Leaving civilization

In preparation for The Trek, Kate and I have been doing a lot of urban trekking in the last few days. On Tuesday we walked around London for about 6 hours. Although we were mainly wandering aimlessly, we managed to stumble upon many of the famous sights - Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, etc. - and, in a more even happy coincidence, managed to wander into a lovely area virtually devoid of tourists and chock full of cute little shops and restaurants.

Yesterday we arrived in Madrid from London, after waking up late and leaving in a frenzy. Today we spent the day walking around the city and getting some last minute goodies for the trip. Just what we need - more weight in our packs. We hve spent the evenings enjoying the fact that we are not yet sleeping on the ground, although we might be better off there. Last night we think we saw someone picking lice out of their friend´s hair in the common area of the hostel.

Right now, Kate and I are getting ready to leave our hostel in Madrid - a lovely place that smells slightly of dead animal or rotting fish - and hit the open road. Or anyway we will be sitting on a bus for 5 hours as we head into the backcountry. We will arrive in Pamplona, a city famous for the running of the bulls, but the only running that will be going on during our visit will be from the police when they tell us we aren´t allowed to sleep in the train station.

Tomorrow the plan is to figure out how to get from Pamplona to a small village called Roncesvalles on the French border, where we then have to take a cab to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port so that we can walk back to Roncesvalles. It makes perfect sense. But since we swore we would begin the trek in France, this is the best (and apparently, cheapest) way to do it.

Long story short, I´m not sure when I´ll have the internet again. So until some undetermined time - ciao.