Miles: 16.94/ Steps: 37,097

Todays selfie

The first few steps out of bed were a bit electrifying because I was so sore but things worked themselves out soon enough. Savina and I were out the door before 7am this morning so we thought we were doing good. Most of todays walk was along the river and relatively flat so it was a good day! We decided we would stop at the first bakery for breakfast and didn’t get anything from the hostel. The path today had several small towns along the way so we figured it wouldn’t be too far. We started walking….

…and then we met up with Lou. I had sat next to her and her daughter at dinner in Orisson and it was good to see her again. (Doesn’t she look like Catherine Zeta Jones). We were hoping this abbey would be open because it was being renovated the last time Lou did the Camino and she wanted to see the progress. She had to wait for her daughter and promised that there was a café that wasn’t far ahead … so we kept walking….

…and walking

And walking…

And there was no bakery or restaurant open! Finally after 6.5 miles we came across La Parada de Zurian and this café was lovely! I ordered fresh squeezed Oj, café con leche, and a mushroom tortilla (think omelet/quiche with mushrooms) and everything was delicious.

We got back on the trail and headed to Pamplona. It was so beautiful.

And then we came to the fork in the road. We were told that the left turn was 4km longer but flat and in the shade and that the right turn had lots of hills and was in the sun. I had convinced Sabina to go left because I definitely preferred shade and river views and so we went. It was fun to sit back and watch everyone debate their choice.

We had a beautiful walk along the water and enjoyed some beautiful scenery. About .5 miles we came to another fork in the road. It was signposted to go right but I was almost positive I was supposed to go left again. We followed the instructions of a Spanish lady even though I clarified with her that we wanted the river path and she directed us to the right. We climbed a super steep hill and talked about turning around but by the point we realized it wasn’t the river path, we had already invested some substantial distance. So instead of shaded peaceful river views, we got hot and sunny climbs and descents! I really need to learn to listen to my gut.

We finally got to Pamplona city limits and it was fun to see big city life again. We had about 3.5 miles to get to the hotel from this point.

The path is marked by yellow arrows or shells. Below are typical markers. See if you can find them.

I did love how the walkway was lined with trees that were connected with its counterpart on the other side of the walkway. Although I could probably make an educated guess, I really have no idea how they made that happen.

We only had 30 minutes to go but felt we needed to stop for some ice cream to help get us over the finish line. We had a nice break in the park and couldn’t have been happier!

The walk to the hotel had some fun statues and interesting signs.

Pamplona doesn’t tolerate sexual harassment

I met up with Nikki and we shared a proper hotel room for the night. So exciting to have a shower that didn’t turn off every 30 seconds and to have a bed with real sheets and no other bunk below or above us.

After cleaning up, we went to Cafe Iruna, a bar that Earnest Hemingway used to frequent, checked out the town entrance, walked around the old town area and the had pinchos (appetizers) for dinner. Such a fun night!!

Foot update: pinky toe blister burst today on its own. I popped one of the blisters on my big toe and the other went away. No new issues. I think I should be good tomorrow. Fingers crossed.