Climb Every Mountain…

April 5th. I’m writing my Saturday entry on Sunday. My first day on the Camino was a defining day for me. All the literature and pilgrims say that this 1st stage would be hard and a challenge. Let me join that chorus of advisors. I hiked over the Pyrenees and it was the most physically and mentally challenging thing I have ever done in my life. It was a 10 hour hike…7 hours were spent in a steep ascent climb and 3 hours with a steep decline. It nearly broke me. The weather was absolutely beautiful (as seen in the pictures I posted) until about 2:30 when a sprinkle turned in a heavy shower. I was drenched. Time after time, the path appear top off…only to find that there was another steep incline waiting for me around the corner. With 6 miles to go, the fog rolled in with the rain. I finally got to the monastery at 5:30pm. The climb took me up to about 5,000 feet….and I fought for every one of those feet! In hindsight, I’m glad I did it…and really glad it’s behind me.

Things immediately changed when I arrived at the monastery. It’s a huge operation that has been hosting pilgrims since 1197. Volunteers were at the door helping us check in and acquaint us with the building. It’s got 180+ beds and it was sold out. My room had maybe 70 beds. It was clean and well equipped. I had dinner there…with a plate of pasta and sauce and a whole trout for the entree. We had a couple of bottles not wines to share at the table. The challenges of the days climb were fading away.

I continue to meet friendly and wonderful pilgrims from all over the world. In the misery of the climb, I met Theresa and Harry from Matt and Jennys neighborhood. They live about 8 blocks from them. They were with me during the rainy descent. Theresa was a talker (“I don’t want to complain, but this is really hard.”). From Harry…”I’m doing great, now that I have a new hip.” Lots of other great people with interesting stories. Maybe I’ll devout a blog entry to these Camino pilgrims.

So, that’s the story. Today’s walk from the monastery was much easier, although not without its challenges. I’ll send another entry out about that later on

Tomorrow, my destination is Pamplona. The bulls don’t run until July, and that works for me. All for now.