Gernika to Lezama September 3, 2010 (22 kms)

What a day this was. It started with a pretty good climb up a steep hill - which is beginning to be the normal warm up to the day for this route. We had been guided out of the town by several people who stopped their car or left what they were doing to come and point out the way to us. These people are incredibly friendly and helpful and we hear this is typical of the Basque area.
We seemed to climb and climb and climb again this day. Early in the morning we soon found ourselves above the mist that was rising from the forests in the early morning sun rise. The colors were golden through the forest, You could look down and see the clouds below and the mountains in the distance and it was a feeling of being in another world. In the distance, we could hear the chain saws occassionally as the wood cutters felled trees in the lower areas. And in the upper pastures, again we came across cows and goats and sheep with their bells ringing in the distance. The silence at these times is profound and it is actually a truly meditative and spiritual experience to walk like this, espeically in the early morning.
The weather continues to be warm and sunny, pretty hot actually, so we are drinking lots of water and stopping to rest frequently. By afternoon it is about 28C. The ground is dry and so easy to walk across the difficult area. I cannot imagine this walk in the heavy rain.
We are quite a group of pilgrims now and as usually happens, we are making friends from so many different countries. The main language seems to be French, as that is the common denominator. So when I find an english speaking person, it is quite a heady experience. It makes me realize how limited I am in speaking one language with a smattering of French here and there.
We arrived in Lezamo in good time, by 1 pm actually, and then proceeded with our next phase for the day which I will write about in another post as it was such an adventure.
We have been walking for close to one week now and the kms are piling up. I have been thinking about the walk as I go and it seems much more challenging to be pensive as I am concentrating so hard on the difficulty of the pathways for most of the time. I do feel more relaxed as a result of the simple life though and am quite into the rythm of the pilgrim life, much earlier than on the 2008 camino.
Maggee