It is day 8 of trekking and a good indication of how it is going is by me having to ask what day we are actually on! We had to write the date today and got it wrong!

Our days are concerned with getting up, keeping warm and just keep on walking to the next destination. Whether it is a town, a village, a mountain pass or somewhere just out of the wind. It is not uncommon for the day to start off being about 3.5 degrees centigrade and never gets above 10! When the wind blows, temperatures never get above 5! But we have been very lucky so far. No rain while we walk. There has been snow in the high mountains and some rain during the night. But we have been blessed with rainless days!

Our feet certainly know that they have been walking for 8 days. I think that we have covered about 170km already. So we are blistered but not broken, and hurting but not humbled! But the good food, beer and wine have made up for it!

We have already walked through some of the most stunning scenery and landscapes imaginable! Mountains, fields, cities, towns and villages! We have become used to passing through small little towns that are home to churches and other treasures that could be at least 1000 years old. The catherdral in Pamplona and the Knights Templar church at Eunate are like looking back into the pages of history. It is literally breath taking!

We have walked over ancient battlefields where the fate of nations have played out. Names like Charlemange and Roland are evoked along the whole way. Never mind the patron saint of Spain, and after whom this Walk is dedicated - St James. It is not hard to imagine the chaotic noise of battle between grand armies and knights of the Christian and Moorish Armies across many of the open fields we walk across. There is history literally seeping out of the earth around us and soaking into us.

But it is really the people along the way that make it a truly memorable. Because there are so few of us walking, we have got to know each other fairly well. There is a Chilean, Italian Swiss(ex-KPMG. Ing has been having some good chats with Luigi!) and three Aussies(They get everywhere!) we have hooked up with. But it is also the locals through who's places of living we walk through that have made it very special. The smile and wave of a farmer or the friendly dirrections from a towns person have made it it a memorable journey so far!

And each one has wished us Buen Camino!