hills to conquer we set our positive thoughts on reaching one of our exciting milestones… Fuente de Vino!! The wine fountain!! Now just 24km to get there…

There is a lot to think about when your walking, and your well wishes and supporting messages are awesome to ponder… Some of you have even said you wish you were here with us!
Let me tell you why you glad your aren’t:
1. Spanish SOL (sun) it’s hard it’s hot and it blisters your skin…. (One cannot wear enough sunscreen) it always looks like you’re wearing socks even if you are not.
2. You become puffy in Spain – cankles are the norm here and some how the bones in your wrist disappear!!! What wrists…
3. Beds are limited… More about that later.
4. Gravel and boulders and white roads… Some villages help you along the way by providing a white concrete path full of uneven boulders… Then you hit a river of gravel about 8 layers thick, I’m not sure which one is worse
5. What goes up up up for a long time, goes down really quickly AND steeply.

So these are the things we consider as we walk along a path, trek, road whatever we call it, it is forever changing and it has only been 154km 🙂

Buen  Camino!

Finally walking into Estella (said as Rocky Balboa would say it) was a thank god moment – not too long to go… Then about 15 minutes of walking thru the town we start to wonder how bloody far does this town go??!! Reaching the peak of yet another long concrete hill and a sign for a Albergue ahead one was thinking quit now and have wine for breakfast.

But the suburban jungle was fading away and a very large sign with the word vino was in site! It has been 14km since our last stop and all we wanted was our bread cheese fruit and vino…

What a moment we had! One of the reasons of doing this in the afternoon was to experience this with little to no peregrinos as usually Estella is the place to end that days journey, and the fountain is a first stop in the morning.. We had it right!

We heard a solitary “Buen Camino” greeting as we entered the pearly gates of heaven – opps sorry I mean the wrought iron entry to the fountain…

We made a new friend 🙂 Ronald from Austria (not Australia) he was traveling the way solo and the 3 of us set up a picnic, shared food and stories and drank the delicious vino from our water bottles. What a wonderful afternoon.

Stories shared on the way are great to hear. Ronald shared some history from his country and his calming voice and detailed expressions kept us interested and continually asking questions. History, religion, family, and wishes were swapped amongst the three of us. All in between refilling our water bottles with vino 🙂

Getting late, we bid farewell to our new friend and continued along the way to get to the next Albergue only a few km’s down the road…

6.2km to be exact – with light fading and feet screaming to be set free from their shoes it is amazing how one can be on such a high then shot down to the lowest of lows when the town we entered has no accommodation in it and the next town is 3+ k’s away… We walked separately at that point both contemplating What the F we are doing!!!

Up yet another hill we reach Villamayor de Monjarden with 2 Albergues we are surely safe for the night! Ya!!

“I’m sorry we are full. There is no floor space either, full also… But we do have a solution, you can sleep in the shelter in the town centre!” A happy volunteer tells us smiling at 730pm at night after walking over 30km that day….

We hold our breath… Nod our heads – and remember this is the Camino – this can happen! But no worries we can use the showers for €2 so things are looking up!

Upon inspecting our patch of concrete (our bed for the night) we laugh and met yet another friend who makes the night seem not completely s**t – Eric from Holland! He and his companions are with us tonight – all in all 6 of us..

The kindness of strangers comes out again with the offer of sleeping matts for us who have laughed at the people trudging these along the Camino (why would u need that!) a tiny bit of comfort makes all the difference …

After more wine and beer (we needed it to numb the body for the night ahead) we go to bed… If only someone could turn the street lights off?? Towel as a pillow and shirt for an eye mask – this is going to be fun!

The church bells tell us each hour that goes by and the town dogs serenade us with their howling – no they don’t we just want them to shut up!!!!!!!!

Somewhere between 1am and 5am a few hours of restless sleep happened until I’m awoken by the pilgrim wanting his sleeping mat back – yep some start that early!

So if you can’t beat them – join them and after 31.8km the day before and sleeping outside on the concrete in the town square we are off with the loving help of a musli bar from our gorgeous Eric – today lets go easy….

19km later on a road i like (no boulders or gravel) and we hit Torres del Rio!! This little slice of heaven for €10 at an Albergue with a POOL – Spanish sun eat your heart out we are stopping here for the day 🙂

Starting today was not good…. I could find my tape for my feet… My pack wasn’t sitting right on my back… And our sticks had disappeared!!! What!

Ally and I set off struggling with the thought of travelling without our support crew (our sticks) I couldn’t get comfortable my back feeling strange, Ally saying the same with hers… It was not looking to be a happy 20km trek.

Leaving our loving host Parko and the comfort of our Albergue the SOL (sun) must have felt our unease as he allowed cloud cover and cool breeze to provide some comfort however not seeing the sun rise like normal added to the list of hardship for today..

Then came the time to stuck it up and just keep walking, our first hill (with no stick). Reaching the top we can see in the distance our next stop a small town with a big church (like all small towns here) called Viana 10km away with the hope of good kafé.

Up and down we walked both swapping horror stories of what may have happened to our support crew… When in silence a familiar sound of click click could be heard???

We both ponder the thought – could it be??? We pick up the pace and see a few pilgrims all with sticks up ahead – they sound like ours… Didn’t we see them yesterday with no sticks? Ally us comparing height and colour – very FBI like coming to the conclusion that we have confirmation – pilgrims have ‘acquired’ our sticks! ‘

The challenge is catching them, the hills are steep and they have the help of sticks… Finally they stop for a break and we have the chance to catch up.

We have practised our diplomatic approach, as with any pilgrims innocent till proven guilty… ‘Hola’ is always a nice opening…

The 2 girls from Netherlands were happy to have found the sticks owners! They were at the end of their beds (yes – which was also next to mine…) and with no bags with them (yes, our bags were in lockers) they thought they had been forgotten and were going to reunite them with the owners at the next stop. Truth be told we would’ve done the same 🙂 but who cares! We got our support crew back and blitz the morning 10kms.

Relaxing at Viana and fruit packed for our snack – sticks in hand we set off for our stop today Logroño another 11-12km away and seem from the top of the hill as we leave the town.

It’s comforting to see your destination in the distance 🙂 your goal is set and looks attainable.

A few days when you don’t see where your headed can bring you down a bit because you start to feel heavy in the foot and you mind starts to complain where are you going and how much further??? You can’t count on the signs posted on the camino either one might read 8.7km to go then you walk for an hour to discover the next one says 8.3km to go!!

We hit Logroño is good time, find our bed for the night (€10) and discover a beautiful old city 🙂 a lovely afternoon to have distracting us from our 31+km trek tomorrow…

Let’s not dwell on that – that’s tomorrow 🙂 until then Buen Camino

We are proud of us today walking 30+ km’s today 🙂 to tell you the truth it wasn’t that eventful….

There were no bulls running, no one stole our sticks, we got a bed (admittedly in a room with 88 other people), we walked and got no injuries – however the ache in the feet travels up your legs after 25km…

So what can we tell you??

We got up at 5am this morning.
We past by a sign that tells us we have 576km to go till Santiago.
Kafé con leché is getting better with each day.
We met an English film maker who doesn’t personally know Colin Firth. (Ally = guttered)
We sat by a giant bee hive which no one can tell us the history of..
And a French lady stole Ally’s personal space to such a degree that all I can do is laugh while I’m typing thinking about it…
We saw another way to do the Camino – by mountain Scooter!
We discovered €3 can buy you 2 glasses of wine and 2 pinchitos.
We got a years supply of Ibuprofen for €2.

We also discovered a new type of road…. Red Clay. And after a night of rain it is Red Clay Mud. Not the best to walk on but comparing it to the gravel and pebble track, we don’t know which was worse.
Maybe we are getting used to it… With the big dramas we’ve faced over the past week, are we just adjusting to the Camino life??
We will keep you posted… Off to find some ice cream!

Spent the evening out the front of the Albergue talking to different countries, guys cutting each others hair – clearly not hairdressers but short all over was the style. An elderly man broke out in opera for a song or two with applause from everyone, then a ukulele came out and the holiday feeling followed… I can’t sing but my help was appreciated 🙂

10pm curfew was approaching, so we all head into our room for sleep… Lets hoping the guy next to me doesn’t snore….

Another morning starts with a line of peregrinos trudging up a trek slowly waking up and psyching themselves up for the walk today… It doesn’t help when the first 1km is straight up a hill.. I thought Spain would be flat.

Today is an easy day only 19km we can do that by lunchtime 🙂 the legs although still feel the 30+km from the day before – never mind it’s a pilgrim life!

Scenery today consists of vineyards, whet, spinach farms, and dry fields… The undulating fields find a rhythm and soon we’re halfway, and on top of another hill there is shade, and seats, and company…

An elderly Spaniard greets us with a smile and seats – he tells us in very good english that he comes out here 3 to 4 days a week to provide chairs for peregrinos and to practise his english. This guy is about 75 years old and travels 40km to sit here and converse with us 🙂 such a nice man, we have our own personal Spanish lesson – well Ally does because she is the interpreter, i just listen and jump in when I understand.. A French couple joins our group and the Spaniard breaks out in fluent French! Show off 🙂

We hit the road and by noon we’ve hit Santo Domingo our stop for the night – seeking refuge in a very very very basic Albergue run by nuns (it’s only €5) we settle into our routine of shower – wash clothes – hang clothes and find cold beer – and food of course 🙂

This is a town of 5,000 people and they have this incredible cathedral that could fit every one of them! Amazing! Saint Dominic was a great advocate for the pilgrims back in the 15th century – remind me to tell you about the rooster and the hen sometime… Even Ally loved my history lesson…

Off to see a Spanish puppet show in the town square with a bottle of vino 🙂

Buen Camino!