Pilgrims on the Way

In the absence of any readily identifiable café, Eamon and I took refuge from the weather in this little village church. Although we’d been walking with Charlie and Petra, we’d lost them a couple of kilometers back. The church was built in the 12th century, though it had obviously had some work done in the subsequent centuries. The interior featured […]

We’re very nearly to the hilltop village of Villamayor de Monjardín. The snow flurries continue, as does the wind and cold. It’s lunchtime, and Eamon and I are looking forward to stopping in basically any place with food and warmth. Or really, food or warmth. Date: 06 April 2013Place: approaching Villamayor de Monjardín (Navarra, Spain) Map!

Eamon and I walked up past snow-dusted vineyards and the village of Azqueta, before the Camino headed up into the snowy hills. I didn’t take very many photos during the morning, and those I did take are uniformly grey and snowy. At about noon, we approached the covered medieval fountain sometimes called Fuente de los Moros, just before the village […]

The morning was cold and windy, and the snow returned on and off. Fortunately, as you can see, most of it was in the highlands and not so much in the lowlands. Unfortunately, the Camino was taking us up into the hills. It’s about 10:30 in the morning. Date: 06 April 2013Place: between Irache and Azqueta (Navarra, Spain) Map!

Looking far chipper than I did, Eamon takes his cup of wine from the fountain at Irache. Bodega Irache maintains a webcam with a live feed at the fountain, and Eamon telephoned some friends in New Zealand to watch him live. In this photo, you can also see the little-used spigot for water. Of old, the nearby monastery maintained the […]

Yes, you read that correctly. Here we see our humble narrator quenching his thirst at 9:00 in the morning, having walked through snow and rain and wind in a poncho that rather makes him look like a strawberry troll. I’d say he’d earned that cup of wine. Cheers! Of old, the nearby monastery maintained the fountain, which has a spigot […]

Just how cold was it? This cold. A fuzzy photo of snow, taken from the albergue window. Not sticking, thank goodness, but still swirling through the air. So: snow and wind. It was going to be a fun morning, and we were planning to make it at least as far as Los Arcos today, some 21km away. Date: 06 April […]

Camino day five begins with breakfast in the albergue. It’s still dark outside, and bitterly cold, so we’re taking our time. That’s Eamon in the corner, and sitting next to him is Patrick from Florida. I think this might be my first photo of Patrick, and I’m pretty sure this is when we met him. He would soon join our […]

Turns out, it was Charlie’s 70th birthday, and Carlos was going to turn 30 in just a couple of days. So Charlie invited a slew of us out to dinner on his dime. We spent the evening feasting and drinking and singing until late. It was a glorious time, and there’s nothing quite like a group of Irish peregrinos singing […]