Roncevalles to Zirubi

Day Two held its own special offerings, different from Day One but special nonetheless. Apart from very little sleep and aching muscles, we were up and packing our packs at 6am for a 7am departure. Then we heard it...The rain on the roof of the church that we had stayed in the night before. Ouch. This would mean starting our day in a downpour.

Wearing packs and being covered in raingear is special all by itself. We looked like we were auditioning for the part of the Hunchback of Note Dame,  with rain panchos that coveted our bodies and our packs. At first,  we were freezing. Then, we were burning up as we started hiking and sweating under the raingear.

So our day went something like this... Freezing. Take off pack and put on more layers. Hoist pack and hike. Rain begins again. Stop and put on panchos and cover all your gear. Hike. Sweat and feel like a furnace has been ignited under your pancho. Stop. Rearrange layers to try to stay cool, yet also warm and dry. Hoist pack. Hike. Rain stops and sun comes out. Take off rain gear. Hike.  Rain starts again.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Over and over again all day long.

There were some great people to talk to along the way. Four friends from New Zealand are walking together and they are a lot of fun. There is a deeper story that hasn't come out yet...The reason they are walking is hanging in the air and it's heavy,  but no one's talking yet.  We met a woman who turned 65 last week and says she's walking the Camino "because now I'm old and I need to figure out what to do with the rest of my life". Her story was amazing of what she has already done with her life! Kind of sad to me that she has such an amazing story and she feels like this birthday somehow signals the end of all that and a resignation to being "old".

I won't lie. ..my muscles hate me right now. I feel muscles that I didn't even know existed.  Is it possible for rest to be painful? It was painful today. I officially have the first blister of the journey, with a couple of blister-wannabes following closely behind.

I'm now in bed, trying to write this post before I pass out. I'm kind of a prisoner in the bed anyway...I'm on the top bunk and I can't get down. In full disclosure,  I must admit the fact that earlier when I tried to set up my bed and take a rest, my legs finally said "we're done for today" and they just quit working. Yes, I fell out of bed...out of the top bunk. because my legs refused to respond when my brain said "climb down".

Yes,  I feel like a 5 year old again...not in a good way.

Time to sleep and start all over again tomorrow. But I will need help getting out of bed in the morning. ..