Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Pilgrims

On the train we encountered a woman from New Zealand who was about to start a pilgrims walk, we were a bit interested as we didn't know anything about this. Now we know lots! There are about 500 people every day leaving the start, they carry packs! And a lot have walking poles, some in groups of old and new friends, some solo.The walk is usually from St John de Pied de Port ( on the france side in the Pyrenees) to Santiago de Compostela, across Spain. Some only do part of the walk, some all, in varying time frames. The trail is called the Camina, and many people stopped us and asked if this was the Camina? The first few times I had no idea what they were asking!!
I am not sure if they find themselves or not! But I am sure that pilgrims do not usually fly first class ( as I heard them saying) or dine at top class eateries, or even sleep in nice hotels, my image of a pilgrim is sleeping on the floor, sharing food etc. Hmm maybe I should rethink!!
An early night in Pamplona for me, Peter found some Irish pilgrims to drink with! And they drink like fish- or at least these ones do.
Pilgrims resting on the bridge after we rode across it

Another bridge we rode across

We ride 5 km from Pamplona, then back and around the town. We passed many walking pilgrims on our bike ride, by far the easier way to get around.

1 comment:

  1. So - it doesn't look like you'll be signing up to do the walk!

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