Today was brutal. None of the walking we did prepared us for the steepness of the trail (not even Bill and Rita’s driveway!). Seemed like the mountain never gave us a break. While we were never on our hands and knees, we were leaning so far forward I thought my pack might come over my head! We got to the point where we were stopping every 50 steps to catch our breath. Worst of all was the wind, we were walking directly into it - 50 mile an hour gusts. Several women were literally blown over the edge, one went to ÉR. Fortunately I am pretty sturdy and though I wobbled at times, Dick kept me upright.
It was a climb from 190 meters to 1490 meters. My legs were screaming! There was a lovely food truck near the top, when I asked for 2 bananas, he gave me three and waved away the extra charge. Maybe I looked like some one who REALLY needed a banana!
Other than the physical challenge, we did have some memorable moments and met some interesting people. There are people from all over the world (well most of it anyway) including from Korea, South America, Scandinavia and Ireland. And Lu did herd some sheep! We really didn’t do much chatting, as no one had extra breath. Time for that tomorrow. We wobbled into Roncevalles about 5 o’clock, fell on the bed and took a nap. Went for dinner to a little bar in the hotel, and off to bed!
So far the spiritual part of the journey has mostly consistently been me praying “Dear Lord, help me up this hill” and “oh God it can’t go up any more, can it?”
People assure us it will get better, not such steep climbs and stronger bodies. Actually we are pretty proud of ourselves for making it!
Ancient signage points the way
Holy cow!
Nice hair!
Barb filling her water bottle
Food truck in the middle of nowhere
That’s a lot of steps and flights! And who needs volumizing shampoo when you’ve got a windy hike? 😊
ReplyDeleteSo proud of you guys for that first day. Not sure I would have made it.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine how hard that must be . . . so proud of you. Glad Dick is there to hold you up. Eat those bananas . . .prayers for safety and great memories. Sue E
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I could not find these earlier posts at first from the page where I landed (May 26 update). So, I am reading out of order. Glad you were anchored to the trail. Sounds grueling! Cheers for making it! 🎉
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