April 16 - Day 3

Day 3 - Roncesvalles to Zubiri - 22 km

Lights came on pretty early in the morning. We were greeted with rain. And a bit of wind. Fairly cool.

So on with the rain gear! At home I wasn’t sure I would need it, but heard there is lots of rain in Spain at springtime. So we got the gear. Definitely worth having today. We were able to take it off later when the rain let up.

Today we didn’t eat breakfast at the monastery. Who needs more bread? So we walked a few km to the town of Burguette where we stopped at a Supermercado for some snack/breakfast food. Nibbled a bit of that. Next stop was Espinal where we found a bar serving cafe con leche. After that we just kept walking except for a couple brief pauses.

Lots of up and down hills today, more down than up thankfully. But not easy! Going into Zubiri, the last 3 km were a steep decline on uneven, loose gravel and shale, all made worse with mud and slippery wet stones.

To get into the town of Zubiri you cross a lovely Romanesque bridge: Puente de la Rabia. Yes that is “bridge of rabies”. Apparently the body of the patron saint of rabies (Santa Quiteria) was found there when they went to build the bridge. Anyway, if you lead your animals across the bridge three times, they will be protected from rabies.

We got our accommodations at El Palo de Avellano. I paid an extra 2 Euro to not have a bunk bed. Worth 2 Euro I think. After showering and taking care of laundry, we walked around town. Took about 5 minutes.

Supper at the Albergue tonight. I am looking forward to more wine.

Today’s lesson: always be prepared, bring rain gear.

Groceries for snacks 5 Euro

Cafe con leche, banana 1.50 E

Albergue 18 E (to not have a bunk bed)

Laundry 2 E

Dinner 13 E

Dried fruit 2.90 E