Blisters are the least of your problems on the Camino. They usually appear and disappear within the first week or so. More serious are the problems of muscles and tendons and joints. Pilgrims are always rubbing various gels into their limbs and filling the gite with pungent aromas. At the gite last night was a French woman with every conceivable problem with her legs. She had begun at Saint-Guilhem many weeks ago and was now able to manage only the bare minimum each day. She would limp from one gite to the next, but she wasn't going to give up.
We stopped for lunch at Tiebas and were forced to drink a litre of red because the bottle was cheaper than three glasses.
When we left it started to pour down, so, fortified with wine, we walked 13 kilometres in record time to reach our destination.
We spent the night at an alberge next to the church at Eunate. The gite was formerly a barn, built in the 13th century. It was worth staying there for the opportunity of visiting the unusual and unique octagonal Romanesque church which was formerly a funeral chapel for pilgrims. What a contrast with the church at Arres! Instead of garish painting and statutary there was simple, cold, unadorned stone. A large Roman arch rose above the abside, and around the octagon, eight columns supported the vaulting which met at the top of the cupola. The narrow windows were of translucent marble.
Later, we participated in a simple pilgrims' service, each reading a prayer in our own language.
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