Greetings from Cizur Menor

Well last night we had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to eat dinner.  In spite of not walking, we were rather hungry.  Although we had breakfast at Zubiri, we had only had an ice-cream whilst waiting for the alberque to open.  In Spain the evening meal is quite late – much too late for pilgrims who like to get an early start.  Along the Camino, reasonably priced “Pilgrims’ Meals” are often available, rather earlier than normal Spanish dinner time.  However we couldn’t find anywhere – we should have looked at the notice board at the alberque!  We ended up having a kebab and fries – not very Spanish, but quite tasty.

Along the Camino we have met some great people.  Although private accommodation can have its advantages, the camaraderie in the alberques is great.  (The occasional episode of snoring isn’t necessarily quite so great!)  It is also good for getting an early start as everyone else is preparing to leave.  We joined others for a very delicious breakfast at a café across the road before we set off.

Although I am feeling very much better, we decided to take it easy today and only walked just over 5 km to Cizur Menor.  We met up again with some people we had met on the train from Bayonne to St Jean and had a cool drink with them – it was already in the high 20s.  They were pushing on but we waited until the alberque opened, had a shower and had a lunchtime “pilgrims’ meal”. We have spent the afternoon planning and catching up.

We have made the decision to have our bags transported tomorrow!  It is again forecast to be in the 30s, so we plan an early start.  We will just take small backpacks and lots of water.  We have reserved a double room at Uterga.  It is about 12 km, but it is quite a climb!  Hope everything goes according to plan.  So far neither Anna nor I have blisters.  I am wearing the same boots and socks in which I trained at home, but it is a lot hotter!  (And of course I didn’t do as much training as I should have!)