As promised, the lights were switched on at 6:30 (Johanna had already stood up one hour earlier to organize her stuff), breakfast at 7 and we were kicked out at 8. We were the last ones to leave, of course, at 8:04 when the host had just closed the doors, thinking that everyone was outside. Only one Austrian girl was as slow as we were.
The path took us up and down through pine and fir tree forests in intermittend rainfall. Despite everything being wet, it was quite warm and not too bad. We passed many villages, farms and churches in comparison to yesterday where we hadn’t seen houses in 15 km. Thanks to being kicked out in the morning, we also saw lots of the other pilgrims during the whole day and shared pieces and breaks with some of them.
I felt like I had a worse fitness day than the days before but I maintained good condition during the whole 25 km. Johanna has her special technique where she thinks of military marching music pieces when going upwards and does super small but very quick steps. This works like a turbo-boost for her and she generally gets a little ahead of me when going up, whereas I am quicker in descending. In general, however, we share the same rhythm.
After the first big mountain, we started playing “I’m going on a trip and I’m taking…” (ich packe meinen Koffer) until lunch. When we got to 40 items, we were physically and mentally extremely exhausted and stopped for lunch. We had walked for 5 hours straight without stopping and deserved a break and food. A big roof with some stairs and a restaurant gave us shelter and it also stopped raining soon.
After setting off to walk the last 8 k, the sun came out and it was pretty hot. One last mountain and the final downhill passage took us to Gernika, the village about whose bombarding Picasso painted the famous painting. There was no pilgrims albergue here but a normal youth hostel which even had a kitchen. We arrived there at 4, earlier than ever before, and had to deal with crowded showers and check-in and other stuff people in a normal schedule experience. Johanna got invited to pasta by our two American friends Mitch and Ben and I cooked some rice with vegetables and chicken, giving my system a break from restaurant food and cold snacks.
We were clean and full, our clothes washed and everything ready at 8 and not really sure what to do with the amazing amount of free time before sleeping. After checking tomorrow’s destination and finding out that there are only 20 beds for the over 60 pilgrims that we had seen during the last days, we decided to call it a night and get out early tomorrow morning.
Of course we couldn’t go to bed without singing some Metallica with our two Catalan friends who have been walking with us since day one, always entertaining us with their stories, comments and actions during the day and with their snoring at night. They are super funny and start talking and commenting everything they see and think in an impressive volume the very moment they wake up and stop talking the moment they start snoring at night.
One Comment
Daumiboy
Schinkööön!!!