The Stone Site

Looking at Insta and Twitter it looks like we are doing the Camino mostly by (wine) bottles. And that’s no totally wrong – but there are other things too that we experience.

There is no secret that I have two wives. One before morning coffee (the “bitch-wife”) and a complete other one after coffee. So coffee is important. But getting up early to walk, the coffee places normally opens 5 or 6 hours later. So the situation can be quite desperate!

This morning we walked through a very sleepy town – without any open places. However, from a very kind girl we where offered coffee from what we assume Christian oberge. The girl was a volunteer from Norway and we had a very nice talk in “Nordics”. I asked her what she wanted to work with in the future and her answer (a bit poorly translated by me), was; “Something that will make me happy”. Well that’s something to think about! And so we did, me and my “after coffee wife”.

The picture of today is a photo that I got from my wife … a pictures says more than words, and this describes our current situation walking in the Spanish nature.

How to avoid being boiled as an egg? Getting up early, early is the only solution! Starting at 5.00 in the morning is also a wonderful opportunity to see all the colours, the wonderful Spanish Countryside. Sometimes it’s like being send back to the Middle Ages with all the nice small cities, churches and castles.

What’s the downsides. I have got the impression that Spanish people are not early birds. So getting a coffee before 10 in the morning could be a challenge … However along the Camino there are a lot of other open options…

Walking in the sun may sound nice, but it’s quite hard so, to avoid the sun we start our walk very early. We are not alone – there are hundreds of others walking, but not the Camino rather walking home from the party! So amongst those party animals we walk out from Pamplona, out to the country side and endless roads of stones and rocks!

After a long walk upwards we suddenly catch a familiar view

Together with wind turbine towers we struggle to find our way to Compostela – mostly of hard stones and rocks

Walking is not just fun, it’s not like driving a car where you sit down all the time! One of the challenges is the pain afterwards, during the night i felt like long spikes where put up in my legs and the knees, they are just a package of pain! So i’m not just a pilgrim having tons of fun and no suffering! But I truly must admit, in general it has been quite a nice trip! It’s so different from ordinary life, everyday has it’s purpose and by getting forward each day you achieve something concrete for yourself!

So amongst the nice things today, besides a lot of fresh food, we have seen a lot of stone constructions! You may say that stone is quite a outdated material – but when I look around there are plenty of things in stone. I found the stone below at the museum of Navarra. Nice museum with a very friendly staff.

I’m afraid that I look a bit to relaxed in my super lightweight outfit – but tomorrow walking with the clothes on my back I will for sure appreciate it!

Pamplona is really getting ready for the bull-run. I can see from photos in the shops that this is a very famous bull-run-stop-place, so add just a million persons to the picture and it will be the reality for next coming weeks!

For about 4 days I have been carrying it. Over and down hills. Reaching Pamplona – I decided that now is the time!

How much extra stuff haven’t I been carried? So I put all extra ‘good to have stuff’ in a box – 4.920 Kg!!! The staff at the post office was very service minded, and now is my baby on its way back to Sweden. And I’m so happy 5 kg lighter!!!

What will I do with the extra kilos lost?? Eat, eat, eat, eat and eat – whole Spain is full of super tasteful food! And what you don’t find at the restaurants – El Corte Ingles has it! So, so, so much nice ham and cheese! I will for sure gain more than 5 kilo just staying two days here!