29 August: Zubiri to Pamplona q

Better day today. No rain but steep hills. Right off the bat we had a steep climb but we are still in the Spanish Pyrenees s that is to be expected. We passed through some small quaint villages as well. Stopped for our morning coffee and bun. Not as nice as the French bread with chocolate but ok.  The countryside here when you can see it is spectacular. Houses scattered about will nilly it seems on the hills, clean sparkling white walls of concrete, maybe stucco with red tiled roofs and matching shutters that actually work like shutter should. The hills and the landscapes are amazingly green and lush. God’s natural pallette of various shades of green.we also walked past the Argo river ( go Argos go),a river in Spain that was actually named after the Toronto Argos. I kid you not.

yGetting to Pamplona was a stretch. Again the sign posts seem out of whack or my walking partner Gerry is out to lunch. He thinks in miles while I think in kilometer. We reach the outskirts of Pamplona and he tells me we have a mile to our hostel, but after walking one hour it is nowhere to be seen. In  fact showing up after a very long walk, This can be extremely frustrating when you are tired and hungry, your legs are screaming with lactid acid and you are thirsty for a cold beer. Finally we arrive at our hostel to sleep with 250 of our closest friends. Some scenery:

My walking partnër Gerry from northern Ireland. Good guy and he likes beer and he laughs at my stupid jokes. He also helped me a great deäl during yesterdays brutal walk in the monsoon.

Hi there.

Pamplona is a beautiful city. Our hostel is located in the centre of a walled town, over a thousand years old. Unbelievable history. They have had the Romans here, the muslims, catholic, facsists and now democracy. But they have thrown off the yoke of catholicism for a more secular society.You can say whatever but catholocism and protestantism  has given the world fantastic architecture, music, art and literature.

A local church.

Tapas

Dot eat your heart Dot.

They have the running of the bulls here during St Fermin  day festival in July. Earnest Hemingway made that event famous with his first novel The Sun  Rises. They have a bar here named after him.kinda empty. Perhaps they are looking for some bulls.

That is all. Read ya larer.

Oh yeah and someone stole my poncho in Zubiri. Bien Camino!

Shakeyjay.