11 April -- Bizkarreta to Larrasoaña

After we returned late last night from the Pilgrim's Mass in Roncesvalles, Istvan introduced me to Skye, a young woman from Australia.  She had just arrived and was eating a late dinner. We introduced ourselves and she recognized me from my posts on the El Camino Pilgrim's Forum.  That was cool! She will be starting from SJPDP in the morning. We exchanged phone numbers in case she wanted to share a taxi at some point. I figured she'd probably catch up to me along the way.

I awoke before daylight and Skye and I shared what passes for breakfast here: hard toast with cheese and jam and a cup of really good coffee.  I packed my stuff and got ready to walk to Larrasoaña as Istvan and Skye left for SJPDP.  Claudia packed a lunch for me and sent me on my way with a kiss and a prayer.  This is a 17 km section, so I figured it would take me about 3.5 hours. 

My feet felt GREAT! No problems there. The backpack was heavy, but manageable. The temperature was perfect for walking and it was sunny. I was making good time, averaging 4 km/hr.  Somewhere around the 10 km mark, I stopped for a rest and drink. The scenery was spectacular. I heard an engine noise, which surprised me because I was nowhere near a road. A few minutes later, a small 4x4 truck approached and stopped. The driver got out and in Spanish began to ask me questions.  At first I could not believe what I was seeing, as the trail is NOT for vehicular traffic. I explained to the gentleman that I could not speak Spanish, but I could actually make out what he was trying to ask me. He was looking for two young men who were dressed in shorts and white shirts. He said they were brothers and one of them had dropped a phone in his cafe this morning.  So here was this guy, driving the Camino, trying to return a stranger's phone!!! I told him that I had not seen anyone else on the trail except a few bicyclists who had passed me (another funny story there).  I said I'd keep my eye open for them, but I think I understood more Spanish than he did of English. So he shrugged, got back in his truck and had to turn around because the trail had gotten too narrow for his truck to go any further. I took off walking again.  Not 5 minutes later, here were two young guys in shorts and white shirts, walking towards me. I haven't met very many English speaking pilgrims on the trail, so I assumed they didn't speak English. I made the universal sign for a phone and asked "Phone?" They answered "Sorry, we just lost ours!" in English. So I told them to hurry up and try to catch the guy in the truck. They took off running to catch him.

So, I'm rocking along making good time, feeling great, and so thrilled to be walking between villages in Spain!  It's like a dream come true.  Then I got to Zubiri.  I was climbing down a LONG set of stairs on the side of a hill, when I heard and felt my knee pop and then it started to swell, and then the pain came. I went from walking at 4.5 km to 1km. I walked 15 km in a little over 2.5 hours, then it took me another 2 hrs to get the last 2 km to the hostel. I'm not sure what I'm going to do right now. I sat down and had a good cry, now just waiting to see how it will be in the morning.