Snap. Scrap. Repeat!: Day 2 - Roncesvalles to Zubiri

After getting our morning routine worked out, especially when surrounded by 180 other pilgrims rolling out of bunks, we headed to breakfast and enjoyed it with plenty of new friends.

We started our trek, only pausing to take the infamous sign picture, advising us to take note: 790 kilometers ahead!! As we soon came to understand, Camino signage, especially those outside of the last 100 km, rarely represent a true measurement of the trails. Years ago, in an attempt to properly record the Camino Francés to Santiago, the measures were taken from town church to town church, following the classic Camino Francés.

Not long after trekking off, we bumped into our camiga, Ana (Texas), who we had met briefly along the Pyrenees. Her beautiful spirit was a glorious addition to our cloudy skies.

The Camino Francés twists and turns through various towns and cities after leaving Roncesvalles; you never walk too far before landing in a small café for a first breakfast (yes, sometimes there are more than one). Our very first town was Burguete, very well known to be a hiding place of Ernest Hemingway when he would head off to the solace of a fishing pond in the mid 1920s.

We continued onwards, but storm clouds were looming.

We met up with Donna and Kathy (Illinois), that had crossed our path in the Pyrenees, too. We were all so eager to talk and pass the time together that...

...the weather snuck up on us and we had to pit stop to get our our rain gear around 10:30 am.

We still didn't seem to get that this was anything more than a good drizzle, being silly and taking pictures.

Well, needless to say, we were drenched from head to toe, but we didn't stop.

By the time we made it to the next town of Erro and it's Bar Juan, we had to wring ourselves out and face the squish of our shoes for another 3km, at least.

Our arrival into Zubiri, still graced us with raindrops, but our albergue, Hostel Suseia, was a welcome site for so many reasons. Sara, our host, greeted us with lemonade and newspaper to shove into our wet shoes. She got us checked in promptly so we could shower and find dry clothes. She took our laundry from us and returned it, washed and dried. We were instructed to relax, Spanish siesta style, and dinner would be ready at 7pm. Oh my, one seven course meal later, our new camigo family was stuffed to the gills and as happy as could be.