Category: Camino 2019

Walked today: 7.6 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 54.5 miles

We took a taxi from our hotel up to Zariquegui (elev. 2054 ft), where we stopped on our walk from Pamplona last Sunday.

We got breakfast at the San Andrés Albergue, (same as last Sunday morning), then began our trek up the Alto de Perdón at 7:15.

We took photos on the way up looking back at Pamplona as we worked our way up the steep slope. The 450 ft climb covered 1.5 miles.

At the top (elev 2510 ft) we took a short break for photos of the pilgrim sculptures, a popular icon of the Camino Frances.

Linda at the top, 2510 ft.

The windmills that lined the ridge were obviously well placed as the wind was continuous at 20-30 mph.

We headed down the mountain on the other side of the ridge. The steep path was only slightly curved, almost straight down and was covered most of the way with large, loose, stones.

The 600 ft drop in elevation covered only .65 miles!!

Once we cleared the rocky path, the walking surface dramatically improved and the next 300 ft descent was gradual over the 1.6 miles into Uterga (pop.205) which served as our much needed mid-morning break featuring zuma naranja (fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice) and more cafe con leche.

We passed through Muruzábel, another small village with an impressive church tower,

then on to Óbanos (pop. 800), where Linda found a nice shady bench.

While enjoying the cool, dry breeze and shade, a Óbanian? local gentleman approached us and tried to carry on a conversation with us which wasn’t going well as his English was even worse that our Spanish. We struggled with our itranslate app, which became even more frustrating for all. Finally, he wished us “ buen Camino” and began walking toward town center. Jim tried the app once more and finally created a message in Spanish thanking the gentleman for his kindness and hospitality. He grabbed his pack and walked hurriedly to catch the gentleman.

Jim called out and the gentleman stopped just in front of the Iglesia San Juan Bautista. When Jim showed him the Spanish note, he smiled, a little in disbelief, and said it was nothing. He then pulled some keys out of his pocket and gestured for Jim to follow him toward the church door, which was closed.

A little background before we continue:

Óbanos is a lovely historic Camino town, best known for a murderous 14th-century pilgrim 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 Amocain 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!

-“A Village to Village Guide to Hiking the Camino de Santiago”, Dintaman&Landis

In 2014, we stayed in Óbanos and we walked through it again in 2017. On both occasions we were disappointed because the church was always locked and we were intrigued by the legend and the “ silver covered skull”.

Well, it seems that our gentleman friend was apparently the church Priest. He unlocked the door and lead us into the church, showed us the famous skull, the other remains of Guillermo placed in a box on the church altar and also apparently the remains of his martyred sister, Felicia,

were prominently place in a 12th century container, also on the altar.

The priest then asked us if we would like our pilgrim credentials stamped with the church logo, which we happily said “si” in perfect Spanish and “muchas gracias” on our way out of the sanctuary.

We continued the remaining 1.4 miles into Puente la Reina and our room at Hotel Yakue (62€).

In the 11th century, Sancho el Fuerte’s wife financed a beautiful 6-arched Romanesque bridge over the Río Arga, so pilgrims and other travelers on the Roman route could avoid expensive ferrymen and treacherous boat rides.

Consequently the town of Puente la Reina grew around the Queen’s Bridge to provide services and commerce in support of pilgrims.

We had bogadilla’s for lunch and supper from the Jakue bar and got to bed early for a 6:00 start in the morning.

Walked today: 7.6 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 46.9 miles

The forecasted high for Pamplona was 94 degrees, so we left at 6:30, just after daybreak, to avoid the heat.

The path was not difficult with only short rocky sections and gentle slopes and grades most of the way.

Extreme climbs and descents are typically the number one challenge for us, then heat, then rocky walking surfaces and then distances. Any one can be tough, but combinations in varying degrees are the tests one deals with every day on the Camino.

We followed the Arre river most of the way crossing it a few times over very old stone bridges.

We were gradually descending through the valley approaching Pamplona, the same route we took by bus last Monday to SJPDP.

Mountains behind us and on both sides shielded us from early morning sunrays. The scenery was not spectacular but still picturesque as we passed thru several hamlets that were purely residential, without stores or businesses.

We shared the Camino with several pairs and groups of possibly local, weekend walkers and saw relatively few peregrinos/as.

The last section of dirt path hugged the hillside with scenic overviews of farms and Pamplona suburbs in the distance,

before tunneling under an expressway,

climbing to a paved road paralleling the expressway, then terminating at the medieval Romanesque bridge leading into the city.

Just as we crossed the bridge, we helped an Irish couple who had taken a wrong turn just ahead of us (we made the same wrong turn in 2017!).

It was only 10:30 when we arrived at Hotel Pamplona-Villava and it was already uncomfortable in the sun.

Fortunately, our air conditioned room was ready, so we had time for a quick recovery nap and an early start on chores, before having pizza for lunch in the hotel bar.

The bar closes from 4:00 to 8:00 and the hotel restaurant doesn’t open until 9:00 -11:00 for dinner, typical for a mostly residential, non-touristy area in Spain. There aren’t many eateries nearby and we’ve had our walk for the day, so we’ll get room service before they close at 4:00 for an early dinner, then call it a day.

Walked today: 10.1 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 39.3 miles

Today’s walk which began at 7:15, and an initially cool 51 degrees was our longest so far and probably too long for so soon. Our bodies (vintage at 70+) are still adjusting to the routine and building stamina to accommodate the daily physical challenges but it’s a gradual, week to 10 day process and pushing too soon can make you lose ground rather than gain some.

Last night, a father and 22 year old son from Germany stayed at Amatxi Elsa and we chatted with them briefly. They had started at SJPDP yesterday morning and walked the entire 25+ miles to Bizkarreta in one day!! We thought they had already left ahead of us this morning, but about 30 minutes into our walk, they passed us and said they were tired from the previous day and slept in! Duh! They only have 27 days vacation time, but at that pace, they should easily make it to Santiago before having to return home.

We, on the other hand, were both exhausted from today’s walk due to the total length and the heat of the mid-day sun plus a combination of: (1) frequent up and down sections, shorter in duration than crossing the Pyrennes, but nonetheless, physically challenging.

(2) more than half of the time, paths consisted of treacherous footing on sharp, shale-like layered rock either loose or extending vertically or at an angle instead of horizontal… almost continuous for the last 1.5 miles into Zubiri

(3) the only potential stopping places for food or restrooms along the way were closed.

Our first opportunity for breakfast came at Zubiri at 11:00. We had cafe con leche and croissants and only a brief rest before continuing the final 3 miles to Larrasoaña and the Casa Elita (60€, incl. bfst) casa rural, our retreat for the afternoon and evening.

There was only one bar/restaurant in the village of Larrasoaña (pop. 120) and we didn’t want to wait for the pilgrim menu served at 7:00, so we ordered omelettes and local wine for dinner, enjoying it outside in the shade, cool breeze and quite ambiance of this residential Basque community.

Walked today : 7.8 miles

Walked Camino 2019 : 29.2 miles

We left Roncesvalles in a light drizzle at 7:30…

and stopped 2 miles later in Burguete (pop. 290) for breakfast.

After cappuccino and toast (cafe con leche) we continued walking thru the village and for about 5 minutes, we were confronted by thunder, lightning, a light drizzle, hail, but thankfully, no swarming locusts. About 3 miles later, in the booming metropolis of Epinal (pop.249) we stopped again at a small bar for more cafe con leche and to avoid another passing (we hoped) storm.

We continued on, like a rollercoaster, up and down various paths until arriving at Bizkarreta (pop. 25), our destination for the day. By now, the sun was out with no signs of future precipitation.

We stopped for lunch at a Bar/Alberge/Mercado on the edge of the village and then walked another couple hundred yards to…

… Amatxi Elsa, a casa rural (B&B) and our home for tonight. We stayed here in 2017 and learned that it’s owned and hosted by a congenial couple (Jorge and Elsa) from Argentina. Our only means of communication is hand and facial gestures and translation apps.

We washed sweaty clothes, hung them out to dry in the bright sun/dry air. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to naps, blog and chillin’.

Dinner (12€/) was exceptional and homemade this afternoon by Elsa. Spinach in puff pastry, marinated chicken breasts w/ fresh, crisp garden salad,

fresh apple filled crepes garnished with caramel for dessert

complimented with a smooth, Navarra wine.(8€)

Walked today: 6.2 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 21.4 miles

It was 51 degrees and heavy fog when our driver picked us up at 7:30, but as we retraced yesterday’s steps via car, he explained in French that before we reached the Virge d’ Baikorri, the fog and clouds would be replaced by a beautiful, clear sky.

We’ll let you decide if he was correct:

The Virge d’Baikorri is at an elevation of around 3600 ft. That means we climbed over 3000 ft yesterday (Linda’s Fitbit rated it equal to 265 floors!)

Some scenes along the way to the top this morning:

This emergency shelter served us well in Sep 2012 in midst of cold, driving rain storm.

When we reached Col de Lepoeder this morning, the highest point on the Camino Frances at 4700 ft, we had climbed another 1100 ft! And immedately, we began the descent to Roncesvalles at 3100 ft. This was a drop of 1600 ft over a distance of 3km (1.8 miles)… about as steep downhill as the climb yesterday.

Switching from uphill to downhill in such a dramatic fashion tested our bodies and left us totally spent, when we arrived at Roncesvalles( pop. 30) shortly after noon.

We survived today’s walk which should make us stronger, if old sayings are true.

Today was a little strange for us. Our walking pace is about half of most pilgrims, consequently, there are normally hoards of pilgrims that pass us during our daily walk. But because today our starting point was in between normal starting points, we only saw 2 pilgrims during the entire 4 hour walk.

We’re staying in Hotel Roncesvalles(68€), also known as “Casa de Beneficiados”, a beautifully upgraded Children’s Hospital. This will be our 6th stay since 2012, since we’ve started or finished here because of its location.

Our room is very upscale and comfortable. We had our clothes washed and dried for 10€, a delicious local cuisine dinnerware, including Navarre wine for 10€ each and a relaxing afternoon and evening.