Cracking the Century

Today we surpased the magical hundred mark, to my diappointment we did absolutely nothing to commemorate the ocassion. We would appreciate any suggestions for future milestones?
To give you a brief summary of our day we generally depart the Albeurge between 6.45 and 7.00am walk for around 2 hours then have a break. We usually try to cooridnate this with a town that has amazing Spanish coffee. After any break it is a good 10 minutes for the legs really work again so we usually hobble out of the town and commence another 2 hour stretch which takes us to 11.00am. By this time we could ´eat the ar$e out of a low flying duck´ so we stop again and have a snack, maybe ham or nuts.
Our camelbaks have been immensenly handy and really assist with dehydration. At around 12.00pm we like to stop for lunch in one of the towns which thus far have been beautiful- if we are feeling in the mood we stop for 1 hour however the longer you stop the harder it is to start again. Sahra is a bit like a victa lawn mower after lunch, she really needs priming and it take a few goes to get her started. Still no success with her feet, she almost made it the whole way in her runners today- she is doing a great job- her pack is heavier than a lot of the men doing the camino. I am very proud of her thus far.
By around 2.00pm to 3.00pm each day we have arrived in our new town, our first job is to locate an albergue, get our credencial stamped, then have a nice long relaxing shower before the other pilgrim riff raff arrive. We have started going for a walk after we arrive as it relaxs the muscles and yesterday we went and sat under a wonderful old bridge and had a nice siesta like the loccals.
Lately we have been cooking dinner for ourselves but there are many pilgrim meals around town for roughly 9 euros. They generally include wine and it really is a nice atmosphere catching up with the other pilgrims after a long day. By 9.00pm to 10.00pm we fall into bed ready to do it all over again.

Buen Camino!

Day 2- Ronchevalles to Larasoana

Well just to clarify any confusion from our last post it is Sahra who has decided to wear her thongs after day 1. I am suffering from a sever blister to my little toe but it hasn´t necesitated a change in footware. Today´s walk was a mere 25km and although shorter than yesterdays it was just as difficult. Sahra left her boots in the little town of Espinall as carrying the extra weight wasn´t a viable option. We stopped for a morning coffee and ran into an Australian couple who, can you believe it, had a bag on wheels with them. They mistakenly thought that they could send there bag home from Ronchevalles but there was no post office in the town.
Once again the scenery was breathtaking, it was full of many undulations and we had only two major climbs which was nice. With 3.3km to the town of Zubiri we were pumped but an error in the marking meant that the distance was more like 5.5km. We arrived in Zubiri at around 2.00pm had a quick bite to eat and bought some supplies as there are no supermarkets for the next 18km of the trip. Once again out of Zubiri the sign marking was incorrect as we thought we had only 2.5km to Larasoana which was more like 4.5km. We arrived in Larasoana at 3.15pm on the dot, tired and exhausted. Despite the trials and tribulations it was a great day- it is an awesome expereince walking through these samll towns which you would never visist as a tourist.
Had a pilgrims meal at the albeurge which coincidental had us dinning with the people we walked with for extended periods of today and a great Canadian couple we met on the first day. Dinner came with a bottle of red and by the time we left there were four empty ones on the table. Can´t wait for tomorrow as we are staying in Pamplona.

Walking in Thongs!

That´s right, I have walked the last 35 kilometers in my Havianas!

My hiking boots were not kind to me on day one and after hobbling the first 6 kilometers on day two I left them near a fountain in a small town and put my thongs on. I was a much happier walker after leaving my boots behind and my blisters are begining to heal nicely. I will attempt to walk in my running shoes tomorrow, but at least I know my havianas are a trusty backup :)

The Way- Day 1 St Jean Pied Du Port to Roncesvalles

Day 1 supposedly the toughest we will encounter involved a 27.1 km slog up the pyrenese in what can only be described as hell with a 15 kg bag and only two walking poles for support. This aside the scenery was lovely- the snow was melting around us and the snow capped mountains were amazing. Enjoyed a coffee break in Orisson and a lunch break before taking on the climb up Leopoder. The Leopder climb is around 1500m and is well above the cloud line. It provided us with some amazing views of the surrounding countryside which includes both France and Spain. The descent you would think would be much easier but sadly no- in my opinion it was much more difficult and taxing on the knees. Sahra suffered from some bad blistering on the back of her heals so it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days.

After departing at 6.40am we arrived safely at 3.00pm, a bit worse for wear but excited about sharing a room with 100 other pilgrims (please note the sarcasm). Our accommodation was a mere 5 euros each and we enjoyed the pilgrims special priced meal for 9 euros- this included soup, fish or beef for a main and a yoghurt for desert. Most of the price accounted for the bottle of wine between 4.

All in all an awesome start to our journey- not to oversell it but one of the best days we have had since being away. Cant wait for tomorrow. Anyways off to sleep as we have 25km ahead of us tomorrow.

Volcanos and Stuff

Since our last correspondence so much has happened but it is the last few days which have been the most challenging.

We caught the last flight out of South Africa which successfully landed in Europe. Twenty minutes after arriving in Frankfurt the airport closed due to the errupting volcano in Iceland. As such we couldnt get our connecting flight to Paris stranding us in Frankfurt for several days. Nothing against Frankfurt but it is the second most expensive city in Germany and 48th most expensive city in the world. In the end we hired a car for 300 Euros- yes thats correct, and drove the 500 km to get to Paris where we have been for the last four days.

Weather has been great, we went to the Moulin Rouge which we thoroughly enjoyed. Have visited the Eiffel Tower and Louvre. Off to eat some baguettes and croissants Sacre Bleur!!!!!!!!