The Real Camino Begins

I imagine every pilgrim has approximately the same thought some time near the beginning of their Camino, whether its the first day, or in our case, the fourth day: what the hell have I gotten myself into. This thought sneaks itself in somewhere in between the incessant foot, knee, and back pain. The feeling is much amplified by the fact that everything hurts this bad and you've only been hiking a few days and still have 30+ days left.

I think this thought first crept through my mind yesterday after we had nearly reached the bottom of the seemingly endless decent into Zubiri. It was about 1300 ft in about 1.5 miles. My knee really was not having any of that and Laurens feet also not. My feet don't hurt that bad since my knee generally steals the show. Oh and it rained all day yesterday and today.

But after about 13 miles or so, and we're both ready to give up, we inevitably reach our refugio and all in the world is back in its right place. Hot showers, hot meals, and clean laundry seems a real miracle at the end of each day. We also take great comfort with the other pilgrims. It doesn't make us glad to see them limping around in pain, per se; it does give us some solace that we arent alone in our journey.

Tomorrow should be our hardest day for the next couple of weeks. We have to ascend 1200 ft and descend 1600 ft over 6 miles in the middle of our 15 mile day. I never believed I would say it, but I sincerely wish it was all up hill. Thankfully though, after tomorrow we're out of the Pyrenees and on to the Meseta.