We had a late start, due to waiting for our bags to arrive from Orrison to Roncesvalles. Remember how I said we were supposed to stay in Orrison? So did our backpacks, but we couldn't afford waiting around for them, because of the cold weather.

A note about the backpack delivery service(s): It is great (ONLY) if you know where your destination will be the day you start walking. How does it work? Regardless of the albergue, Refugio, hostel you’re staying in, they all work with these transportation services that will pick up your backpack by 8 AM. You just stick on an envelope with your name and the exact place you’re headed to, as well as €4-8, depending on the company and it will await you at the the final desination. But what if you surpass your destination? Nope. You’re staying there and waiting for your bag, because they aren’t going to ship something to a further destination without that extra €€€€€. And this is why we didn’t leave until 11:30 AM today, much much much later than the other pilgrims.

Again, we left late, so we were alone on the trail for the most part. At first, we were under the impression that the road was flat and we were on a good one. But then the flat trail turned into hills then the hills turned into mountainous terrain. Like, what the... ? Everyone said it would be easy ! Bulllllll. Also, ¼ of the trail was concrete. Terrible on the feet. On this trail, there are a lot of gates. Just walk through and shut them, don’t be deterred. The last quarter of the trail is all steep rocky terrain heading down to Zubiri. En route, we stumbled upon a random/small/hole-In-the-wall restaurant, that had a clam risotto as a special. Holy delicisio! 

On the trail, we passed three Australians, and a group of school children who are completing the trail as a field trip. We actually found one of the children’s sleeping bag, and their teacher was stoked when we handed it over. We also ran into Klaus! It was great to drop off our things at our hostel, (€32 for a double room). The owner was so sweet, and the room was clean and just beautiful! It was great to see all of our friends at a local bar/restaurant. We had chistorra and potatoes, and of course local wine. It was nice to end the day with a warm bath. My only complaint about the city is that there are bells that go off every hour.. I don’t get it. Off to run with the Bulls tomorrow ! Kidding… Just Pamplona. Oh, and it’s Thomas’ 65th bday. Him and Klaus seemed to have had quite a bit beer to drink tonight (#whathappenswhenyougetGermansandIrishtogether), so hopefully they are not too hungover tomorrow. 

In terms of the quote in the beginning. We have been using my mom’s FitBit as well at Klaus’ German map program, and realized that we are doing at least an extra mile each day. Perhaps it’s Spain’s way of not discouraging us from walking an extra mile ? Oh, well.