Holy Camino! Snow in April in Spain

Hi all,

We are having a great time and have already had many adventures. I cannot upload pictures this time but will try to add them as soon as we have a better internet connection.

We had a wonderful day visiting Pamplona.  We went to the cathedral which has portions from the 12th century and also has excavations of Roman foundations from the 1st century BC.  We walked all over the city, ate at Cafe Iruña, took in a couple of Basque pinxto bars and visited the Museum of Navarre.  The day was cold and rainy and we were congratulating ourselves on having the sense to take it off from walking!

Our smug bubble was burst the next morning as we awoke to huge snowflakes falling over Pamplona!  We walked off into the snow which was starting to accumulate as slush on the streets by the time we were leaving the city.  Instead of letting up, the snow continued to get worse.  We stopped at a small place called Cizur Menor for breakfast -- we were covered in snow and were now walking through a couple of inches of the stuff.  Our walk for the day took us over a pretty big ridge -- Alto de Pedron -- a rise of about 750 meters.  We slogged through the snow which was getting worse and deeper with every step.  By the time we got to the summit we were in blizzard conditions and walked through drifts of snow up to 15 inches deep!  The top of this ridge is one of the iconic Camino places -- the view is supposed to be fabulous back to Pamplona and forward to Puente de Reina.  There is a huge wind turbine farm at the top and a Camino sculpture.  Needless to say we could not see a thing.  We could hear the wind turbines but even though we were right under them, we couldn´t see them.

I was pretty nervous that we were in over our heads as the guide books had warned that the climb down hill was rocky and treacherous   Fortunately, it was rocky and uneven but not as steep as I imagined.  By the time we reached the bottom, soaked and cold, the sun had come out and looking back we could see the summit clearly!

We got to our destination and set about drying our shoes and all of our clothes.  We stayed in an albergue run by a local monestary and ate at a terriffic restaurant with a fun group of people -- Ruby from Lewisburg PA, Cathy from San Francisco, Arre from South Korea, and Pippa from the UK.

The next morning, dry and rejuvenated  we set out for Estella.  It was a fabulous day -- Sunny and up to 60 degrees.  It was hard to believe that we had walked through snow the day before.  The walk was beautiful, through hilly farm country that reminded us of Idaho.    One of the highlights was a tiny church built in 970.  Yes, you read that correctly.  People have been worshiping at this tiny church of St. Miguel for over 1000 years.  It was an incredibly place filled with prayers and mementos left by the hundreds of peregriños, who, like us, stopped and experienced the emotional  impact of the place.  In Estella we attended mass at the local church and sat around and ate pinxto for dinner with Cathy from San Francisco.

This morning we set out at 7 am for Los Arcos.  It was a chilly and very windy day but no rain.  The walk was spectacular, through wheat fields and vineyards.  We stopped and visited a spectacular 11th century church in a hill top wine town, Villamayor de Majarin.  I lit a candle for Emmanuel Church while we are there -- we have been thinking a lot of you Emmanuelites while we have been walking.

We are walking through Western Navarre and La Rioja now which are Spain´s main wine regions.  So of course, we bough a 1-2 liter of wine for lunch. Unfortunately, Tom pulled a muscle in his back trying to get the cork out.  We deiced to just power to Los Arcos so he could rest.  He is horizontal now and we are hoping he feels better tomorrow.  If not we will take it slow and enjoy the wine (screw tops please) and food tomorrow before pushing on.

I am almost out of my 30 minutes so I will simply close with the greeting that almost everyone we meet gives us,

Buen Camino,

Liz

Tom´s pictures from the Camino 4-6 through 4-9.
Liz´s pictures from 4-6 through 4-9