“I’m really glad I came!” Yes, both to walk CdS again, and also to Zabaldika, where we’re staying tonight. Walking a 34km stage immediately after the first day’s climb over the mountains was a cruel thing to plan, but yes, I’m glad we made the effort.
The stage is mostly downhill, yes, but it manages to incorporate enough uphill into itself to make you reevaluate your life choices. Zabaldika, you’d better be worth all this trouble.
Zabaldika charged us with love enough for the rest of the journey, it would seem. The place itself is, like, literally 40 people all living in the same street, and a church with a parish albergue attached to it. The two hospitaleiras working here (Covadonga and Roser) at this time were genuinely happy to give their best. We were the only two guests for a while, until another pair arrived later in the day. And the sisters of the sacred heart who run the church… oh, man. The first two made sure our bodies were alright (salad, lintel soup, wine), but the meeting with a prayer for pilgrims was a truly touching sharing of love for one another (mostly strangers until very recently). And I’m not that easily moved.
The stage itself was great, mostly forest and countryside, immediately after one leaves the daunting shadow of the huge Collegio at Ronsesvalles. Speaking of which, the person with the squeaky crocs, who had, like, eleven bathroom walks during the night, will come back there to haunt the place as a ghost, I’m sure of that.
Some neat villages, lots of trail (like, really, a lot), a real (not Camino-tourism) bar we had lunch at in Zubiri… A memorable day.
