A Week on the Road, Already?

Well, apparently, I'm a terrible person, because I did not realize a week had passed since I had blogged.

We're now nearly 120 miles into our trek, and it's been a fun few days.  The kids have been doing great.  The weather has been mostly cooperative, though it has started getting warm in the afternoons, and just today, which was a longer day, I discovered that my left leg has a lovely sunburn on it.  As do the the thumb and first finger on my left hand from walking with poles.

Oh, also, everything hurts.  But you probably knew that.

Staying in a hotel in Pamplona was a fantastic idea.  We were just three days into the walk, but I think it gave the students a chance to kind of reset from the hostels and wash off the travel stains of the previous few days.

Pamplona has a lot of history to offer, but also a lot of nightlife and activity.  It was initially the capital of Basque Country and later the capital of the Kingdom of Navarra.  The kingdom was established by Charlemagne as a defensive perimeter against the Muslims, which invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711 and pushed north to the Pyrenees.  Charlemagne established a frontier called the "Spanish March" and basically told the Duke of each area that they were on their own.  France would leave them alone as long as they defended the border against the evil infidels.

Turns out Basques are sneaky.  Whilst he was dealing with Charlemagne, the guy in charge of Pamplona, a lovely chap named Sancho Garces, was also making a similar deal with Muslim Caliph of Cordoba.  So, basically, he was double-dealing, which is awesome, until someone figures out you're double-dealing (not that I would know).  A few years go by, the Muslims to the south start getting a bit unruly, and Charlemagne decides he has to deal with the situation.  Charlemagne shows up in Pamplona and asks friend Sancho to let his army in.  Sancho politely declines, so logically, Charlemagne camps outside the walls, and tells Sancho he'll deal with him after he finishes opening a can on the Muslims.  I'd like to think that Sancho then flipped Charlemagne the bird, or the medieval equivalent, but I don't really know.

Sure enough, Charlemagne whupped the Moors, and returned to Pamplona.  By this point he was cranky enough and tired enough that he burned the entire city of Pamplona, then continued north back to France.  The Basques were so enraged that they attached his army in the Roncesvalles pass, and Charlemagne's main man, Roland, was killed.  For more details see, "The Song of Roland".

All of this happened around 811AD.  So, recent history.  Kinda like the Brexit.

Enough history.  Suffice to say Pamplona is an interesting town.  Then we had a few shorter days, and continued good weather into Logrono for our first rest day.  The slog into Logrono is a bit long, and I think we were all glad to have a rest day in a nice hotel.

I basically stayed off my feet the whole rest day, only venturing into town to eat and in search of ice cream.  Logrono is a cool town, given that it's the capital of La Rioja, which is wine country here in Spain, but I'll admit, I've been there and done that.  So I sent the kids off in search of Important Historical Facts, and I graded papers and generally caught up on what's going on in the world.

I must admit we've lost a couple of members of our crew and we've added a couple.  Callaghan caught a bus from Logrono to Andorra to check out the situation for his potential Fulbright Scholarship.  We'll miss him.  Paul leaves tomorrow to return back to the States.  It's been a blast to have him along, and I think he might like Spain a bit.  We'll pretend to miss him.  Kidding Paul.  We won't pretend.

We've also met a young man from Scotland who has just graduated from high school and hopes to start and University in the Fall.  His name is Ruaraidh (if you pronounce it 'Rory' you'll be close enough that he probably won't be irreparably offended).  He's blended well with our group, and we're glad to have him along.  Also, a Camino alum, Alex Yip, is back with us again, serving as EMT.  He's had foot trouble, and had to see the doctor today and take the bus.  Prayers on Alex's behalf are greatly appreciated.

Not much else to report, really.  We had a long 18 miles today; tomorrow is a shorter 12.  I may or may not have burned some Parador points to stay in the Parador in the town coming up rather than the large albergue.  Don't judge please!