Overnight - Albergue Zaldiko
An interesting stage with some short but intense ups and downs and long stretches of pleasant shaded tracks.
I'd set off at 6:30am, but 20 minutes in, realised I'd left my passports (UK and Australian) back at the albergue in Roncesvalles. So I turned around and walked back to collect them after some fellow pilgrims had spotted them in my bunk space and handed them to the staff. No harm done. Anyway, the stretch out of Roncesvalles was pleasant enough to walk three times - sort of.
The rest of the stage wound through various small villages and I stopped at one - Viskaretta - for a quiet break half way in. The last several kilometres into Zubiri were spent chatting with a German from Frankfurt who's about to join up with her country's police force. She mentioned during the walk, in a reasonably embarrassed way when I asked her about it, that her worried parents had bought her a Fitbit device fitted with a GPS so they could log on from home at any time to check where she was out there. I wondered whether they would insist she keep wearing it when she eventually joined the police.
I hadn't booked any accommodation in Zubiri but was one of the first to arrive at the albergue Zaldiko and was checked in very quickly (securing my second bottom bunk in a row!). There were 4 double bunks in a reasonably small dorm, but perfectly fit for purpose. At Roncesvalles, the configuration was 2 double bunks in a very effective pod arrangement.
Following a refreshing shower, the rest of the afternoon was spent finding, and then sitting in, a bar watching stage 7 of Le Tour.
After yesterday's mammoth effort, today's walk was a little more benign, but still a solid challenge.
Weather - Again, another cloudless sky with no hint of the promised overnight rain. It warmed up reasonably quickly as the morning wore on, but there was plenty of shade on the track to take the sting out of the heat.
Health - The feet and knees suffered a little today on some of the lengthy, downhill, rocky segments toward the end of the stage but nothing terminal. And, again, the fatigue of the day ended after a nice lie down on arrival at Zubiri. I’m fortunate not to be reporting any more serious problems after an embarrassing moment at a water crossing, where Brierley advises to "Cross the rio Erro on stepping stones". Of course, I saw the stepping stones, but the water running over the slipway was less than ankle deep so why not just tramp straight through, right? Because you slip over and fall down if you do, that's why. Happily I was able to stand back up and, aside from a wet backside, there was no harm done. But it could so easily have been a different outcome. Note to self - “Avoid crossing moving water, no matter how shallow!”
Food - Apple; 2 Bocadillos (cheese and meat on bread rolls) with white coffee at a stop at the midway point at Viskarreta; Gel; 2 Cans Coke Zero + Bag manchito crisp-type things + Almond Magnum Ice-cream; Orange; Large Apple Pastry
Expenses - Accommodation - 10.00; Food/drink 13.80; Other 2.00 (a second Camino shell at a Zubiri tourist shop) Total 25.80
Walking time - 5 hours, 45 minutes (start 6:30am, arrive at accommodation 12:15pm)
Brierley distance - 21.9km (total 47.0km)
Daily Steps - 39,215
Total Camino steps - 83,874
No comments:
Post a Comment