Day 4 and 5 - Zubiri to Pamplona to Uterga

Two rough days with blisters beginning to develop but the pain was dulled by the beautiful Navarra region.  

Started in St Jean with 482 miles to walk to Santiago. At the end of day five I have 429.5 to go

Puente de la Rabia leaving Zubiri

Tortilla, orange soda sand new friend at Zuriáin cafe

The alterpiece at Iglesia de San Esteban

Hemingway hideout on the back of Cafe Irunia in Pamplona

day five, free of the city and headed over that hill. Hot and dry  

Beautiful skies

Made it to the top! Alto del Perdón and the monuments peregrino  

The long hot walk down to Uterga, my end point for today

Relaxing in Casa Baztán, a relaxing little albergue  

Day 3 - Roncesvalles to Zubiri

A long long day owing to sore muscles and fatigue from the last couple days. But a beautiful real through woods and farmland at dawn, passing through Burguete, one of Hemingway's favorite towns.  

Lessons learned from from the  long hot walk into Zubiri in the afternoon:

take shoes and socks off at least once during the walk; use every font to refill water bottles; lots of snacks especially when you start to zone out during the last five km.  

Papa was here... Burguete  

Basque style

Looking back

Zubiri cafe

Camino de Santiago-Days 1 and 2 of the French Way

Friday began with a relatively short but very steep walk out of St Jean to the Refuge Orisson. 

Sunrise and mist

Rewarded w beautiful views

So happy to see the refuge and have a cold basque cider and plenty of time to draw and rest before a lovely communal dinner.  

Day 2 was the second half of the walk over the Pyrenees. It was difficult but breathtaking. Shepherds driving white Citroens monitored their flocks and horses grazed along the trail.  

Sunrise leaving the refuge

Teeny tiny horses

Made it to Roncesvalles and its enormous hostel filled w hundreds of peregrinos.

Part of the municipal hostel in roncesvalles

Getting started in St. Jean Pied de Port

I've arrived after plane train and bus to my starting point St Jean Pied de Port in the French Pyrennes. Tomorrow I turn around and begin walking back towards Spain.  

This way to the camino peregrinos. 

Steep cobblestones to work off the sauscison 

Test

My first blog entry via phone!  And one step closer to Camino updates on the road.

The Wonder City Comics Sale!!

To celebrate the 'heat dome' and surviving half way through this very hot New York City summer, Justin and I are offering 30% off books 1 and 2 of The Wonder City.  Explore the seedy side of Coney Island with the Tulips kids and decipher ye olde Dutch with our librarian-heroine Velma--now's the time the catch up with our story as we get to work on the next installment.

Visit the shop and use the code ILOVEVELMA at checkout.