Three weeks from today we will have breezed through Pamplona (where this medieval pilgrims' bridge is) on our way to Estella where we will start walking. I am not sure whether we will spend the night in Pamplona; we will certainly try to visit there because we didn't get into the cathedral three years ago when we walked through there.
I have started to put things out that will go into my pack. I don't have a lot of time and want to avoid the last-minute running-around preparations that have characterised other departures for the camino/chemin.
Unlike our two trips to France, this time we will have to take sleeping bags. In France, the gîtes (hostels) provide blankets, pillows and pillow cases. In Spain, you get a mattress at the refugios. I now have a lightweight, super-compressable sleeping bag (it would not do on a cold night in the New Hampshire Whites) that I can put at the bottom of my pack.
The trip is getting more real now. I even checked the weather and see that it is raining in both León and Burgos.
