Month: August 2024

Depart Time: 8:00 Temp: 57F RH: 80%

Walked today: 6.9 mi. Camino 2024: 28.5 mi.

According to a 14 Century legend, Duke William (Guillermo) of Aquitane and his sister Felicia undertook the Camino de Santiago. On the return journey, Felicia was overwhelmed with piety and went to become a hermit in a nearby residence rather than returning to her life of luxury. Her brother tracked her down and tried to convince her to return to her court duties. When she refused, he became enraged and stabbed her to death. He was then overcome by remorse and walked to Santiago again and returned to Óbanos to mourn his sister for the rest of his life. He built a hermitage on Arnotegui (a southern hilltop) to serve pilgrims and the poor. Guillermo’s silver-covered skull is kept in Iglesia San Juan Bautista. The town puts on a play called The Mystery of Óbanos every year, retelling the legend with a cast of most of the 800 villagers!

We got back into our favored routine this morning by walking a little over a mile then stopping in Puenta la Reina for a routine cafe con leche and dos tostatos

About a hour and nearly 3 miles past Puenta la Reina, we began a trek up the side of a mountain. We covered 3/4 mile while climbing 300 feet. (7.5% average slope) shown in following 5 photos.

This will be our first opportunity to stay in Zirauki (Basque). There is only one place to stay, Albergue Marslotx, and on all our previous Caminos, it has been fully occupied.

We walked into Cirauqui at 11:45 and stopped at a snack bar for a light lunch and to pass the time until our 1:00 p.m. checkin.

Our room was ready at 1:00 and we were pleased with the welcoming host, unique decor, cleanliness, and excellent view from the balcony.

We did chores, rested and spent a leisurely afternoon recovering well from our walk.

At 7:00 we joined other pilgrims in the albergue dining room for a traditional dinner of mixed salad, garbonzo bean and mushroom stew, local Navarre wine and custard for dessert.

We shared a table with a delightful couple from Leon, France, who were walking their first camino and were only going as far as Burgos. Their English was limited, both our Spanish was even more limited and so our conversations were in French and went surprisingly well, as far as we can tell.

After dinner we retired to our room, finished the blog post and called it a day. We seem to getting a little bit stronger with each day.

Depart Time: 7:30. Temp: 65F RH: 85%

Walked today: 7.0 mi. Camino 2024: 21.6 mi.

From our hotel, a 10 minute taxi ride took us to the outskirts of Pamplona and the village of Zaraguiqui. At the only bar, we chatted with a pilgrim from Ireland, who was running, not walking, the Camino. After buying a banana to tie us over until breakfast in Uterga, we began walking.

Today’s initial challenge was a 1.5 mile walk climbing 500 ft (average grade of 6%) to the Alto del Perdon.

The next few photos were taken of the terrain down the mountain. The loose rocks presented a challenge for maintaining stable footing. Several 20-something pilgrims passed us, seemingly undaunted, but for our nearly 80 year old bones, joints and muscles… it was an injury in the making. Consequently, we slowed our pace, watched every step and relied on our trekking poles to minimize slipping… and made it safely down the mountain nearly a hour later.

We reached Uterga a little over 4 miles and 3 hours into our walk. This village has served as a breakfast stop for all of our Caminos. It has a nice selection of food choices, clean restrooms and comfortable indoor and ourdoor seating… a real oasis after a tough walk.

But tragically, this morning it was closed for the weekend fiesta (staff must have been sleeping off the Saturday evening late celebrations. (Jim was so disappointed, he forgot to snap a photo of the locked bar/albergue gate). So we walked on, not hopeful that we would get a break before Obaños, our destination for the day.

On our walk into Zubiri a couple of days ago, Jim developed as issue with the “pinkie” on his left foot. Being seasoned pilgrims, we know the importance of keeping toenails closely trimmed. A too-long toenail can irritate an adjacent toe, causing a blister or break the skin, either one resulting an uncomfortable camino

A too-long toenail can also create a problem when walking downhill by repeatedly jamming into the end of one’s boot or shoe. The result can be a painful process of ultimately loosing the toenail and possible infection. Or it can cause a blister to form under the toenail, which is also difficult to treat and painful until corrected.

Jim failed to trim the left edge of the toenail on his left foot and on the last mile into Zubiri, his oversight, resulted in a jammed pinkie toenail the created a blister under the nail and a potentially lost nail.

Seasoned pilgrims obviously can get careless with their feet and this one is paying for it with nagging pain with every step.

After treating the “injury” and wearing sandals (open toe) on our rest day in Pamplona, Jim started today wearing his boots. All initially went well, until, on the way down from Alto de Perdon, the injury became irritated and started to get uncomfortable. This morning, Jim added his sandals to his day pack, as we left the hotel… just in case.

So, when we got to Uterga this morning, Jim switched to his sandals and got relief for the painful pinkie.

The sign going into Muruzábal claims that plenty of services are available, but our previous 5 walks through this small village have yielded nothing open. So our expectations for a bar for anything to eat or drink and restrooms were very low.

But, today, halfway down the last street in the village we observed some local residents sitting outside a small building and apparently drinking and eating. And alas, we were rewarded with beverages, some leftover pintxos on the counter, and restrooms.

At 7:00 p.m. we were treated to a homemade dinner prepared by Elena, our host. Before becoming the owner of Casa Raichu, Elena owned a bakery.

A peach, pineapple and whipped cream dessert was finished with a hot menthe tea. Our total meal including wine was 15€. Our clothing was washed, dried and folded for 10€.

We concluded dinner and the evening with kudos for Elena and shared European hugs.

Our favorite location on the Camino Frances, (and perhaps, the planet), Pamplona boasts an outstanding history from a medieval Cathedral and fortified churches to its role as a stronghold with fortified city walls from the 16th century. It is and has been the political and governmental center of the Navarre region of Spain for nearly a thousand years.

We normally stay and hang out in the old city. While rich with history, architecture, and parks, it has an unlimited range of merchants and other service providers to meet the needs of visitors and residents alike. Its range of pintxo bars and restaurants provide a culinary cornucopia to satisfy any palate and pocketbook.

What makes it uniquely special for us is its overall warm, welcoming and laid-back atmosphere which appeals to and attracts residents, pilgrims, tourists and revelers (San Fermin festivities), alike.

Most of the day was spent in our room, prepping for tomorrow’s walk, blogging, reading and napping. In the late afternoon, we returned to a favorite bar overlooking City Hall and had lunch/dinner.

Linda and I shared an order of a local version of lasagna, featuring iberian ham and cheese rather than beef or veggies. We also shared an order of traditional paella with a generous assortment of seafoods. our wine was none other than a very nice Navarre tinto wine.

Totally sated and only slightly sore from our walk into Zubiri, we retired to our room and finalized preparations for tomorrow until our 9:00 bedtime.

Depart Time: 7:45 Temp: 57F RH: 80%

Walked today: 6.7 mi. Camino 2024: 14.6 mi.

We planned to get something for breakfast at a small grocery store as we left Bizkaretta, but it was still closed. Realizing that no other services were available until Zubiri, this meant we would be extending our fast since yesterday’s 2:00 p.m. meal an additional 4 hours. But we decided to press on rather than wait for it to open.

Soon after exiting the village, the camino led us into a forest and continued for about a mile ….

….before joining a gravel road which took us to the hamlet of Lintzoain. Linda found a bench and we took a short break to consume some nuts and raisins to hopefully sustain us .

Directly across from us were two water fountains… labeled for the benefit of pilgrims.

Unable to put it off any longer, we began walking up one of the most challenging sections of the Camino.

The next half-mile of paved path then rocky wash, by our calculations, was a very challenging 16% grade!! (400 ft rise over 2500 ft distance)

The path became less difficult for the next 2 miles with more rocky washes and inclines but for relatively short duration.

At the 4 mile point of today’s walk, we reached Alto de Erro, a reported food truck stop for cyclists and pilgrims. Unfortunately, whenever we have walked through, no food was to be found! We rested for a few minutes and munched some more nuts, then reluctantly set out to tackle the challenging final 2 mile walk into Zubiri.

Less than a half-mile from Alto de Erro, the shale infested (dry) washes appeared and threatened to terminate our Camino with treacherously, rocky, unstable footing and sharp vertically oriented protruding shale stone, dominating the final 1.5 miles of the way into Zubiri.

By the time we escaped this section of the Camino Frances, our legs and knees were like jelly. We willed ourselves across the 15th century Puente de la Rabia into Zubiri and collapsed into seats at the first bar we came to and consumed a belated breakfast at 12:15.

The bartender graciously called a taxi to take us to our hotel in Pamplona. We checked in at Hotel Maisonnave at 1:00 p.m., crashed until 3:30, then walked (gingerly) to a nearby restaurant and had our lunch/dinner for the day.

We’ll be staying in Pamplona for two nights before continuing Camino 2024.

Depart Time: 7:50 Temp: 53F RH:60%

Walked today: 7.9 mi. Camino 2024: 7.9 mi.

The two-day R&R at Roncesvalles allowed our travel-worn bodies to fully recover, as hoped. The comfortable rooms, good service and excellent food offerings are a gem in this unique location. We have stayed here in 2012,13,17,19,22,23 and now 2024… for a total of 12 nights.

Our internal clocks are still adapting to the time zone difference, but we’re sleeping well enough, already, so that our ability to cover today’s distance was not adversely affected. Also, this morning’s cool, dry air was a welcomed change from the hot, very humid weather we’ve endured in South Carolina throughout our “training” during June and July.

After walking an easy 1.5 miles, we stopped for breakfast in Burguete,

a picturesque Basque village, reminiscent of those typical of the alpine communities we’ve visited in Germany, France and Switzerland.

Leaving Burguete, we walked through paved and gravel roads through pastures, then forests then back onto a secondary paved road leading into Espinal, another alpine’ish village.

We stopped for a break and fresh squeezed orange juice at an albergue, newly opened since our last camino in July/August 2023.

The second half of today’s walk was somewhat more difficult due to relatively long climbs and descents and challenging walking surfaces.

We arrived at our destination, Bizkaretta, shortly after noon. Our room is a dated, but clean, casa rural (visited in 2022) but was not available until 2:00, so we reversed course a few hundred yards, to a newly opened bar and had pizza. The hours of operation of the limited number of eating facilities in the village made this our lunch/dinner for the day. Along with our pizza we enjoyed chatting and sharing information with a young lady from Houston, Texas, walking her first camino.

We checked in at 2:30, did our routine chores and blogged, rested and read until bedtime… a nice beginning for Camino 2024.

At 7:30 Sunday morning our friend Caren gave us a lift to a virtually empty Greenville/Spartanburg Airport (GSP). We checked our backpacks and cleared TSA in 2 minutes… (no one else in line!). We waited 90 minutes to board our flight to Charlotte (CLT), then savored our upgraded first class seating for the full 23 minute ride… it was free!

Today was the first time in many trips that we didn’t have to run to catch our connecting flight, so we happily passed the 5 hour plus layover looking for comfortable seating, people watching and searching for lunch snacks.

The flight from CLT to Madrid (MAD) passed unusually fast. It was not crowded, the weather was uneventful and we arrived nearly 40 minutes early, at 5:20 a.m., due to a 75 mph tailwind most of the way. We were served a nice, complimentary dinner and breakfast.

We cleared customs in about 15 minutes and our checked backpacks were waiting for us when we got to the baggage claim turnstile. We boarded the local train (Cercanías) in the airport T4 terminal, which took us to the Atocha terminal in central Madrid, via the Chamartin terminal, some 35 minutes later.

We had a second breakfast in the Atocha train station (cafe con leche, zumo de naranja, tostatos) while waiting for our train to Pamplona.

The 3 hour train ride to Pamplona was tiring from the rocking motion which seemed more severe than usual. This was added to the lack of sleep, crossing 6 time zones and virtually being in motion for the past 36 hour time frame.

As soon as we arrived at the Pamplona train station, Jim headed out to the taxi stand and recruited a taxi driver to take us the final 30 miles to Roncesvalles.

The 40 minute ride up into the Pyrenees Mts. over narrow roads, consisting of mostly steep curves and switchbacks finally did us in. We checked-in to the Casa des los Beneficiados Hotel, our most frequented lodging on the Camino Frances, then dragged ourselves to our apartment/room… our home for the next two days where we hope to recuperate before embarking on Camino 2024.