Day 3- Hallelujah, Off to Santiago

ISept 14

Destination - Zubiri

Distance - 21km

Hours of walking - a few too many

Terrain - it started as an enchanted forest and then ended with a steep and rocky river bed

Weather - pretty perfect for walking, but required wardrobe changes. Learning that the rain jacket should never be far away. 

Nature - snails, sheep

Misadventure - After a relaxing coffee, Brenda should never navigate. Missed an arrow and would have left town the wrong direction except for Spaniards yelling 'You're going the wrong way!'

Sleeping in a monastery has a very unique wake up call... Camino volunteers walking the halls singing at 6:00am 'Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are off to Santiago' in beautiful three part harmony. A very wonderful way to start our day. 

Leaving the monastery 

We started the day walking through what looked like an enchanted forest. It was a lovely and very peaceful hike. Then the skies opened up and we sought refuge in a little bar and enjoyed rich warm coffee. The coffee is just amazing here. 

Beautiful forest

Our pace was a little too relaxed. We spent some more time relaxing at lunch and then discovered that we had a steep and rocky climb down to Zubiri that we were not anticipating. We made it and crossed a stone bridge into a quaint village. We obtained beds in a very wonderful and clean Albergue.

Our Alburgue. Edith was on the top bunk

We have been fortunate so far. We thought we couldn't move, but a hot shower and a cold beer has marvellous powers. 

The Orrison gang

We met some great new roommates. An older couple from Australia that are walking the Camino together. They saw the movie The Way and decided they would walk. They have been training and walking 24kms a day!! Much more committed than us!

Our other roommates were newly weds spending their honeymoon on the Camino. A lovely couple from South Carolina that were very interesting. He knew more about Canada than most Canadians (knew that Tommy Douglas was from Saskatchewan) so we had some great conversations. His claim to fame was that his daughter is the actress that plays Joan on Mad Men and his son is on Madam Secretary. 

We met up with friends from our first night in Orrison for a drink and then our German roommates joined us for dinner. 

The German pilgrims 

We have met so many interesting people and everyone has so much fun together. Dinner, a pilgrim meal was spectacular. We had salad (which I have been missing), soup, cod and wonderful cake for dessert. And of course wine, included in the meal!!

Day three was a tough one; even with people having aches and pains, spirits are high. People are digging through packs to see what can be done without to lessen the weight. Part of the Camino, stripping yourself down to the bare necessities. 

We see lots of signs during the day. We look for the yellow arrow and shells to guide us. 

This was my favourite sign of the day. A little encouragement goes a long way. 

Cheer of the day from Wendy - the special cheer goes to our new friend Tara from Toronto who joined our family. She put it in high gear at the end of the day to go ahead and get beds for all of us. Had she not, there was the possibility of no beds. Other pilgrims had to walk to the next town. We were in an excellent Alburge with a wonderful meal. We are finding pilgrims do this for one another. A strong sense of team amongst people we have known such as short time. 

Buen Camino!