Walked another 32 kilometres, from Uterga to Estella. Making a total of 764 kilometres.
This is including a little detour to see the octogonesq (8-sided) church of Eunata, one of the marvels of Romanesq Spain, the travel guide said. When I reached the village of Munazabal this morning it said the church in Eunate was 2 kilometres away. There was also a sign that said the church was open from 10AM-2PM. All right I thought, I might have to wait 30 minutes, but a marvel is well worth 30 minutes. When I arrived at the church the sign said that it would open at 10.30AM. An hour waiting is still good value for something that’s a marvel. When the key lady arrived at 10.30, she told us she couldn’t open the church till 11AM, because only then the alarm would be turned off. Welcome to Spain.
But then, it was lovely. The windows were from marble which made the little church very cosily dark, although the electric lights helped to make sense of the lovely Madonna. There were only two other visitors. When they left I thought I had an opportunity to lay down on the floor and get a good photo of the roof. Immediately a Spanish voice sounded (the key lady) warning me not to act so foolishly in a place of worship, I suppose, it sounded like Chinese to me.
By that time it was close 11.30 and I still had a day of walking in front of me. In Puenta la Reina, a town with a lovely Romanesq bridge, I passed a young couple that I had already passed this morning after I first started. The guy was sitting on a bench with his head in his hands, looking horrified at his feet it seems. The girl was nowhere to be seen. There was only a bag left. I imagined a lot of suffering and buen caminoed the guy and the backpack another time. Later I heard that they deliberately walk slow. Puenta la Reina was all they wanted to get to, today. A day of 8 kilometres. They planned to walk the whole Camino in 60 days. Wow! I was wondering if there are as many benefits from slow walking as there are from slow cooking. I doubt it though. Even when walking quite up to speed, the landscape changes so gradually that there is plenty of time to adjust to it.
Walked together for a while with a Spanish man. My age I suppose. The first thing he said was that he didn’t speak any other language than spanish. Which made our conversation almost non-existent. But pretty soon it started hailing and it is nice to share that experience with someone else, even when no words are being said.
And then I met up with Frank from Munich, who I described earlier as having baby hair. It really isn’t. It’s very blond and very curly, which is a little odd on an adults head. But then, it is far superior to the flat and grey hair that I sport.
Frank had walked on friday from the supermarket in Llarasoana – where I was trying to match up to James’ drinking abilities – in order to reach the next town, 7 kilometres up. The Hostal in that town was still closed, so he had walked all the way up to Pamplona, reaching it when it was dark. He was still recovering from that extravaganza. Frank taught me an important lesson. Change clothes as often as you feel like. He had a poncho rain coat and a jacket which was no use with rain, but a little less warm when the sun would break through. I guess we walked for 6 kilometres together, and he must have changed 5 times. I tend to wait too long with changing, but have made a resolution for now; Change immediately when you think of it.
Julie had found a campground to stay in Estella. It isn’t pretty, but it’s nice to have a real shower once in a while. When I was shaving I saw myself in the mirror, an image that I hadn’t seen for a few weeks. My, I’m tanned. And then to think that there are another 661 kilometres to go to work on it a little more.
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