Day Seven

Today was fun in that not only were there the acres and acres of grape orchards today there were many olive trees and most of the trail was full of wild dill, helping the day fly by with the great smells. I have to admit that today I took advantage of the offer from the Hotel Monaco; a very upscale 1* hotel and a huge improvement from the Albergues...I digress...to carry Pilgrim backpacks ahead to Logrono for 8 euros. I took advantage of the service and completed 18 miles in just over 4 hours. Pete here...she left me!! I was put into a closet, then a van and again in a closet! I hope this is not going to be a habit, as I am not pleased! This slack packin thingy is for wimps!

Day Six

Today I Passed the fountain that actually has wine and water. There was quite a few pilgrims in line to fill their "water' bottles at 7:30 in the morning, thismade me laugh. I came to a crossroads today where I could travel up a mountain to see a monastery or around the mountain and as I stood there deciding Three older women from a nearby village asked me to come with them so we went around the mountain as they walked with me I understood about one in every 300 words. Essentially it brings them good luck to walk with a pilgram for a while so they took me to their village where they pointed the fountain out so I could refill my water it was actually quite fun. I am now in Lowes Arcos and will go get dinner soon thank you for following me have a great day. I am in Los Arcos... For most of the day and most days the path is lined with raspberries, blueberries and BlackBerry bushes as well as small-and large gardens. The Stones and gravel are white leaving your shoes covered in a white dust most Albergues do not allow the shoes in the dorms. I have seen many pairs of crocs and some folks attempting to walk the Camino in their crocs due to multiple blisters. Blisters are certainly a plenty here and often times very difficult to see the amount of pain people are in day to day due to blisters. Many of the villages we pass are very sweet lined with flower boxes of reds and oranges as well as often times with the real grapes growing along the windows

Day Five

I have decided to name my right knee BABY. This is due mainly to the fact that it yells screams pinches cries whines and throws full temper tantrums at me all darn day. Today I was struggling to come down a steep area when a 'gentleman' Pushed me aside to continue down the hill In front of me let's just say Baby protested loudly! I started to laugh when a very nice much older Gal from Germany was so worried she stopped to help me. Needless to say I passed the 'gentleman' just a little bit further down the trail. I am now in Estella, It is a very nice town and I will take time today to walk around and see the old part of the village. I am tired this is much harder than I had planned and baby is acting up something fierce I hope tomorrow will be a better day. I find many parts of the Camino to be very peaceful and other parts very frustrating. Walking alone along the trail in the woods on leaves so thick that when you start to walk back on the trail the crunching of your boots sounds so loud was very enlightening. Watching people smoke and toss their cigarette butts along the way makes me crazy. Yesterday I saw a larger German woman hobble in to the Albergue, Behind her was her husband caring not only his pack but hers set perpendicular on top of his I was amazed. The other fun fact for me is when someone behind you sees you going the wrong direction they holler hey hey hey and when you turn they point you back to where you should be going. I have been the one to say hey and I have been the one to hear hey. Also everyone passing each other always says Buen Camino! One thing I realized today is you cannot tell the ability of someone based on appearance ...I have seen fit folks unable to finish the day and stop early, large folks who look like the walk to the mailbox might send them for a nap rock the day with energy to spare. I embrace the idea of letting folks prove in lieu of assumptions!

Day Four

Arrived in Fuente La Reina early this afternoon. Day had a long very difficult downhill descent full of many loose rocks. I am getting much faster but saw several people fall today due to the descent. Walked up to the windmill farm could not hear anything because of the windmills. It was very Cool to be so close to them. Weather held Which I am very grateful for tomorrow is supposed to be very hot. Walked alone most of the day nice to just have the quiet. Tomorrow brings another hill to climb guess that's what happens when you decide to hike across a mountain range. Pilgrim dinner at 7:30 then off to bed. Hoping to finally get some sleep hard to share With so many people in the same space at night Until tomorrow...

Day Three

I arrived at Pamplona in record time, off to sight see, will let you know what the day brings...much love, dawn The day was quiet, it is a festive city, coming to life in the evenings with tons of families in the squares. Had a great Pilgrim Dinner and looking forward to the start of another day of what I like to call the T&H Factor...Turtle (this would be me) and the countless Hares who run past you then stop for an hour or more, then run past you, stop for an hour or more, only to end up far behind you at the end of the day...they spend the day trying to catch up from the time loss doing 'other stuff' it tends to make me smile and try not to say politely...it is not a race. But there is a factor of space in the Municipal Albergues which do fill up...still seems a bit frantic...perhaps it just reminds me of myself too often over the years Ñ= for now, I will just turtle my way along as tomorrow is a long day with another (yep!) hill to climb. Pete is getting lighter, perhaps from the use of the stuff in my bag, or simply from me finding a way to just be for now and let him ride it out... Here is also a special note to my dear friend Dana who lost her Mama recently. I will take her with me along my trek; we will see the sites and she will have a permanent Caron here along the Camino. I will let you know when I find her spot! Big Hugs to you my amazing friend, I am there in heart! Continued Side Note: I gave Isabeta a pair or thin socks to put inside her existing thicker socks to see if they would help provide more give and less impact or friction to her already distroyed feet, she thanked me in Italian and off she went hobbling towards the next phase of her Camino, I was certainly humbled to see the determination!

Day Two

Waking up and meeting for Breakfast with some of my new ´friends´ Rosa from Italy, Hazel and Donal from Kent we headed out in a torrential rain storm...and the controversy of poncho vs. jacket, poncho wins (Ta Da) hands down. After only 2 miles, my new companions started to look for a place to have cóffee, here is where we parted ways. I continued for the next 5 hours alone, sidestepping the many snails (which look like a large cigar wearing a tuxedo), stopping at the crosses of those Pilgrims who passed away along the Camino and reflecting. OK so I was also thinking, are you freaking kidding me (remember the what goes up, must come down thing) well I went down and down and down along loose stones and sand...I arrived in Larrasoana and found a place at the Municipal Abergue. The sheet and pillow were rubber, blue in fact, on metal beds and mine was next to the bathrooms (too close! to the men´s...). To my surprise I found Antonino who had left earlier in the day, and towards the day´s end arrived Donal, Hazel and just before the Pilgrim´s meal, Rosa...so nice to see friendly faces! I enjoyed the time alone, nice to just be walking along trails in such lush scenery, I felt blessed. I met a family with a 10 year old son from Spain, A daughter, mother and grandmother from Germany, a single Mother and her 12 year old daughter from Portugal...so many families making the Pilgrimage together gave me many moments of smiles! It was a hard day, the decline on the loose stones were difficult, but to share a meal at the end of the day, with those I had met before I started and those I added along the way... Oh and remember the where I slept I mentioned earlier, lets just say a few gentlemen had a bit too much of the Pilgrims wine and awakened me for hours for apparently what goes in must also come up and out...needless to say they used all the T Paper and thankfully everyone must have read the same book as we all had our own, allowing for a crisis of the white paper kind to be averted! Side Note: The Camino is not kind to all, Isabeta arrived with blisters the size, well of her entire foot with toes bleeding. We put string through the blisters and gave her some Advil as well as some mole skin, it was hard to watch her walk even to the dinner seeing her feet in such bad shape!

Day One

It has taken me the better part of 2 days to be able to talk about Day One as the trek (and I must call it a trek) from St. Jean to Roncesvalles as it was harder than I could have prepared for...as I am not certain anyone truly could. It is incredibly lush, much like a rainforest (think Ho forest in Seattle) with horses the size of Clydesdale, beautiful cows the color of buckskin and sheep with white bodies and black legs, many sport large bells and the ringing (well more like clanking) is abundant. The accent was one which never seemed to end; as we crested one hll another awaited, this to be repeatedly continously for hours...the common agreement amongst the pilgrims was not to say, ¨this is the top.¨ The top did come, but what goes up must come down, and the descent sent more than one pilgrim toppling as it was extremely steep. I spent my day hiking with Antonino from Italy, who as we descended through the forest of white birch trees, was determined to find a walking stick having arrived sans any walking support. He picked up 2 of which he discarded for reasons of weight, shape, etc. As anyone with a ´bum´knee knows the pain in the knee is worsened by either going up or down...mine is of the going down variety. Therefor, as I hobbled down the trail at a snails pace, I got to see first hand the recycling of the walking sticks picked from the forest. Antonino discarded his first, only to see another hiker pass us with the same stick in hand, watching them toss it aside (perhaps Antonino was on to something...)and yet another show up later with the same stick. The day took 7.5 hours to go 29KM or essentially just under 18 miles...at the end of the trail was the Abergue run by the Muncipality. I was put into a bunk with 3 other people, 1 gal from Peru who hiked with a rollerbag with straps and dock martins...I can´t make this stuff up! And a couple from Poland, Gus told me my bag was too heavy and proceeded to find items he thought I could live without...LOL We attended a Pilgrim´s Blessing; where everyone I had met on the train coming from Bayonne was also in attendance. They did the blessing in French and Spanish; calling out each country the pilgrims in attendance represented...I was moved by how many were there from literally all over the world, trying to accomplish a single goal! All in all the day was truly one of the hardest things I have ever completed, I kept saying to myself...many, many, many have gone before you...you too can do this! Also the 79 year old I met from France who did it over 3 days was a inspiritation...if she could do it, then I must muster the moxie to at least try!

About to Start

I arrived in St. Jean it is extremely lush. Met already some amazing folks on the journey. Tomorrow is the hardest day of the entire trek so calling it a night.

Almost There

At DIA. After many further disputes Pete is at 31.5# will be a bit more once I add water...this scares me as it is more than I had planned to carry! I will land in Paris at 7am local time (approx midnight CO time). From there I have another 12 hours before arriving at mt starting point around 7pm local time. I will start my trek Sunday morning.

Ready or not!

So today is Monday, August 19th and I leave this Friday, August 23rd for St Jean Pied de Port in France, arriving Saturday night in time to get some sleep before I start my Pilgrimage from France to Spain on what is known as the Camino de Santiago. Here are a few facts about me -this is not a religious quest, this is simply a Pilgrimage of a Single Mom, who has a deep seated need to make a difference and see the world. I hope that by trying to walk nearly 500 miles by myself (OK so I expect there will be other Pilgrims :) ) in a few weeks and seeing a part of the world for me not yet explored, I will find the time to really reflect on my now what for the next 20 years or more. I will arrive back home in Boulder, CO (well this is the plan at this time) on Saturday evening September 14th. I will attempt to blog, bear with me if there are some gaps in my posts...but for all of you who have asked me to blog...well in short, you did ask for it! My pack weighs 25# before adding my H2O Bottles...I have attempted over the past few months to do 20+mile walks with the damn thing and often times wondered, could I really do this again tomorrow? I looked at the option of 'slack packin' which allows a person to walk while a company carries your pack forward; however discovered this service is geared towards the rich and famous, of which I am currently neither. Therefore, I will schlep 'Pete' my pack with me, hoping to not leave him somewhere along the trail, discarded simply from exhaustion. (Pete came by the name - from the fact that I put things in, took things out, put things in, took things out...Pete just seemed to sum up this manic behavior of weighing things in ounces and deciding something weighing 4oz was too much and had to go...). I had hoped to unplug for most of this quest, but due to the overwhelming need for people to track my every move - snort! I will attempt to blog...hang in there, the ride will be bumpy...but know I may not have blogged for a few days, simply due the fact I could not raise my arms to type. Big Hugs to all of you! Here is to the discover of the 'now what' we all face as we look over the horizon and find more is behind us than ahead of us and we must determine how to make it truly exquisite!