Day 14

Well we walked several westwoods today. A marathon. Seriously. 35km.
Lovely sunshine no wind reminded us of the prairies. One big hill.. Thankfully at the beginning of the day.

Further checking Morgan's foot problem.. Going to doctor after we eat our pizza.

Shorter walking day tomorrow..

And a peacock!

Day 13...

On the road again...
22km(with a little detour) walk to hornillos del camino.. Checked all albergues... All full. No beds at the inn(s). So.. Back to the Drawing board.. 11.5 kms to the next available spot that we hope has beds but won't know for sure. In my condition I probably wouldn't be able to manage to walk that. We found a few other peregrinos and figured out how to get a taxi.. So off on the taxi we went. Lucky for us there was space! Thank goodness!!!

It is Wednesday so on that note mom wants to say she is missing her Wednesdays with Abby. We sure miss our people.

We have settled into our place for night.. It is a very small village but we have managed to find some salad ingredients an will be happy to prep ourselves a little meal. We had a glass of wine while we posted this blog.. 1.20 for two glasses! Cheap vino tinto makes up for an interesting day.

Contemplating what to do for the next couple nights.. Getting stranded isn't fun.

Buen camino.

Oh! It was crazy windy today... Also made the walking interesting. Wind was coming straight at us too.. Not fun. But hey that's all part of it I guess.

Rest day in Burgos

We slept in.. That was glorious. Till 9. Then went downstairs for the breakfast at our hotel which was so perfect. We wandered around town a little.. On the hunt for an English magazine or books. We ended up getting one(the lightest one of the selection) after asking for English books at the local shop and a lady came back with a selection. Then.. This is for you dad.. We saw in a different book shop a downbeat magazine.. In English! It was the only magazine we saw that was in English in that shop.. Weird coincidence. We thought of you instantly of course.

We spent the afternoon resting in our hotel with our books, then met the Suzy's for a farewell hot chocolate(they are staying in Burgos tomorrow and we are continuing our walk). Had a decent dinner after walking around town forever trying to find something suitable. So many beautiful shops but the restaurants aren't so beautiful.. Seems hard to make a good selection. They eat a lot later here so around our usual dinner time things often aren't open or there isn't anyone in the place so it's hard to know if it's a good place or not! Back to the supermarket and making our own stuff tomorrow night

Back on the trail tomorrow! Thanks as always for all the comments/feet suggestions/encouragement. We love you all

Day 12

Belorado to.... Ended up being Espinosa del camino. Only 8km. We were absolutely soaked by 2km(bad weather) and my foot was hurting.. Since about the first 5 minutes. We decided to take the bus all the way to Burgos.. About 38km. Which meant got out of the rain, allowed us to skip a large incline and gain a rest day. Only cost 2.56!!! For 38km.. Cheaper than nanaimo city transit. A full bus with a lot of pilgrims on it.. The rain was crazy.

We treated ourselves to the sweetest hotel room.. Cheap still! In central Burgos close to the amazing cathedral. Very cool city. Lots to see. Tons of cute shops, cafes, restaurants, bakeries.. You get the idea.

Went to pharmacy trying to explain my foot/heel/calf pain was pretty challenging. Walked away with some insoles but not confident about how that will help. Rest hopefully will do the trick.

We knew we would have to take the bus at some time so this will be one of our catch up/rest days.

In Burgos today.. We ran into our 3 friends from Bavaria that we hadn't seen since day 3! Everything happens for a reason. We hung out in the cafe today while it was raining with a kid from the Netherlands that has only sandals. We expect to hook up with our Australian friends tomorrow in Burgos.

The next 11 days are rated as easy walking.. According to our guide. Thank goodness.

Day 11

23km to belorado. Shorts and t shirt weather yippee! But soon after we arrived at our destination it got chilly. Easy walk but morgan has sore feet.. Pharmacy is closed can't get insoles. Going to try walking in sandals tomorrow. Fewer vineyards and wild flowers now we are into the crops and green fields. Lots of friendly faces on the trail today.

Got ripped off at a nice stop at lunch time. Oh well..

Last night we stayed at a large albergue that had a big kitchen and dining area. We opted to make our own lovely salad which totally hit the spot. Other groups went all out.. There was a huge stir fry prepping operation and fruit plates and all sorts of fun. Nice to see people working together.

Our breakfast of fruit and yogurt was still in the fridge this morning.. Thank goodness.

Since its Sunday and everything is closed we didn't get to the market in time to buy our dinner and breakfast. So we will be dining out I guess. Very quiet town. Church has 4 huge stork nests on top.. Very cool.

Back to co-Ed bathrooms at this albergue. And a first! No toilet paper in the washrooms... Jeesh!! Not good. We are counting down to our hotel in Burgos.

See our Suzy's in the one photo and Ted(with kilt) and christoph in the other.

Look Linda..I donated to cancer research in Spain! See photo..

Day 10

22km today to santo Domingo. Not as long in distance but we were really feeling it from yesterday. Deer jumped out of the bush beside the path today.. First one we have seen! And saw some pretty birds which we have absolutely no idea what species. Touched base with a few people we hadn't seen in a few days.. Always nice to see they are still making their way.

Staying at albergue operated by confirmatory of st James. It's by donation but surprisingly clean and seems to be remodeled. Great lounge and eating area if you are inclined to cook or make your lunch. We are hoping nobody snitches our strawberries out of the fridge tonight... We made our lunch and plan to prep a nice dinner as well. Always good to have the chance to eat what we actually feel like eating and much cheaper too.

Still have only had one day of shorts and t-shirt walking. Some rain today.

What we are loving now: first morning stop for warm drink, our Scottish friend who treks in a kilt, the well travelled path(fewer rocks or less mud), laundry that only takes 30 minutes, all the lovely messages from home!! They keep us going. And cheap vino tinto!

Missing: tip of one of moms poles, bath towel bigger than a tea towel, our Canadian friends we lost along the way, peanut butter... Seriously! Derek Garth and all of you.. Still.

Dad we stopped in at the golf course.. Check the photos!

Have you noticed we are wearing camino colours.. Blue and yellow. Check the photo

Day 9

Longest day today 31km. Cool temp for walking but windy. Close encounter with cyclist. Sore feet but found ourselves a quiet hostel in a cute town.

Had an awesome dinner out last night with the Suzy's. today a sweet Spanish lady escorted us to the grocery store so we wouldn't get lost.

People on the trail with various injuries but I think we all managed to make it the 31km today. Met two lovely girls from Boston walking the trail.. Had a nice time chatting with them- they are Both currently working on their masters.

Most importantly..
Happy 5th birthday Abby!!!!!!!!! Thinking about you mucho today :)

Day 8

Our longest day today. 28km. But cool for walking was good-- rained on and off. Still on pace, early start early finish. Had a good breakfast at the albergue but didn't really stop for lunch. Going soon to find some hot food. Tired feet today.

Things we are loving: our poles, cool weather, our Suzy friends, sangria, cappuccinos, emails from home, cute small towns. The simple life.

Things we are missing: my watch(mom) peanut butter, Derek and Garth, Starbucks, sleeping in a room without 28 other people(who all snore) and all of you.

We did a good deed today.. Found a phone on the path, picked it up and asked each person we passed if they had dropped it. Luckily found the owner who didn't even realize it was missing! Happy days.

We have also moved on from crosswords to sudoku in our down time.
Tough day tomorrow.. See how we do.

Day 7

Mom is writing today!

Day 7: 22 kms today.. So 135km in total thus far. We went from Estella to Los Arcos. Windy, cloudy day but good walking weather. Stopped at the free wine fountain for a drink.. Too bad it was 8am and we didn't have an empty flask. A pilgrim just put his mouth right under the tap.

We have not dropped "anything" on the trail to date. The cyclists have it rough on some of the paths we are on.. Would not want to be riding.. Lots of loose rocks and steep inclines and declines. Anyone that says the camino is walking on asphalt through towns has not been on this trail. Again beautiful scenery and flowers today. Lots of wild roses, vineyards, and olive trees. I will not be losing weight anytime soon with our diet of croissants, cheese and chocolate.

Today we had our first sangria in the sunshine in the square- it was delicious and $2 a glass!

Last night we visited the library in Estella to get wifi. There were about 200 books on the camino.

Now for friends, these are things you would like...

Ted: lots of cat work for you here
Francine: the water bottles are working well
Linda/Bev: you would be going slow because you would be stopping to smell all the flowers and taking pictures
Elaine: did you know you had a twin Suzy from Australia/Peru? We are enjoying her company
Mike/Cathy: you would love all the old churches- we don't have time to visit each one
Cindy: we are IN MOTION

We met a couple from salmon arm last night and they left us granola and milk for breakfast. They also recommended us this wonderful hostel- translation "my grandmothers house". They have done our laundry and will be supplying us with. Lovely breakfast. As well as recommending and booking our albergue for tomorrow night in logrono. Superb.

Tomorrow is easy walking but 28km- our longest walk. We have been heading out early morning and finishing up the day about 1.30 so we are right on pace.

Sun is shining now so we are going to go check out the square!

It seems someone is putting items in our backpacks.. They always seem heavier in the morning. Ciao!

Day 6:

Today we walked from puenta la reina to Estella.. 22 kms. A few hills but overall good day. Again lots of nice flowers and scenery. We started the day with croissants from our favourite little bakery we found yesterday.

We had one scary moment.. We turned a corner and could hear some horses going kind of crazy and all of a sudden a foal was running.. At a relatively fast speed.. Straight towards us. We stood beside the nearest structure and it ran past us then stopped and turned to look at us. We started walking.. It started following.. Then lost interest.

Now we are going to wander around town and pick up groceries for tomorrow

Buen camino!!

And thank you to everyone for the comments and emails! We love it :) keep em coming.

Pamplona evening and walking day 5

Last night after we arrived in Pamplona and settled into our 100+ person hostel we hopped outside for a stroll. We were looking for a nice spot in the sun and stumbled across the main village square. We found a perfect bustling cafe with outside tables so we could people watch. Our meal was fabulous and we finished off our day with ice cream from a specialty shop that was to die for. After a little more walking and stop at the grocery store to pick up breakfast food we went back to the hostel to sleep.

Day 5 of walking: not a good start... Someone had taken our yogurt for breakfast from the fridge.. Oh well, could be worse. We hit the road at 7.15 and it was a beautiful walk. First few kilometers were through Pamplona and there were so many beautiful village squares and parks or green spaces. It was lovely.

Mom says today was all about the flowers. We saw so many lovely flowers and spent a few kilometers walking with waist high wild flowers on either side of us. Poppies, wild jasmine, and honey suckle. Everyone was raving about it. We were also up close and personal with the wind turbines. And saw a huge storks nest!

It seemed like a long, hard day for walking though. Our legs and feet were having a hard time. We had another climb and the descent on the way down was tough on the knees. We stopped to eat our lunch and it was tough to get going again. After 24km we made it to puente la Reina. That was about 6.5 hours. We now have a lovely hostel and treated ourselves to a private room! I think I spent half an hour in the shower.. It was bliss.

We wandered around to find a grocery store for picking up breakfast and lunch food but they were closed for siesta. Meant to be because we stumbled across the cutest bakery with so many kinds of amazing treats. That was a sweet, sweet surprise.