Day 4: To Cizur Menur (about 5kms)

Today was a very short day of walking. Our legs needed a rest after the 70kms we´d walked over the past 3 days. Even though we´d walked around 800kms of training walks over the past 6 months, it was generally 5 to 10kms at a time, on flat land, in good weather, rarely carrying more than a few kilos.

Now, we´ve just walked about 25kms each day, up and over the Pyrenees, through the rain & mud, carrying about 16kilos. Our legs were a little tender, and Hannah had picked up a few blisters after getting damp feet in the mud. We decided to have a short day and walk to Cizur Menor.

We´d also heard that there was a lady there that specialised in blisters. I´d been the ¨Blister Doctor¨for the past few days, popping them with a safety pin, but this lady took it to a whole new level. She gave Hannah a syringe (a new one!) & taught her how to pierce them and syphon the juice out. Eeek. Everything about blister control is gross, but it´s so very practical & neccessary during a walk of this duration. If we were getting blisters by day 3, it´s something that´ll become a huge issue down the track if we don´t learn how to manage it. Prevention is better than cure.

So. Blisters come from two main sources: rubbing and moisture.

To avoid the rubbing she showed Hannah a dofferent method of lacing our shoes so they stayed tighter and didn´t let our feet slip forwards. We´ve also been using a thin inner ´toesie´sock under our normal sock.

To avoid moisture... she gave Hannah sanitary pads so use as insoles. WTF? LOL!

She also showed Hannah a way of cutting bandages to allow them to wrap around small toes effectively.

OK. Enough about blisters. They´re under control now.

The albergue (like a hostel, but only for pilrim´s) we stayed at was wonderful. It had a huge garden with plenty of room to spread out on the grass to read/write/sleep/sunbake. One section had a small pond full of turtles.

Fact: Some turtles love cat food.

These turtles were wrestling (as much as turtles can wrestle...) to beat each other to the owner´s Whiskers laden fork.

We had dinner at a modern restaurant that served a pilgrim´s menu with a few people we´d travelled with over the past few days. Generally Hannah & I walk by ourselves during the day, either passing or being passed by other pilgrims, but rarely do we walk with anyone else for more than a few minutes. Everyone goes at a speed comfortable to themselves. Sometimes we head to dinner with people we know, other times it´s pot-luck, mostly it´s a combination of the two. One night (Pamplona) we sat with a group of mostly German people, but quite a few of them also spoke English and acted as unofficial translators. The food quality ranges from average to great, but the atmosphere & company is always interesting.

At the albergues it´s policy to have the lights out by 10pm, rise by 6am, and by out the door before 8am. At home I´d rather have the schedule of sleeping 1am to 9am, but I´ve settled into this routine quite easily. We´re doing so much during the day that I don´t really want to stay up much past 10pm anyway.

The dorm sizes vary from town to town. The smallest we´ve been in was the 1st night with 6 people. The largest was the 2nd night at Roscenvalles with 120 people in a single vaulted ceillinged room. A few people snore or make noise during the night, but this is nothing that a simple pair of earplugs can´t fix.

I was a little apprehensive about this sort of accommodation at first, but everyone is in the same situation & respect each other´s privacy. The shower facilities aren´t really an issue either. Everyone seems to shower in the afternoon or evening after arriving at the albergue. This gives the towels a change to dry overnight (you definitely don´t want wet clothes/towels inside your backpack). There´s the option of showering in the mornings, but nobody seems to do this. It´s lights on at 6am, out the door by 8am, so by the time you get up, repack your bag, fill your water bottles, etc, where wouldn´t be much time anyway. Plus, you´re about to head out for a 5 to 7 hour hike, not a black tie dinner. :)