pamplona

last night in zubiri---8 of us in a small room--4 double bunks. went to mass about 3 doors down and joined in the spanish hymns---after another pilgrim who i´d signed a peace with invited me to the local bar for a beer---i thought maybe my purpose here may be to learn how to get back on the grog---have been drinking everyday---he is danish,67,and has done parts of the camino before-- is here for 2 weeks this time to see how far he gets. then we joined gerard the frenchman doing the whole camino for the first time, for a meal. the equivalent of the counter lunch in spain is the menu del dia---3 courses and wine for 7-10 euros---11-17 dollars--pretty good value--basic food but they dont give you a glass of wine, they give you a bottle......up at 630 this morning and through all the rituals--packing the sleeping bag up,putting all the clean clothes in their plastic bags,giving my muscles a rub and my feet a massage,looking up the guide book to get a sense of where i´m headed today---places i might stop if things are going well and an earlier place to stop if i.m tired. i decided pamplona was my limit if things were going well---was the first out of the refuge about 7.20--our first fine day---had a banana and orange for breakfast--had a break after 1.5 hours--unloaded my packs,boots off and had a muesli barand an apple----all bush paths today and still quite muddy in places--your boots go about 1 inch into the mud or more--and still a lot of up and downhill. whil i was resting a young guy came along---i said buenos dias and then asked espangnol no german told him i was australian and he started speaking english told me he was a mad surfer. asked him how far he was going. he wasnt sure--he´d run out of water--so i gave him half of mine--he was very grateful--promised to pay me back and he was off. he was the only one i.d seen all morning. then an old guy --local--about 70 came past and stopped to chat. i think he asked me how i was ,where i was going and wished me well on my journey--a nice moment in the day. i stopped again about 2 hours later on a hillside overlooking a beautiful valley and a fast flowing river a 100metre sheer drop below--again packs off and shoes off--there about 20 minutes taking it all in and ate a packet of cashews---is this too much detail---about 10 pilgrims went past me including 2 who knew and greeted me--helene my first contact on the track and gerard the frenchman from last night--a good feeling. was pretty tired by nowbut kept on plugging on. then i came across quite a swampy area---was following 3 women who had passed me---and a local was yelling out to them they were going the wrong way and directed them away from where the arrow was pointing---i followed them and 5 minutes later got confirmation we were on the right track with another arrow---but i was plagued with guilt for miles later that i should have gone back and righted the wrong arrow as others were likely to be misled. eventually i had to decide to either go back several kms or let it go---i plodded on---through the suburbs of pamplona and then suddenly after forever walking---6 hour today i was there-- a delightful new refuge--4 in a room and a bath--only 3 ft long but it was such luxery--an hour later yens turned up and we had a late lunch together.haven´t looked at tomorrow yet--living in the now. love to you all