There's no doubt that our arrival in Santiago de Compostela after thirty-five days of walking will be the highlight of this entire trip but there have been many other memorable moments that we want to mention before that final, culminating experience. So we decided to highlight them before the big arrival day. All of these were mentioned. In the blog so this is just a summary of events already mentioned. Here goes:
➖ September 21, when we met our first pilgrim, Graciela, in the lobby of our hotel in Biarritz, and then traveled together to St. Jean.
➖ September 21, going to the Pilgrim's Center in St. Jean and getting our "credencial". That made us feel like this journey was really going to happen!
➖ September 22, our first day on The Camino. It was windy, rainy, and cold, and the path was challenging. We climbed more than 4,650 feet! This is probably the day the majority of pilgrims are the most proud of - to have survived and continued on after this is quite an accomplishment in most people's eyes.
➖ September 22, our arrival at the huge albergue in a monastery in Roncevalles, wet and exhausted, to be met by these very tall, kind men with vests on that said "hospitaleros" and asked, "Do you wish for a place to rest, a bed to sleep on, and food to eat?", and then when told that our beds were on the third floor which meant four floors up, the hospitalero saying, "There is an elevator.", and making the "shh" sign with his fingers on his mouth. We were so relieved to not have to walk up stairs with our backpacks!!!
➖ September 22, eating our first Menu del Peregrino around a table with pilgrims from many other places.
➖ September 23, Bill noticing how well managed the forests are.
➖ September 23, eating lunch with a pilgrim we had met briefly the day before. Her name was Mundy, a retired Human Rights attorney from Toronto, Canada.
➖ September 23 and 24, the pathway from Roncevalles to Zubiri and from Zubiri to Pamplona being downhill and so full of boulders and rocks that many people fell and hurt themselves. It took a lot of concentration to maneuver the pathway.
➖ September 25, the young boy selling fresh squeezed lemonade at a stand outside his home. It was fun talking to the boy and hearing what he had to say, and the lemonade was delicious and came at just the right moment on a hot, sunny day.
➖ September 25, reaching the top of the Alto del Perdon and seeing the pilgrim monument that was a series of iron pilgrim figures with windmills in the background. This was the first of many sculptures on The Camino honoring pilgrims.
➖ September 26, walking on an original Roman road and bridge constructed over two thousand years ago. The thought of all who had passed over that same place throughout history boggled our minds.
➖ September 26, eating a communal pilgrim meal in the albergue we stayed at. These ended up being our favorite type of dining experience because of the opportunity to really get to know our fellow pilgrims. This is when we struck up a friendship with Chris from Spokane and AnaLiza from Sweden. Chris then traveled with us for many days that followed and AnaLiza quite often ended up at the same albergue as we did.
➖ September 27, attending Pilgrim's mass at the church in Los Arcos and having the priest call us Pilgrims up to the altar afterwards for a special blessing. He also gave us a card with a Pilgrim's prayer written on it in various languages.
➖ September 27, meeting up again with Mundy who happened to be staying at the same albergue as we were as well as Chris. Francoise and Didier from France were also staying there. This was the third time we stayed at the same albergue as they did.
➖ September 28, striking up a friendship with Francoise and Didier. We just laughed when once again it just happened that in Viana we were staying at the same pension. After that, we spent time getting to know them better over meals and while walking.
➖ September 29, being in the village of Navarette and witnessing their celebration of their Patron Saint.
➖ September 30, talking to the man at a roadside stand en route to Najera and learning his views of the political history and current political status here in Spain.
➖ October 1, passing through Ciruena, an almost ghost town.
➖ October 1, seeing a delightful bronze sculpture of a cycling pilgrim in Santo Domingo del Calzada.
➖ October 1, eating a communal pilgrim dinner at our albergue in Granon where the two owners prepared the food for the nine of us staying there and one of them provided foot massages on a donation basis.
➖ October 2, in Tosantos, an elderly woman from the village taking us to visit the "Chapel on the Hill" and telling us its history.
➖ October 2, eating a communal dinner at the albergue in Tosantos - another opportunity to get to better know our fellow pilgrims.
➖ October 4, in Ages, our first experience with bedbugs but fortunately not getting infested with them.
➖ October 4, watching a herd of sheep being moved from one pasture to another down a road where pilgrims were walking. The pilgrims were engulfed by sheep and loving every minute of it.
➖ October 4, a very windy, rainy walk into Burgos.
➖ October 4, encountering Francoise and Didier in the plaza of the Burgos cathedral and having dinner with them in a nearby restaurant.
➖ October 5, a very wet, windy and muddy walk to Hornillos.
➖ October 5, staying in the Casa Rural with "The Way" connection with our friends Chris and Mundy.
➖ October 6, saying good-bye to our friend Chris who decided her feet were just too injured to continue on The Camino.
➖ October 6, leaving our Canadian friend Mundy for a day of rest not expecting to meet up with her again.
➖ October 6, a very windy and muddy walk to Castrojeriz. Afterwards we learned that the wind on this day and the previous two days was between 30-40 miles per hour. No wonder we felt wind blown and exhausted.
➖ October 6, realizing how much the countryside resembled that of Walla Walla and sharing that observation with our friends Francoise and Didier who we were walking with at the time.
➖ October 6, discovering the very interesting terraced layout of the village, Castrojeriz.
➖ October 7, climbing the 12% grade and then going down the 18% grade after we left Castrojeriz.
➖ October 9, talking to the young boy at the school bus stop in Fromista right before we set out for the day.
➖ October 10 and 11, walking on the Calzada Romana or Roman Road that was used by the military, queens and kings, pilgrims, etc. in Roman times and for the following centuries.
➖ October 11 and 12, the daughter of the owner of the hotel we had reservations for driving into Mansilla de las Mulas and taking us back to the hotel that we had passed on our way into town, and then the next morning, the owner taking us back to where we had been picked up the day before. The level of service the innkeepers provide is beyond compare!
➖ October 12, saying good-bye to our friends Francoise and Didier since we were staying on for a day of rest in Leon. We never saw them again but have kept in touch with texts. We hope to visit one another's homes in the near future.
➖ October 14, Bill observing that the countryside very much resembled the area around Pasco.
➖ October 14, eating the communal dinner in Villar de Mazarife that included gazpacho and paella, and sharing the meal with four Canadians and an Englishman.
➖ October 15, seeing a very beautiful Roman bridge in the village of Hospital of Orbigo that also had a medieval jousting field next to it.
➖ October 17, climbing to the highest point on The Camino, seeing the cross featured in the movie "The Way", and then going down a very steep mountain side on a pathway full of boulders and rocks.
➖ October 17-18, staying in the Casa Rural, La Trucha del Arcoiris and visiting with the innkeeper at breakfast the next morning. This was probably our favorite stop on The Camino due to many factors such as the beauty and comfort of the room and house in general, but mostly because of the joy of the innkeeper.
➖ October 18, meeting up with the young boy we had visited with at the bus stop in Fromista - 128 miles from there in a mall in Ponferrada!
➖ October 19, meeting for the first time our friends Tom and Pam from Florida. We continued to spend time with them the remainder of The Camino.
➖ October 20 and 21, climbing two mountains in the Cantabrian Mountain range and coming down off of them, also. The scenery was breathtaking and we walked through forests of chestnut trees where we saw many people collecting chestnuts.
➖ October 21, meeting up again with our friends AnaLiza, Mundy, and a gentleman from the Philippines. We didn't think we would ever see them again.
➖ October 24, seeing a large group of hunters arrive back from a successful day of boar hunting. This caused quite a stir in the small village of Eirexe.