Day thirty one - Thursday November 18

Departed: Logroño 7:45am
Arrived: Azofra 3:15pm
Total hours: 7.5
Total kms: 36.8
Accumulated kms: 941.6
Weather: Sunny

The past few days has seen the road wind through many a vineyard; apparently this region, La Rioja, is very famous for its wines. It's the end of the season but still grapes cling to the black and withering husks of their vines like disgraced scientists to their defeated hypothoses. The walk is becoming flatter and blander, and the landscape feels Texan to me for some reason, although I've really only been in the cities of Texas, which are nothing like this landscape. Weird.

I've escaped the small crowd from the last couple of nights, and tonight there are just eight of us in the albergue, none of whom are walking as far as Filipe and I tomorrow (although we will definitely catch some new folks up).

I'm still finding the concept of the siesta a bit strange. Yesterday in Logroño, a city that at least felt as big as Sydney although it was probably smaller, was almost deserted in the afternoon, but alive and pulsing at night with people everywhere. It's very bizarre, and makes the towns I pass through in the afternoons feel very empty.

This was the site of a really old medieval hospital that pilgrims would stay at.

This was a snake I saw just slithering around next to the road.

Day thirty - Wednesday November 17

Departed: Los Arcos 8:30am
Arrived: Logroño 2:30pm
Total hours: 6
Total kms: 28
Accumulated kms: 904.8
Weather: Light rain in the morning, overcast the rest of the day and really cold

It's finally starting to feel like winter here in Europe. While I'm walking I don't notice it too much (usually), but when I stop for lunch and am in town at night I am really feeling the cold getting colder.

Today went by really quickly. I decided to walk alone, and I once I headed off was really happy with the decision. It's been awesome walking with Filipe (just found out how to spell his name properly tonight) but it really feels better doing this walk alone. Despite this, I ended up walking the final 6km or so with an Englishman and a Hungarian who caught me up. I let them pass me by, but then caught them going the wrong way and yelled out, which started a conversation and resulted in us walking together. They set a cracking pace, definitely faster than 6kph. We reached a short downhill section and they actually jogged down it, then waited for me to catch up. The Hungarian was only walking for a week, and was the instigator of the pace. The Brit had started his walk in Scotland, and was planning to finish at the edge of the Sahara in Morroco.

The municipal albergue was shut in Logroño, so Filipe and I went out for dinner. He wanted to go to Mass first, so I spent an hour walking around the city, which I think is the first time I've done that since I've been in Europe. It was nice wandering around aimlessly, wherever my feet took me, checking out a foreign city that in essence isn't really that different from most cities cities I've been in - lots of people, shops, restaurants, buskers, lights, decorations, touristy points of interest, street vendors, etc. By the time I got back here my legs were feeling it though, I probably added a good three or four kilometres to my day. We have a long one tomorrow, a little over 38km, so with any luck I'll feel amazing when I wake up, with none of this soreness at all.

Day twenty nine - Tuesday November 16

Departed: Puente la Reina 7:45am
Arrived: Los Arcos 5:00pm
Total hours: 9.25
Total kms: 44
Accumulated kms: 876.8
Weather: Sunny and overcast

Man, are we caning this walk or what? I walked with Philippe again today and we are the Camino team from hell. We left Puente la Reina a little after most the other pilgrims, and I´m guessing they all went to a bar for breakfast because we didn't see any of them again today. Last night, one of them found out we'd walked 40km and we were bonafide heroes in the alburgue, everyone was shaking their heads in amazement and saying how amazing it was and cheering for us. Tonight, after a 44km walk (when we were expecting glory and gifts showered at our feets), no one really cared. A lot of people here tonight are cyclists, and they've all ridden a lot further each day. It doesn't matter that they're on wheels, when you tell them you've walked 44km and they respond with the fact they've ridden 70km, your glory just slinks off quietly to hide in the corner.

There were a lot of fields today. Long, winding paths through expansive green and brown fields. The first half of the day we passed through several small towns, many of which resembled the Goblin City from Labyrinth (okay, so lots of places remind me of that movie), but in the afternoon it was just field after field after field. We kept thinking we were closing in on Los Arcos, then the path would wind around another mountain and we´d be greeted by yet more goddamned fields, and no city. We were clearly just tired from the long walk, but the final 5km felt like it took a week to walk.

A friend we've met along the way, Agnes from France, caught the bus from Larrasoaña the morning we left there, and caught it to Ellista (that's wrong, but close - I forget the name). Originally she was going to stay there last night and walk today, in which case she would have ended up here where we are (we walked four stages in the past two days). We were really keen to turn up one day after she caught a bus for an hour and make lots of fun of her, but unfortunately she decided to do that walk yesterday after the bus dropped her off, so we're a day behind her. Tomorrow we plan for a shorter day, then a long one the day after, so we'll have to wait a little bit for our wildly amusing jocularity.

It seems I was very lucky crossing the mountains too - the pilgrim office guy had told me that up until two days before I crossed they had been impassable due to bad weather, and we heard yesterday that the day after we crossed, it snowed like crazy up there and was still going now. I've been so lucky with so many things on this walk, it's amazing. Loads of people keep telling me how wet I will get walking through Galicia as well, so I'm hoping my luck will hold out and it'll be rare sunshine all the way.

The towering buildings of Pamplona made photography difficult.

This was a display set up on the top of a mountain.

This light was there for just long enough to take this photo. It would have been even better if I had been smart enough to get my silhouette out of the way.

Day twenty eight - Monday November 15

Departed: Larrasoaña 7:15am
Arrived: Puente la Reina 4:30pm
Total hours: 9.25
Total kms: 40.5
Accumulated kms: 832.8
Weather: Sunny and warm, late dark clouds

Today was my longest walk yet. I sat down last night with Philippe, the Colombian, and we went through our plans together. He is aiming to finish the Camino by December 5, which is about the same as one of my more ambitious plans. Today we walked together and cleared 40km easily, with a few breaks to buy food, eat, stretch and check out the Pamplona Cathedral (it was closed, but we saw all the really heavy bells sitting outside...apparently they're really famous). There was also a mountain pass to navigate, which seems to be fairly unusual for this stage of the walk. I can't say how I'll feel tomorrow but right now I´m feeling good and I can´t see why I can´t bust out more long days, especially with mainly flat distances.

On the way up the mountain we met an awesome Nigerian guy who was clearing some weeds. He loved that I came from Australia to Spain to walk, he was so proud of Spain and of being Nigerian at the same time, he just kept laughing and saying how excellent it was that we were in his country walking. At lunch we came across a guy taking photographs up on top of the mountain )Alto de Perdon - Mountain of Forgiveness), and when we arrived he started photographing us. He was clearly a professional, and we're hoping we end up in a Camino book somewhere, eating lunch on top of a mountain.

Throughout the day Philippe tutored me in Spanish, and kept quizzing me as we walked. He's very proud of my progress, just like a real teacher. When we needed to ask for directions or buy something, he would get me to do the talking and jump in only if I was floundering (which I generally did). I think he's keen to walk with me, if not for the rest of the way, at least for a while. I have really loved walking on my own but it was nice chatting with someone all day, and I can see my Spanish getting better much faster if I walk with him, so perhaps I'll try it for a bit. At least he has a great sense of humour! And I didn't have to worry about him keeping up, he seems to walk quite a bit faster than me, I was the one chasing on more than one occasion today!

Tomorrow we have a choice between 24km and 44km, all fairly flat (well, one or two bigg-ish hills). I think we're going to leave early and see how we feel, and what time it is, at the 24km mark and decide from there. It's only a little under an hour more than what we did today, which means we'd still get in during daylight hours, especially if we don't faff about as much as we did today in Pamplona and some other places, looking for chocolate bread in panderias (bakeries). The good thing about not booking rooms in Spain is that you can make these decisions as they come up, not a night in advance. The day after I think is a fairly easy one, so we can probably push on a bit tomorrow, I guess it depends on the weather too. All will become apparent during the day!

I saw loads of these weird spider webs, but no spiders. Probably lucky.

Day twenty seven - Sunday November 14

Departed: Roncesvalles 8am
Arrived: Larrasoaña 2pm
Total hours: 6
Total kms: 27
Accumulated total: 792.3
Weather: Overcast and raining

Last night I had my first experience of eating in a Spanish bar as a pilgrim. The Spanish usually have dinner really late, around 10pm, but as the albergues lock their doors at 10pm most nights, many bars offer a special, discounted pilgrim meal earlier, around 8pm. Unfortunately this is usually much less appetising - the chefs don´t normally arrive until 8pm, so the lunch staff heat up the left over lunch food before they clock off for the day, and that´s the pilgrim meal. Or so I´m told.

Dinner wasn´t too bad I guess, although it was very simple. Vegetable soup and bread, followed by two fried eggs, chips and sliced cheese, followed by a small tub of out of date yogurt. Oh well, beggars can´t be choosers I suppose.

The pilgrims were all hered into the restaurant at 8pm and seated in groups of four. I was with Agnes, another Frenchie called Nicola, who spoke a little English, and a Spaniard called Daniel, who spoke no English. I didn´t realise just how well my Spanish was going until it fell to me to translate between Daniel and the others. I didn´t get all of it, but I had enough Spanish (accompanied with some creative charades) to have a decent conversation. Hilarious!

The walk was beautiful today, even with the rain, through forests most of the way. It´s really cold here right now, much colder than it was in France before I crossed the Pyrenees. Perhaps it will warm up as I get farther away from the mountains.

All day long I was conjugating Spanish verbs as I walked, and surprisingly having fun doing so. I like being here in Spain, it´s feeling good - I´m a little surprised as I thought I would like France more. But then, I´ve never been to either place before, so how the hell would I know?

Tomorrow I´ll be walking all day with a Columbian called Phillipe, who speaks Spanish, English and French. We both want a really long walk so are going together. I hope he can keep up with me!

Day twenty six - Saturday November 13

Departed: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port 7:45am
Arrived: Roncesvalles 2:00pm
Total hours: 6.25
Total kms: 26
Accumulated kms: 765.3
Weather: Sunny and windy as hell

Today was the big day on this walk, the day that strikes fear in the heart of some pilgrims and a crazed look in the eyes of others - the crossing of the Pyrenees.

I left early this morning so as to have enough time, and ended up blitzing it. I´ve always been a good uphill walker - I settle into a rhythm really quickly and can walk for ages - but I didn´t think I´d get through today so quickly. The hills weren´t actually too bad - there were a few super steep sections, but otherwise the incline wasn´t very difficult. The challenge was a wind that blew strongly enough to knock me sideways and backward many times throughout the day. From a certain altitude it just blew and blew without pause, for hours on end. Every now and then I would be sheltered by a larger hill or group of rocks and suddenly everything would become still and quiet, then I´d move a few paces forward and would be almost knocked off my feet.

But it was all worth it for the scenery alone, absolutely stunning. There's just something special about being so high up and able to see for so far around. God complex, me? Nah.

As Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is the traditional starting point, there are many more people here tonight. Still not loads, but perhaps around 15 or so. I wonder just how busy it will get, especially as I plan to walk some fairly long days and perhaps slowly catch some of the earlier walkers.

My reception at the albergue office and the bar where I'm having dinner was really quite cold and dismissive, I suppose it's the result of a long and tiring season. I'll have to be extra nice to everyone along the way!

I took lots of photos of the mountains, sorry about that.

Another self portrait, on top of the world.

A strange little statue of Jesus up in the middle of the mountains.

The sign reads "765km".

Snow! Yay!

Coming down the mountain.

The first albergue with more than about five beds in the room.