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Hiking Spain: Century Resident Continues Journal

We are continuing to follow the journals of Century resident Terri Sanders as she hikes 500 miles across Spain this summer.

As Terri hikes from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, she will file dispatches from her journal and send pictures when possible for NorthEscambia.com as she hikes the Camino de Santiago — the Way of St. James — to the Atlantic Ocean.

For her first entry, click here,  for her second entry, click here, and for the third entry, click here.

June 2 2010

Start; Roncesvalles

Destination; Cizur Menor

Six o’clock this morning our hosts walked up and down the aisles singing a song about the Pilgrims to us. Of course it was all in Dutch since they were volunteers from Holland, but it sounded better than any alarm clock I have ever heard. Then I heard someone say it was raining. Well that is just great! Our second day out here and we get rain. It was at least a light drizzle and it took my mind off of how bad everything hurt.

The last few nights I have had trouble falling asleep. Wine, Tylenol PM, a sleeping pill has done nothing. Of course my body is still on American time.

The book says that you may be feeling stiff after yesterdays climb over the Pyrenees. Ha! What an understatement that is. Feeling stiff would be a welcome feeling over how I feel right now.

The trail today was a gentle downhill across fertile plains. The Rio Erro flows southward to join the Rio Ebro. There was more shade today and plenty of water fountains to quench the thirst of the tired, dry Pilgrim which what we are called. We are repeatedly told “Have a Buenos Camino” which means good hike. We had a steep descent on this relatively flat trail into the town of Zubiri (population 500) which is where I caught the taxi from.

I had sat here for over an hour and I knew the food smelled good. We went inside, took off our packs and went upstairs to the restaurant. We have had very few meals with carbohydrates which causes our energy level to be low. When you go into a restaurant here you are not put at a table by yourself but rather are seated at whatever table has empty chairs.

The pilgrim next to us had a bowl of lentil soup that looked delicious and I knew it was loaded with carbohydrates. Served with the always present slices of bread and a bottle of wine it was a most delicious meal. I believe the Spanish serve wine with every meal whether you want it or not.

We continued on after lunch taking in the rows of beautifully shuttered homes made famous by Ernest Hemmingway. The path today has been mostly made up of natural pathways, and offering more shade. I try to keep sunscreen on my lips but they have blistered anyway. I have had to put duct tape on a few hot spots but have had no actual blisters. Y

esterday I sneezed all day long and I was hoping it was just allergies. Today my head is stopped up, my nose is pouring and on top of being sun burnt I am running a fever. We passed a grocery store where I went in and tried my best sign language to ask the clerk if she had anything for a runny nose. She pointed me down the aisle and I searched high and low without any luck.

Finally Lou came in and got the same directions from her. He looked up and down but had no luck either. The clerk finally got frustrated with us, came marching down the aisle and pulled out a 12 pack of tissue boxes and stuck them under our nose. We left shortly after that so I would not give her a piece of my mind! The rain cleared up after lunch and the sun came out with a vengeance. We wonder if we will ever not hurt again.

The albequer was full tonight so we went on down the road to a hotel. It was more of a bed and breakfast though.

Tonight’s Pilgrim supper was a choice of fish, pork or stew. The inn keeper spoke no English and to get the point across about the pork he would snort! I was all I could do not to laugh out load. Our fellow Pilgrims spoke a little more English so we could carry on somewhat of a conversation. When they would lose us, the look on our face would tell then we were lost and they would slow down. I felt really bad all day today.

The trail was not that hard but it was hard for me to hike and try to breathe at the same time. I made the remark at the table I sure wished I could find someone who could get me an antihistamine. One of our fellow Pilgrims called the waiter over and the next thing I knew he was setting a glass in front of me with a little pack of something to pour in the water. I could recognize part of the word of propion. I figured all it could do was kill me and I felt so bad dying would have been a great improvement. It tasted just like an Alka-Seltzer. He would not take any money for it. I climbed up to the room and collapsed on the bed. I woke up one time to go to the restroom.

Miles 17