hour. But it had to work anyway. Walked on small paths mostly. A bit wider around some villages. It continued like that all the way to Tiebas where I finally could get some food. Had it together with the French couple that I had met in Monreal. But before I fund this place in Tiebas I had been sitting on a stone at the edge of a village to eat my spare backpack bread. Then came two dogs and took my piece of bread, two dogs with radio trackers on their collars. They belong to a hunter a bit away. But he did not see what happened. Leaving Tiebas I met two pilgrims – at least I believe them to be that – on horseback plus one additional horse each to carry their equipment.
The steep paths ended after Tiebas. They were replaced by more civilized paths and roads through an agricultural landscape. But also, that rather hilly at the sides of the paths.
Later I finally came up to the famous place “Eremita de Nuestra Señora de Eunate”. I’ve seen it in many films but never been there. Even if you walk Camino Francés you can make a detour from the main Camino to see it. As a pilgrim you had to pay 1 € to get in. I walked around the chapel as you are supposed to do and even tried to make a short video about it.
(It was not very good though and due to the limitation of this blog site I can’t show it here)
Continued up towards the village Obanos and onwards to Puente la Reina. I had now reached the Camino Francés proper. Felt good to be back after 13 years but I found out that I had forgotten much and did not really recognize everything. Reflected over how memories changes in the brain.
Puente la Reina, finally. Checked in at the albergue at the entrance and got a bed. It’s a big one with beds for hundred and maybe more pilgrims and it’s only one of several.
After the usual tasks I took a tour around the center with its medieval feeling of “the not so big city” to see what was there today. Visited a pair of the churches. Went over the famous bridge that has given the name to the city. Listened to good local live music and some dancing at the square and had a meal.
Back again there had arrived more people in the two-story beds, among them a gang from Denmark. I spoke to them a little in Scandinavian.
But the surprise of the evening came when I was down in the big kitchen/eating area. All of a sudden, a girl with a familiar face showed up. The girl from Asson! She had walked the other way along “Chemin Piemont” all the way to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port and then the Camino Francés. And – we ended up at the same albergue – at the same time. Improbable! The situation around us with a lot of people in the kitchen was not such that we could talk much. We shared some information about the two different ways we had walked. And we were both surprised to see each other again so unexpectedly.
No encontré ninguno sitio donde era posible desayunar este mañana. El bar/restaurante de la noche anterior estaba cerrado. Y también la misma situación en los dos pueblos después. En Tiebas ya tenía un bar abierto. Y allí tuve mi desayuno muy retrasado con una pareja francés que había reconocido desde la noche pasada en el bar de Monreal. Pero el estaño ocurrió una hora antes cuando estaba sentado en una piedra al lado de camino. Estaba sentado para mangar mi ultimo pedazo de pan. Pronto descubrí que tuve dos perros a mi lado mangando estos pedazos. Dos perros con radio collares. Pertenencia a un cazador allá. El evento del día era “Eremita de Nuestra Señora de Eunate” un sitio famoso que he visto en películas y libros. Hice la vuelta obligatoria y también hice un video obligatorio. Un poco después el pueblo Obanos y Camino Francés y unos kilómetros más Puente la Reina que ahora vi a nuevo. Albergue, ciudad, puente, plaza… Pero el más remarcable, en la cocina del albergue encontré una mujer que reconocía. ¡La mujer de Asson! ¡Había caminado Chemin Piemont y Camino Francés por delante de St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, y había llegado a Puente la Reina la misma noche y a el mismo albergue y hasta la misma cocina que yo! ¡Que coincidencia!
Peregrino 