Roncesvalles to Zubiri (21.9km)

Today I woke up feeling far less sore than I expected, which was nice. I had slept pretty well. Can't say the same for Sean - Kim had a mean snore, and Sean had a shortage of ear plugs. Poor guy, it seems that someone is always disrupting his sleep. He even got woken up by the cat on the first night in St Jean when the cat decided to rotate beds. Margaret said the cat even slept with her too. I guess I'm the only one he didn't sleep with... life is unfair!

Everyone in the room woke up at 7:30 for breakfast at 8:00. Breakfast was at the nearby cafe, where we had dinner last night, and was pretty great. Coffe cake, ham, cheese, bread, a very ripe apple, orange juice, and un cafe con leche. I ate it all, plus Kim's leftover coffee cake, because I don't want to become flat Stanley by the end of the Camino.

Kim left early to get a head start since he said we'd pass him up soon anyways. Margaret, Sean, and I headed out at about 9:00. The walk today was beautiful, far more beautiful than yesterday's! We never followed a main road and were always either in a forest, climbing a hillside, or walking through a tiny town. The beginning of the day was nice and sunny, with plenty of countryside and rolling hills with snow-capped mountains in the background. The three of us continued comparing cultures, talking about Irish slang vs American slang, and telling each other about our lives.

We stopped at the first town we came across for some refreshments. Margaret and Sean both got eggs and coffee, and I got a coke. I definitely rethought my decision when I saw their coffee, but the coke was good anyways. Then, after a short walk down the wrong path, we continued on into the hills for some more trekking.

It started drizzling right about then, and didn't stop for the rest of the day. It was a very light rain, but enough to get you wet if you were out for at least 20 minutes. I realized by this point that I had brought too many jackets though, because I heat up quick, especially when moving. So the most I can truly handle without getting super sweaty is one jacket. Because of the drizzle, I decided to go with my rain jacket. Even that got me sweaty pretty quick, but blessedly I was able to discover the full potential of the torso zippers on the Outdoor Reseaech Foray II. They zip all the way from your bicep to your hip, and you can basically wear it as a poncho. This was a perfect set up for me, because it allowed me to stay dry while dumping heat. 10/10 would recommend 👍🏻

I've been counting the cats that I see on the Camino. So far I'm at 7. We saw number 6 going through another small town. Most of them are timid unfortunately. Oh well. At least the towns are beautiful. They're very small, probably holding at most 100 or 200 people. They're really more of a collection of homes most of the time. But the locals are very nice and the bar/cafe owners usually ask about how the Camino is going if they speak English! One of them told us that the winters have been getting warmer, which allows more pilgrims to walk in the winter season. Interesting stuff!

From there, it was all mountainy forest and no towns for probably the last 10 kilometers. The rain continued on. We walked a lot of that section in silence, allowing me to think and reflect about my time out on the Camino so far. It was peaceful.

I asked Sean a lot more questions about Ireland too. I learned why Magner's cider is called Bolmer's only in Ireland, what the huge bagged hay bales piled up on the side of the road were for, and a lot else about Ireland that I had never known. It was good fun and great conversation. I really like Sean. He's a very genuine guy with a good heart. And his accent is great too, of course.

After plenty more walking, we were nearing Zubiri, our destination city. We finally arrived around 2:45, which was pretty decent considering we had left after a later breakfast and had stopped for a good 30 minutes for refreshments.

The town seen above is our destination for the day, Zubiri, as seen from our mountain descent. It is a very small town, with an odd industrial feel to it. That's probably because they have a big highway road splitting the entire town.

Once we got to town, the three of us checked into our albergue and dropped our stuff off. Our albergue is sitting right above the Rio Arga, a quaint little river. There are fields with sheep right next to it, which gives a nice countryside feel. The albergue is the nicest we've stayed at so far. We even got towels! This is a luxury, since my tiny lightweight hand towel takes forever to dry myself with.

After dropping our stuff off at the albergue, the three of us went to get a late lunch/early dinner. We went to the only restaurant open in town. I had paella and veal cutlet. It was decent food. All three of us were sort of spacing out throughout the meal since we were so tired. It will definitely be nice to get to bed tonight.

On the way back from the restaurant, I got to call Mikayla. It was so nice to talk to her. I told her about my day and she told me about her day yesterday. It was lovely to hear her voice and just get to talk like usual. I miss her very much and I think about her very frequently during my walks. It is nearly only three months until the wedding!

After our call, it was about 5:00. I took a much needed shower and hand washed my clothes, then went downstairs into the common area. I found a spiritual preparation section of my Camino guidebook, so I decided to read it and fill out the questionnaire. They recommend filling it out again after the Camino and seeing if you've reached your goals. I realized that my real goal is to receive a new set of eyes with which to see God in the world. Spiritual eyes. I want to be able to see God in all of His creations, be it people, places, wildlife, nature, or anything else. I also want to be able to have more of a consistent conversation with God throughout the day. I definitely need to be intentional about that if I want to achieve it, and practicing over the length of my Camino is perfect. I'm looking forward to applying that more intentionally tomorrow.

After reflecting on that, I met a nice middle aged couple from the Netherlands who were making dinner. Their son was with them on the Camino. They had a week, and since they loved hiking, they decided to spend the week here. They were lovely people. I asked, and they said they knew 5 or 6 languages each. Amazing! We talked about where we've been and what our hometowns are like for a little bit. It's great to get to meet other pilgrims! Everyone is so kind, and everyone has the time to talk with others and share about their journey and their life.

After that, Margaret, Sean, and I decided to make lunch for tomorrow and make a small dinner. We headed to the local shop which looked like it had just closed. Upon knocking, they opened back up for us to quickly buy some bread, ham, and cheese. Then we made some sandwiches and ate them while talking in the common area. We reflected on our walks so far, and our excitement to reach a big city. It was a nice peaceful evening.

By that point it was about 10:00. We all decided it was time for bed. I wrote this post and prayed my rosary in bed. It was a good day! I'm so grateful to God for giving me friends and a nice reflective trip so far. I'm excited to see what He has in store for me moving forward!