A great test for every couple should be to spend 42 hours straight in a 6’x7′ tent where only laying down or sitting up are possible. We survived, but only because I am, quite possibly, the easiest person in the world to get along with.
The rains continued all night long. There was a festival in Irun, Spain just across the border. They had planned for fireworks, and fireworks they had. Lassie doesn’t like the sound of distant booming any more than she likes the sound of thunder. There was no hope for peace until after the show had the grand finale around midnight.
When we woke up at 7, it was still raining, but just a light one. We decided to give it a little more time. By 8, there was no more rain on the tent and people were walking around on the trails outside. We decided to make a break for it.
We survived the storm amazingly well considering. The only thing wet that we packed up was the tent. Lassie kept taking off and then returning about 10 minutes later. She had been a good guardian for us the last two days.
At 9, we took off walking. Lassie was right by our side or leading the way. We both asked her if she had ever seen the Mediterranean Sea. She didn’t understand us. We both had brain farts and realized that she only speaks French.
The first mile is a steep climb. About half way up, I ran out of water. At the first decent stream, I dropped my pack and got out the filter. Pam and I knocked out 4 liters in no time flat, but I was having a mild panic attack. We were both dragging terribly this morning after not eating or drinking much for two days. Pam kept insisting she wasn’t hungry. I know from my reading that the number 1 reason most people quit long distance hiking is because of malnutrition. Pam kept stating that we weren’t burning that many calories and that she didn’t need to step up her eating. I was panicking, worrying about her caloric intake and arguing so much against it.
With water all filled, we took off again. Lassie seemed reluctant to follow but she came along. Around the next bend was a cairn. We didn’t realize it until after we were 100 meters past the cairn that Lassie wasn’t following us any longer. We looked back and she stood there staring at us. We thought she might have been a herding dog and this confirmed it. She was at the edge of her territory and wouldn’t go on. She had graciously escorted us to the edge of her territory. I was very sad that I hadn’t given her a proper goodbye.
In about an hour, we crossed into Spain and what turned out to be a French shopping Mecca. Tax rates are incredible high in France, but Spain is cheap by comparison. We stopped at the first cafe/grocery store we came to. To my relief, Pam ate a large breakfast of eggs, bacon, bread, 2 cups of coffee, and some of my French Fries. Afterwards she said she hadn’t realized she was so hungry and that she felt much better now. I was relieved beyond measure.
The rest of the day was great walking even if there were lots of ups and downs. We dropped back down to sea level from 1000′ only to climb back up to 1800′. The second time we dropped back down near sea level, we crossed a nice flowing cold stream. We both agreed to drop our packs and soak our feet in the stream. This is a luxury we only got to do once on the Camino and that was after we were done hiking for the day.
We were going to try to make it into Sare (every time we say the town name, Pam thinks of Sarah, her daughter. But since we mispronounce everything, we think we might be saying it wrong as well, but Pam claims to have named her as a baby so hopefully she’s got the pronunciation right). The descent down from 1800′ was taking us longer than we thought it would and it was later than we thought. We called it a day about 8p so we would have time to set up camp, eat, and get ready for bed before the sun goes down. One big plus for us is that we have a tremendous view outside of our tent.
Now that looks like a lovely place to place your tent! Hope the view was beautiful in the am. I loved Lassie, some sort of terrier? Thought you might have a new child …..what a sweet dog.
Janet–thanks for reading our blog! The dog was an Airedale. We have had spectacular views. The hiking is much harder but hopefully we will get in better shape.