Tougher today

Well today was our first longer day - 23km (14.25 mi), and it was a tough one. Roncesvalles to Zubiri. Less climbing but 10km longer than what we did yesterday. The first 18km was fine - a bit of up and down, passing through beautiful pastureland, quaint towns and even some friendly horses. We kept walking with our British friends, John and Kitty, and met several other Americans from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, Chicago and Texas. Such fun to chat and share stories with folks from all over. But the real adventure (read: nightmare) was at the very end, when our muscles were tired and joints ached. We were faced with a long downhill of 4km over loose and jagged bits of slate jutting up along the path just trying to trip us. We plucked our way along very slowly with our poles to protect some very tired knees. When we got into Zubiri, we had the last bit of fun - an additional 1km walk to our hotel. Whew! A couple of blisters as a result. But after a hot shower, a bit of a nap, a glass of wine/beer and some food, we were feeling better. Looking forward to a relatively flat day of walking to Pamplona tomorrow. The good news is that there is still blue skies and sunshine for the next several days.