“It is not the day that matters but the stage in the journey.”
While I am the first to admit that I am no expert with the plethora of facilities afforded to the owner of these 21st century iphone thingies, I can’t ever remember being asked by someone to delete a couple of letters from a fairly lengthy opening paragraph and instead SCRUBBING THE WHOLE LOT. Every bleeding word. I’m too much of a gentleman to name the guilty party, but given there are only two of us on this trip and IT WASN’T ME, I’ll leave you to figure it out for yourself. To be fair, the alleged culprit is currently sitting on top of the bed staring at a blister that resembles a giant purple wine gum covering the gap between two of her toes . But enough. Today saw us locate the hotel’s breakfast room with relative ease and, having managed to carry my bag (which shall henceforth be referred to as “ the monster” ) down to the reception area without toppling over, we set off on our journey. Amazingly, we found the Camino path in jig time and followed it through the winding arborial canopies of the Sorginaritz Forest, which translates as “Oakwood of Witches” due to its status as Coven Central in the 16th century. Over the next few hours we meandered through a succession of picturesque villages full of whitewashed houses bedecked with bright red flowers (I’m reliably informed they were geraniums by my horticultural advisor who sadly, is also the mobile phone technician and principal navigator). The afternoon’s aesthetic unfortunately plummeted somewhat when we reached the grotesque and huge Magna site in Zubiri. This truly bogging eyesore looks like something out of an early episode of Doctor Who when they are attempting to convince the viewer that the Cybermen are back on their own dreadful planet but we all think it looks uncannily like Dumbuck Quarry. Suffice to say it was not very nice. Anyway, by 4.30 this afternoon we were standing outside the Hotel Akerreta in the sunshine, another stage of the Camino successfully knocked off. It should be pointed out that it rained incessantly for the entire morning, which gave us the opportunity to wear our rather fetching waterproof ponchos. Mine is bright green, Carolyn’s is banana yellow. Oh yes. How to look sharp on the trail and still stay dry…….Tomorrow we head for Pamplona!
Today’s song is “ Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” by Travis ( because it was…….)
