Day three, Aug 11.

Though the second half of the trek over the Pyrenees seemed long – mostly because of the heat – we arrived in Roncesvalles by early afternoon. The check-in process was quick and efficient, plus Cindy and I were lucky to have bed assignments in the same ‘pod’. Having been recently renovated, affording more privacy, we also had individual lockers & outlets for our electronics. But first everyone’s shoes go into a separate room to help keep the sleeping quarters cleaner – yes, it smells like stinky feet!

There’s not only an Albergue here, but a hotel and two restaurants serving the public as well as pilgrims. That day was very crowded and service awful. We had to wait for food and drink for over an hour and we were hot and hangry. Also a bit nauseated because of the heat and not having eaten since breakfast…still learning! So we were going to put some food and beverage into our stomachs before the much needed shower and washing our sweaty, dusty clothes.

As mentioned previously, this Albergue houses about 300 – no idea if they were full, but we had to wait in line for showers and to wash our clothes. That accomplished, we had a little time to rest and explore.

At dinner, we met Matti from Sweden, a Danish couple, a young man and his uncle from Italy (who said they were camping after today and that they were carrying 25 and 40 lb backpacks!), George (“from Albania living in Italy”) and Onno from Amsterdam who was one of our bunk mates. From the photo, you can see we shared a very big room with a lot of other pilgrims. Many snorers – thankful for good earplugs!

One of the albergue volunteers walked throughout the floors of the Albergue in the evening playing music and again in the morning singing “Good morning, good morning….”  Put a smile on everyone’s faces.

When we booked the Albergue several months before, we’d chosen to have breakfast the next morning before heading out to Zubiri. In hind sight, we’d have skipped it in order to get on the trail earlier to beat the heat but who could have predicted the heat wave that far ahead? So we sat down with a few others, quickly ate and put on our backpacks – by that time the sun was already above the horizon.

The trail out of Roncesvalles was wide and graveled and wove through a very quiet forest (where it is believed that long ago ‘white’ witches held their healing rituals); then on through golden meadows.

The day before, as we were having a sangria, we had run into Lorenzo and during our chat with him, he’d asked if horse meat was popular in this region. We were a little taken aback at his question; both of us thinking, this isn’t a third world country and responding “I don’t think so”! So, when we were walking next to a lovely field a short distance out of Roncesvalles, where we saw a man bringing his horses to feed, we stopped and Cindy asked in Spanish… What do you use the horses for? His answer: “Para comer”. Direct translation – ‘for to eat’…!!  😳 Whoa!. So, next time we saw Lorenzo, we told him we owed him an apology. You learn something new every day!

Next town, Burguete, which is generally a breakfast stop but since we’d already had breakfast, we didn’t stop. Hemingway spent time here trout fishing with friends. He stayed in the hotel Burguete where the piano (still there) has his signature. Then on through Espinal, a sweet little village with these thistle and flower bundles on many of the homes’ front doors.

The day was heating up and we had to stop several times in whatever shade we could find to try and stay cool. Before heading down the final treacherous descent into Zubiri, we stopped to air our feet and refill our water containers at a food truck – strategically placed. 😉 We also met up here with Onno. It seemed no matter how far ahead of him we started out, he always ended up ahead of us somehow. Of course, his legs were longer and we stopped many times to takes photos. 

By the time we reached Zubiri, we were totally exhausted and hot as hades. The temp was over a 100°! The Arga River running next to the town called our names and we quickly dropped our packs, tore off shoes and socks and waded into the welcoming icy water.  We should have just dived in as later we realized that Cindy had some heat exhaustion. But we wanted to check in to our Albergue, shower and wash our clothes then look for some dinner so we didn’t linger long enough.

On our way to the Albergue, we ran into George and found out he was staying in the same one and there were only the three of us sharing the room. Sweet!  A quiet night!  Dust and sweat washed off and clothes laundered, food next. We wanted greens, so had to walk a half mile in 102° to the nearest – and only – restaurant in that town that had any. They also had great paella and ICE CREAM. And I had my one and only gin and tonic since I’d been in Spain. It was big and it was full of ICE!  Which we were both about ready to bathe in. I swear I don’t remember ever being so overheated. And we had to walk back!  Well, we obviously survived since you’re reading this. Back in our room at the albergue, we prepare for yet another hot day planning to leave in the cool of the morning – before sunup.

Back through Pamplona tomorrow!

“It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees.”

Check the Photo Album for a few more pics. 🙂