Day 3: Zubiri to Arre

All you need to know is that it rained. And rained. 146 litres per metre square, says the local paper. I make that near enough 6″ of rain in old money. And most of it fell on me, I am quite convinced.

I gather that the storm had a name (‘Mary’?) and made the international news.

We left Zubiri bright and early

Moon over Zubiri

We don’t get too far before the rain starts. Around Illaritz it really starts poring down. We put on our rain gear, and our backpack covers and keep going. We get to a cafe in Zuriain and hunker down to wait it out. Then this happens…

This is inside the cafe. Water is pouring over every surface, including those with electric outlets. Some British wit makes a comment about needing to report this to health and safety.

Throughout all this the staff are supremely indifferent and get on with the important business of making excellent zucchini and spinach tortilla.

Preach it, brother…
Alternative transport methods are available
The path disappears beneath a stream
A sick joke 🙁

We arrive in Arre where we had booked into the ancient 12th century albergue. We get there at 12:30 and find it doesn’t open until 3pm. We are soaked and cold. So, we carry on a few hundred yards and find another albergue that will let us have a private room for the four of us for 25EUR each. We gladly take it. We get out of the wet stuff and the others are kind enough to let me shower first. I put my clean clothes on the floor, just outside the shower, and don’t notice until too late that the shower drain was backing up and flooding out the door. So, now my clean clothes were soaked, too. I cobbled together enough clothing to be decent in public and asked the hospitaleros for advice. A splendid chap showed up with drain cleaners, mops and all sortsof things and within 10 mins all was well.

We were knackered…

Soon the dreaded ‘full’ sign went up on the albergue door.

Not a happy sight if you’re a sodden peregrino

We dry out, but our clothes require more. We find a laundrette and wash and, more importantly, dry all our stuff.

I venture out into the evening and find yet more evidence of Spanish local spirit.

There’s some kind of music festival on. All afternoon kids had been shouting and squealing outside the albergue. Lots of food and wine was being consumed at communal tables. And now we have a music event.

A good end to a wet day.

Day 3: Stats

Zubiri to Arre

  • Steps: 30,965
  • Distance covered: 24.1 km
  • Apple Watch stats
    • 67 ‘Flights Climbed’

An Excuse…

(but a pretty good one)

I write this in Arre on Sept 2nd, so we are getting ahead of ourselves. Those of you on the Telegram group will have a decent idea of what we’re up to. Those following the blog, not so much…

Apologies for not being productive! I need decent WiFi and peace and quiet to do this. Both are often available, but not so far on this trip. Today we got completely soaked and I’ve spent the last 5 hours trying to dry everything. I mean literally everything that I own on this trip, including this computer and my camera. My camera got so wet that I’m afraid to turn it on until it’s had a chance to dry out properly. Thus, sadly, the only pics I have are from my iPhone…

An, ahem, difficult Camino day.

If you want to join the Telegram group sent an email to camino@bigsmoke.com and include your full telephone number, including any international dialing codes.

RIght, now to get back to reporting the walk…