Day 34 - 3rd June 2008 by Lu

Yesterday as Julian had gone off to Pamplona I was left to keep house.
I decided I would start the day with a Spanish lesson. I spent and hour revising and ot went out of my head as quickly as it went in. I had remembered enough to try out on the lady in the pilgrims office later on.
The sun looked like it might come out so I decided to do some washing whilst I could.
That chore done I decided to fiz Affrica's raincoat and then made some apricot jam from the dried apricots that looke like they were on thier last legs.
Then in the afternoon I schooled Odeon. I was going to ride him out but I was concerned that Lotus would get upset at being left alone.
Even though Odeon is very fit he is also very stiff so I did lots of stretching and bending exercises in trot and canter. I think he was pleased to be doing something different as he was bored being stood in his paddock.
Then I took Affrica for a walk and tried my Spanish out on the lady in the pilgrims office.
My time revising was wasted as she did not understand a word I said. My spanish is terrible.
Julian arrived back with the provisions, full of the joys of spain. He had obviously had a good day.
I think that men idea about shopping, i had asked for lots of fruit and veg. I was sick of Boccadillos and wanted some nice juicy fruit. He came back with 4 apples, 4 oranges this would only last 2 days, a broccoli and some beens, a lettuce and some tomatoes, some tins of peas, and beans. Some chicken, sausages and meat balls. The rest was dried stuff including 1kg of rice and 500g of pasta, which I am not sure how we are going to eat it before we leave or how we are going to carry it. We may have to leave it on the pilgrims lost and found shelf.
But I was grateful that he had gone to the shops to buy us food in any case. When Julian got back he said he felt a bit sick on the bus, and it may have been due to the muffin he had eaten before getting on the bus. I thought great he has bought muffins, but no he had eaten it at the bar at the bus station before departing.

Today we woke up to guess what... MORE RAIN. It had rained all night and it was still raining. Even I am starting to get fed up with the rain.
The one disadvantge of living in a tent is that you get a wet bum when you go for a wee in the morning.
We stayed in the tent as long as possible until hunger took over.
Then Julian got up and made us a fried breakfast. Bacon, poached egg, fried bread and Heinz baked beans.
Then our fellow campers popped out of their tent to say 'Hola'. 2 spaniards had camped next to us last night. They too were fed up with the rain but moreso with the expense of doing the camino.
Julian chatted away with them in what seemed to be fluent Spanish but he begs to differ. The only bit I understood was when the spanish guy said the spanish word for b#ll#cks.
We went to the bar to dry out a bit and we used the internet.
I am still o a quest to discover as much fod and drink in the different regions on the camino, and so far I have not been disappointed.
Spanish hot chocolate is much nicer than the French and their crusty bread stuffed with omelette and chorizo for breakfat (bocadillos) is yummy. Also the local cheese is delicious, it is very hard but tasty. Not sure what it is made from though. Cow or goat!!
We went back to the tent to have beans and cheese on toast for lunch.
It was drizling still and the normal fog that covers Roncesvalles hung around, until we started to cook lunch. The toast went soggy and the beans turned to soup as the heavens once again opened. We took cover in the tent for a siesta.
Everybody was snoozing away until I was awoken by a sudden intense heat trying to microwave us in the tent. The sun had decided to come out.
At this point I decided to gran my tack and saddle up Odeon.
Because he has not been ridden for a few days he was full of energy, in fact he was like a firework that has just been lit. As I led him towards the gate he was tossing his head and throwing his legs about.
I knew that getting on and the first part of the ride would be tricky as Odeon wanted to show everyone that he was as flexible as a cat.
At this point there is only one thing for it, strap yourself in and damage limitation. Avoid pilgrims, children and Affrica at all costs.
We headed up the nearest chemin out of harms way. Odeon still galloping and prancing along.
Just as he started to calm down a little, 3 pilgrims appeared out of the bushes looking like Daleks with tarpaulins over them marching towards Roncevalles. They looked scary enough to me, let alone to Odeon who was not sure whether to bite them, kick them or run away from them.
We headed off around the moutain, not sure where I was going, but as long as I did not leave the track I would not get lost.
I came to a gate, there was no private property signs, so I went through and carried on riding along the track only to find it blocked by a herd of cows. The cows looked very put out at us wanting to walk through their property and I was hoping that myslef Odeon and Afrrica would be scary enough to move them along. Affrica legged it in fear of being stampeeded. Some of the cows moved off the track and some followed us but did not stampeed us. Odeon walked through as calmly as possible realising that one false move could cause trouble.
With the cows behind us we rode up the hill and reached what seemed like paradise. The sun was out and the flowers were bright and shining and the views were amazing, rolling fields and mountains. The kind of place I had dreamt of riding through, I was in my element. I stayed on the track, past some wild horses and having a really nice time until I got to a cattle grid, with Spains version of Niagara falls under it and no way for me to go around. I was disappointed my exploring had been cut short but I had no other choice. So I headed back. It seemed the cows had taken umbridge at being pushed off their path and we gingerly walked past them wheb the biggest fatest decided he was going to follow us and then so did his mates, they started coming at us rather fast. Affrica the hero legged it again and the only thing for us to do was to keep our cool and sweat it out. If we had started to go fast they would have done the same.
We reached the safety of the gate and went through it. We headed back down to the Roncesvalles valley where the mist had started and the rain was coming down again. This valley really is miserable. So miserable even the monks have left.
We rode back into camp to find Lotus delighted that we had returned.
We moved the paddocks and went to the refuge for a shower.
Just outside was a donkey and a tent. I went to say hello to the donkey and its owner and explained that we were doing the camino with horses.
He asked were our horses were and if his donkey could go there too. After a bit of umming and arring we decided that she could go in with Odeon.
It does seem strange that all the officials know we are here with horses and no one could suggest where he could leave the donkey.
So tonight Odeons dormitory pal is a donkey named 'Ourmelle'. He is not sure if he likes sharing but he definately likes the attention.
We left them to get acquainted and headed to the bar for an aperitif.
Let's hope everybody has a good nights sleep and that we don't have to chase after a donkey at 2am.
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Jules, Lu, Affrica, Lotus & Odeon
www.loscaminos.net
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