The cackle of the roosters call out to Pamplona “Wake up! Wake up!” I had planned to sleep later this morning, but I feel enlivened with words for these past three days. So I am embracing the call of the roosters to share my words,

The first day was hard. Very hard. Left lovely St. Jean right before 7am and walked 24km through and over the Pyrenees Mountains. It was a day of walking that I kept to myself. I focused on getting up the elevation, paying attention to my body…do I need more water? should I stop and stretch? how are my shoes fitting?, and seeded between those questions was my soul telling God how much I love Him, how grateful I am to share this experience with Him, and how I see everything around me (familiar and unfamiliar) having been created through Him. This IS His wold and how wonderful it is to experience it with Him.

The area of that day was filled with the history of Charlemagne’s defeat and the death of Roland at the hands of the local Basque tribes. Spent the night in Roncesvalles at an albergue in a monastery from the Middle Ages. There was a very touching mass in the gothic chapel where the priests offered dozens of us pilgrims present a special blessing for our journey.

The second day still had a lot of ups and downs, but the beauty of the Basque Country was such an inspiration to keep walking forward and see what was ahead. There are many, many pilgrims walking this same time with me. The Camino was bursting with us that day. I enjoyed some conversations en route, but spent a good part of the day listening to my own music and quietly worshipping God. Stopped at Larrasoana and had a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice..,which gave me a burst of energy to walk 3.8km more to a small village called Zuriain to spend the night. There I ran into Jeanette from Sweden whom I met earlier that day on the Camino. I enjoyed a cerveza after a 25k walk with her and Peter from the UK who was walking with his son. We decided to share a dinner reservation for later that evening. By the end of the night, they felt like old friends I was just meeting. We decided to meet the next morning and walk together to Pamplona.

The third day was filled with so much laughter! After a few km walking, we stopped at a cafe to have some coffee and breakfast. Peter and his son shared how much they loved the music from Hamilton and especially the song “You’ll Be Back.” With that famous British humor, they laughed at the craziness of King George and how it was perfectly captured in the words of this song. We listened to the song together and laughed. Once in Pamplona, Jeanette and I decided to skip the albergues and share a simple hotel room. So refreshing to have a little extra space, to not be rushed to use the bathroom, and to fully unpack our bags with room to sort through our stuff and repack the bags. Met up with Peter and his son for dinner at Bar Goucho for some well-known tapas, walked around the ancient city for awhile and ended the night with a white sangria at a place crowded with locals. The bartender took great care and attention to making the white sangrias…all you craftsman cocktail drinkers would have enjoyed his attentiveness to his creation. Yum! Said goodbye to Peter and his son, as they are both leaving the Camino today.

I’ve included some photos: 1) My first steps leaving St. Jean Pied de Port, 2) The chapel and albergue in Roncesvalles (no clue who those guys are…couldn’t get a picture without some people in it, lol), 3) Pamploana City Hall

The sky is getting lighter now as I type. This was the time of morning I thought I would wake up. I’ll get ready now and hoist my backpack onto my shoulders and see what this day ahead of me holds. Buen Camino.