Camino Day 3&4 - Feel the Heat!

Scenery change as we get further from the pyrannees. We have discovered that Spanish sign posts lie - in some cases considerably! In the hope of stopping at Larasoana, we were greeted with a rather empty village with the one place of refreshment being closed. After an hours rest for our feet, we (perhaps foolishly) decided to continue on to Trinidad del Arre; another 10km away. Fortunately the path was mostly level until the last 3km which turned out to be somewhat further. 3 hour later we arrived weary and broken at the Albergue set in a 12 century convent. As welcome as the aged guardian was of this beautiful establishment, he was determined to give us the guided tour of the place regardless of our quite evident weariness. Thankfully the showers were hot, and the beds clean and comfortable - best nights sleep so far. The morning was started with a morning prayer in the rather unique basilica, which although space in numbers was surprisingly blessed with meaning. With such a start to the day we set out for Pamplona (where they run away from bulls in the summer) where we had ham tortilla for breakfast. The day started warm and the temperature kept climbing. The route up towards the majestic line of wind turbines beckoned, yet the first understanding of how this pilgrimage can still present dangers to the modern traveller became suddenly apparent. A previous pilgrim had died from thirst on this particular stretch - as there were no villages until the summit and no sources of water! With today's heat we were getting through our supply of water quickly, and with the knowledge of no water available to us in the forseable climb ahead we were becoming more concerned at finding shade and also, because we were worried about the lack of water, we were becoming more thirsty. Fortunately since the death of the previous pilgrims and also the documentation written about the lack of water - a new fountain had been installed near the summit. Needless to say we were rather happy about this, and refilled supply. We continued on through the punishing heat down to the nearby village of Obanos via some spectacular views.