Depart Time: 8:00 Temp: 57F RH: 80%
Walked today: 6.9 mi. Camino 2024: 28.5 mi.
According to a 14 Century legend, Duke William (Guillermo) of Aquitane and his sister Felicia undertook the Camino de Santiago. On the return journey, Felicia was overwhelmed with piety and went to become a hermit in a nearby residence rather than returning to her life of luxury. Her brother tracked her down and tried to convince her to return to her court duties. When she refused, he became enraged and stabbed her to death. He was then overcome by remorse and walked to Santiago again and returned to Óbanos to mourn his sister for the rest of his life. He built a hermitage on Arnotegui (a southern hilltop) to serve pilgrims and the poor. Guillermo’s silver-covered skull is kept in Iglesia San Juan Bautista. The town puts on a play called The Mystery of Óbanos every year, retelling the legend with a cast of most of the 800 villagers!
We got back into our favored routine this morning by walking a little over a mile then stopping in Puenta la Reina for a routine cafe con leche and dos tostatos
About a hour and nearly 3 miles past Puenta la Reina, we began a trek up the side of a mountain. We covered 3/4 mile while climbing 300 feet. (7.5% average slope) shown in following 5 photos.
This will be our first opportunity to stay in Zirauki (Basque). There is only one place to stay, Albergue Marslotx, and on all our previous Caminos, it has been fully occupied.
We walked into Cirauqui at 11:45 and stopped at a snack bar for a light lunch and to pass the time until our 1:00 p.m. checkin.
Our room was ready at 1:00 and we were pleased with the welcoming host, unique decor, cleanliness, and excellent view from the balcony.
We did chores, rested and spent a leisurely afternoon recovering well from our walk.
At 7:00 we joined other pilgrims in the albergue dining room for a traditional dinner of mixed salad, garbonzo bean and mushroom stew, local Navarre wine and custard for dessert.
We shared a table with a delightful couple from Leon, France, who were walking their first camino and were only going as far as Burgos. Their English was limited, both our Spanish was even more limited and so our conversations were in French and went surprisingly well, as far as we can tell.
After dinner we retired to our room, finished the blog post and called it a day. We seem to getting a little bit stronger with each day.
Jimandi 