More photos from Easter Day

We had fabulous walking weather today. Sunny, warm, no rain. My feet resemble hamberguesa.

Puente la Reina

Today I walked with Butond and Ildeco from Cizur Menor to Puente la Reina. We walked over a mountain ridge that was covered with windmills. At the top of the mountain was a sculpture commemorating pilgrims throughout the ages.

Last night I went with Butond to an Easter Mass. It was very nice. At the start of the service, everyone went outside with a candle and lit it off an Easter candle that the priest held. We all then walked together with the candles into the church. Members of the congregation read from the New Testament. The church was quite small and simple built in 13th century.

Today, in Eunate, I met a Basque who used to work with sheep in Colorado. He told me that we all are wild under our lamb skins and that our savage side was waiting to come out. All of this relayed in Spanish.

Larry, I had rice pudding for dessert on Friday night.

Cizur Menur

I've acquired 2 traveling companions from Hungary. Each came alone and met here. One speaks very good English, the other not as well so our conversations are sometimes halting because I don't speak Hungarian! But I help them with reading signs in Spanish and ordering food in restaurants. They are very nice companions to have and I am happy to have met them. We walked this morning in very nice weather but by the time we got to Pamplona it was pouring rain.

Today the weather looks good!

Off on day 2 with taped feet.

Foot by Foot - my mantra of the day

I once read the book "Bird by Bird" by Annie Lamott. If I remember correctly, she talks about someone waiting until the night before a school project on birds is due to start. The person cries "How will I ever get this done by tomorrow?" And the answer was "Bird by bird."

I thought about that today as I was slogging through mud and snow to get to Roncesvalles. I asked myself "How am I ever going to make it all the way to Santiago?" And of course my answer was "Foot by foot." So, as I took each agonizing step on the trail with a grade that would not meet Forest Service standards, I said, foot by foot by foot....

Weather forecast

Looks like rain.

St. Jean Pied de Port

I stayed my first night in France in St. Jean Pied de Port at the Maison Ziberoa, a lovely B&B that was built in 1779. I will stay here one more night before starting my walk. The owner of the Maison, Marie Josee, made a delicious breakfast with at least 10 homemade jams! We also had sheep milk yoghurt. Yum!

I went out this morning to get supplies for my lunch tomorrow. I was walking on the sidewalk and almost got run over when a grandmother steered her car onto the sidewalk to drop off her granddaughter. She slammed on her brakes as I jumped out the way. She looked pretty shook up but not nearly as shook as me! I haven't even started my walk and I've already had a near death experience.

On My Way

Larry took me to the Boise airport this morning to start my journey to Spain. I fly from Boise to London Heathrow with stops in Chicago and Newark. From London Heathrow, I'll take a bus to London Stansted and fly Ryan Air to Biarritz, France. I hope to find other pilgrims to share a cab to the Bayonne train station to catch the 6:00pm train to St. Jean Pied de Port where I'll start walking. My pack weighed 16 lbs. when I left the house this morning. Not bad!