The Day of Light and Wheat

Last night after a few plates of tapas in the Bar Txoko on the Placa del Castillo in Pamplona, I was walking down the street called Nueva heading towards our hotel, talking on my iPhone to Felipe´s cousin Emilio, in Galicia, about our impending arrival when a taxi pulled up next to me and inside waving was Susie Lindeman, our friend from Sydney. She had just flown in from Paris to join us for four days. Luna and Rosa were so excited they hadn´t realised they´d been watching the news about the English elections while they waited. We went upstairs to have dinner looking next to the illuminated romanesque San Nicolo church and couldn´t wait to get up to explore Pamplona in the morning. Then the girls and I had the best sleep we´ve had since we started our journey and didn´t wake until eight. then we had to have churros and hot chocolate for breakfast, go to the Pilgrim´s Office to get Susie a credential and stamps for ours and on the way to the Camino de Santiago, a little bit of window shopping. Girls will be girls.

We stayed at the Hotel Maisonnave in the centre of town just near the path for the Running of the Bulls. Even though it is a normal hotel, they gave a huge discount because we arè ´´peregrinos´´ , organised two connecting rooms for us that were newly renovated and this morning they had prepared picnic bags for us to take away. Their cafe/bar on the street with its Hemingway atmosphere was obviously popular with locals. The hotel has even self-published a book on Hemingway... is this beginning to sound like a travel brochure? it´s late here in Puente de la Reina but I just want to write about two new experiences we had today;

1, the light projections from the stained glass windows onto the massive stone tiles of the Pamplona cathedral. Our first sunny morning and we visited the monumental Cathedral at just the right time because the sun was streaming through its celestial array of jewel coloured windows. Susie, Rosa and I walked around quickly - we had to get out of town to start our day´s walk - but the patterns of ephemerial hues were irresistable and I stopped to take a few photos...I thought of the impressionist painters in France wondered if they had also been mesmerised by this effect, for example in the Chartres Cathedral. It also reminded me of new media works like the video installations of Bill Viola.

2. Walking through wheat fields in the hills beyond Cizur Minor : It was so late when we left Pamplona - we all loved it and want to return - that after an hour or two it began to rain and before long we were back in the mud. The consolation was that we were walking through wheat fields leading up to the Alto del Perdon (I think it means the ´´height of pardon´´) a climb of 300 metres in 7 km and leading down into the Obanos valley. I realised I´d never seen the new shoots of wheat in spring when the plants are still short and emerald green. As we went along, Luna and I began to talk about the grains that feed the world and how wheat is the staple of much of Europe along with rye, barley, oats, rice and potatoes.

The things we´re loving as we walk;
- our Icebreaker fine merino layers of singlets, tanks, t-shirts, leggings, socks and underwear. Icebreaker is amazing because it keeps us warm and dry in all conditions from the blizzard to a sunny day. I´ve been surprised to see so many hikers wearing Icebreaker: it´s from New Zealand but in the last year or two it´s gone global.
- our hiking boots, we couldn´t do this without our Scarpa (Luna and I) and Meindl (Rosa) boots. they keep our feet dry and supported
- our technical fast drying hiking pants that are lightweight yet keep the water and snow out
- technical lightweight hardshell jackets
- my twisted stretch washing line !! becoming an expert surreptitious hanger
- tortilla anytime, hot chocolate (girls) and red wine at the end of the day. Hasta manyana.