Day 9 - Pamplona to Uterga

We started with a walk thru the streets of Pamplona.  Leaving the city we walked thru farmer fields and the slope slowly started to increase.
Just passing the suburb of Cizus Menor, a Spanish gentleman showed us a romanic church and across the road a mediaeval castle.  He explained that the castle belonged to the knights of the order of St John.  In mediaeval times  bandits would attack the pilgrims climbing to the Alto del Perdon so the knights would escort  them to protect them.
Farther up the trail we pass by the ruins of a mediaeval pilgrims hostel,  Guendulain, at that height the views of Pamplona below and in the distance  are amazing.
We passed the village of Zariquiegui and continue going up. 
Almost at the top we find the fuente  reniega (renouncement fountain), the legend says that a mediaeval pilgrim was going up the mountain and he was very thirsty.  The devil appeared to him as a young man and said: if you renounce God, I'll give you all the water you want.  The pilgrim refused, then the devil said if you reject our Lady Mary, I will give you all the water you need. The pilgrim refused again, so the devil said, renounce St James and you will get your water. The pilgrim refused again.  Then St James appeared and revealed the fountain to the Pilgrim.
Shortly after that we arrive to the top, the Alto del Perdon.  There is a series of figures, sculptures representing pilgrims over the ages.  These sculptures are only 20 years old but have become an iconic point of the Camino.  The ridge at the top is lined with gigantic electricity generating  windmills. There is a sign  on one of the figures which reads: donde el Camino del aire she cruza con el Camino de las estrellas.  Where the way of the wind crosses with the way of the stars. The way of the wind is represented by the windmills and the way of the stars is el Camino, which goes East to West, following the Milky Way.
Here we meet two young men, Mik from Denmark and Javier from Spain.  They are going today all the way to Puente la Reina.
From there there are only 4 km down the hill to Uterga.  It is a dangerous steep trail of loose stones.  It is going to takes over one and a half hour to get there.
In the way we have crossed paths with a pair of teenage girls from Korea.  They speak very little English but they are always smiling.  They are going to stay at the same place we are.
Shortly we will have our pilgrim's dinner with the Korean girls, a man from Calgary and some other pilgrims we have not met yet.

Day 8 - Pamplona

This morning we packed, got ready to go and... I felt very tired so we decided to stay one more day in Pamplona.
Easy day, I had a short nap in the morning and another one in the afternoon. We spent most of the day walking slowly and enjoying the views and the atmosphere.
The highlight of the day was Mass at the church of San Fermin.  At the end of the Mass, the priest called us up to the altar and gave us a touching and beautiful pilgrim's blessing.
Tomorrow we are going to try to get to Uterga. It is only 15km but we need to climb to the Alto del Perdon.  We'll have to see how things go.

San Fermin, patron Saint of Pamplona, bishop and martyr, protect us, guide us in our Camino and pray for us.

The church of San Lorenzo

Day 7 - Pamplona

I woke up after 14 hours of sleep.  A mandated day of rest. Still tired but feeling better.  A short walk to the cathedral of Santa Maria Real and we stayed for mass.  The cathedral is a XIV century building.  There was an older cathedral at that site but it was destroyed in the X century by the Moors. The old statue of Santa Maria Real is the central figure at the altar.  That is the same statue of our Lady in front of which for centuries the kings of Navarra made their oaths.  The mass was very ceremonious, the big organ provided the music with a classical choir.  The mass was presided by a Monsignor with 2 priests.  Very spiritual.  After lunch I am ready for a nap.
The Camino de Santiago is a small community. It seems that a lot of people know about the Canadians that are walking slowly.  I got a note from Joao from Mallorca, we met him in Zubiri, asking how I was doing. He had heard from another pilgrim that I was having troubles climbing to Roland's pass. 
It is said that pilgrims face 3 crisis.  The first one is physical, the second emotional and the last one spiritual. I am really having a physical one. Besides my problem with fatigue, there are lots of muscular pains.  The body keeps saying: what are you doing to me? Where is my chair? Where is my TV?
I think we will go on tomorrow.

Leaving the clinic

Day 6 - Zubiri to Pamplona

742 km to Santiago de Compostela

It is 1am and I am up.  My sleep patterns are all messed up. Write is something I can do. So a bit of history from this region, Navarra, Basque Country, land of my ancestors.
In the VIII century Charlemagne broght his mighty army into Spain to fight the Moors.  In his way back to France, not wanting to leave a fortified city at his back, he destroyed the walls of Pamplona.  The Basques were furious.  Charlemagne had placed Roland, the paladin, the one of the legend, in charge of his rear guard army.  As Roland's Franks started the ascent to the Pyrenees, the Basques using guerilla tactics attacked. the Franks were better armed and organised but the Basques knew the land and with lighter arms could move faster here, in their own mountains.  Yesterday we crossed Roland's Pass, it is said that  it is there that Roland tried to get help from Charlemagne for the last time.  The Basques were relentless. When Roland's army arrived to Roncesvalles, the Basques did their final attack.  The Franks were brutally massacred. Roland and most of his knights lost their lives.  The Basques disappeared in the mountains.  One hundred years later the legend of Roland appeared in France.  The lesson of the story: do not anger a Basque.

I don't know how deep we will get into Pamplona but the objective today is to get at least to the suburbs.  Leaving Zubiri we cross el Puente de la Rabia, the rabies bridge.  It is a mediaeval bridge, it is said that if you lead an animal three times around the central arch, it will be cured of rabies. 5 km from here we arrive to Larrasoaña it will have taken us 3 days to complete the first stage according to the pilgrim's guide.
 
It took us 3 hours to get to Larrasoaña, according to pedometer 7 km.  I was not doing well, I needed to rest very often.  Finally, with 1 KLM to go, I got up after a rest and proceeded to pass out in my GF arms.  I don't know how we made it to the town.  By then I knew I could not walk anymore so we called a cab and ask to be taken to a hotel in Pamplona. 
We were already in Pamplona when I got sick and passed out again so the taxi took to an ER.  It is amazing how fast they got me in, they did all kind of tests very fast.  The doctor said that the problem was simply extreme fatigue.  They put an IV to raise my blood pressure and kept me in bed for a while.  I am impressed with the Spanish health services.
So now, I am in bed in the hotel.  I guess I am going to spend a day or two here. 
We realised our objective of getting to Pamplona today but not the way I was expecting.
Superman I am no more.

Santiago, friend of Jesus, guide us, protect us in your Camino, and help accept whatever happens.  Pray for us

 

Up, up we go