The rainy day...

Dear ones,

today was the day, the first rainy day on the Camino. And how it rained... My goodness, it was cold :D. After the heat of the past few days, it was only around 10 degrees Celsius today. I was freezing in between...

After having breakfast in peace this morning, I started slowly at around 8:00 am. Marlene accompanied me for a little while through Pamplona.

Since I had no desire for this city at all yesterday, I thought to myself, give it another chance and have a look at the side streets while passing through. As you can see in the photos, the weather wasn't fantastic this morning already. Anyway... During my stroll through Pamplona, I met Juan, a Spaniard who unfortunately only spoke a few words of English, but nonetheless we had a very pleasant conversation :).

To rest my legs, I only walked about 11 km today. Fortunately, I was wearing my running shoes, as the pants and shoes got completely wet from the rain... they would only be wetter if I were standing in water ;). So my actual hiking shoes stayed nice and dry, and the running shoes thankfully dry faster.

Today, I sleep in a 10-bed room. Since I was the first one, I could choose my bed this time... after a refreshing shower (unfortunately, the water wasn't very warm), I made myself comfortable on the bed and dozed off. Gradually, new pilgrims kept coming in... and what can I say... they were all men :D

After resigning myself to spending the night in a 10-bed room with only men, I was finally relieved and at least one woman joined as well :D. But to my misfortune, my fellow pilgrims are all Italians this time, and of course, they only converse in Italian, making a conversation on my part impossible :D

However, the peace today somehow suits me very well. This way, I can bring you up to date and let my own thoughts wander... By the way, I took the opportunity earlier and took soooo many pictures of the incredibly beautiful surrounding landscape. The village of Zaroquiegui, where I am staying, is incredibly picturesque, nestled between gentle mountains with grains radiating in all sorts of shades of green. And occasionally, a narrow path winds its way through. Truly fantastic!

And in case anyone is concerned that I might lose weight here... the so-called pilgrim menus are so great and calorie-rich that I rather think I will gain a lot of weight. Appetizer, main course, dessert, baguette, one liter of water, and one liter of wine for one person... and all for 10-17 euros. That's truly incredible. I have always been lucky with my menus, very good home cooking and really tasty! And today, I even enjoyed the red wine a lot :p... I think I will be able to sleep well tonight...

I hope the further half-day of rest has done my legs good so that I can finally walk about 25 km tomorrow... and I hope the sun will shine again tomorrow!!!

Best regards,

Nicole

Ps: Since the wifi is not cooperating again, I hope I can upload a few more pictures later.

Oh, and something else just came to my mind... today on my way, I passed by a field of pods (peas)!!! They were really delicious :D, it almost made me forget about the rain.