Old Town Festival Day

We had the good fortune of arriving in Pamplona yesterday, just in time for the Old Town Festival today. Every other street had musical bands and and large paper mâché characters. Quite lively! Some streets were impassable. People everywhere  -  and the buggy brigade was out in force. 

The kids had a great time, running around the characters and getting bopped by the sack this dude carried. 

We visited the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real. It also houses a museum that contains artifacts of prehistoric bones and relics, a collection of medieval statues of the Virgin Mary, and a modern display that was beyond me - see picture below.

When David saw a display in the catacombs of a child's bones, he said - and I kid you not...

"They killed Kenny!"  I can't take him anywhere. 

Afterwards we sat out on the Plaza de Castillo having a ham and cheese sandwich at Cafe Iurana - a Hemmingway favorite. David pretended to be Hemmingway.  I had my picture taken with both "Hemmingways". 

We had a pleasant conversation with a UK couple sitting at the next table. They had just arrived in Pamplona and were waiting for at bus back to St Jean-Pied-de-Port, so they can start their walk tomorrow. He had all ready done his Compestela last year (last hundred kilometers to Santiago). But she had driven their RV from stop to stop, meeting him with a warm meal and bed every evening. This year they both will do the whole thing the more traditional way. 

A word about ham and cheese. It must be the regional Navarra dish. Aside from omelette sandwiches, it's about all you can get for lunch in the smaller villages. And it's usually the salty, cured variety. Every town has shops with cured ham and pork in the windows.  Thankfully we like ham and eggs.  Even so, it is nice to have hamburger on the menu tonight. 

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, nursing shin splints and checking out a new app (ecamino) for the trip.  It is supposed to publish a track of the hike so family can see where and how far we traveled each day.  Stay tuned we'll let you know if we get it to work. 

Akerreta to Pamplona

Total distance = 9.6 miles

Total ascent = 1082.6 feet
Cumulative distance = 41.6 miles

Today was a day of contrasts.  We started the day walking in a rural area on a shady path next to the Arga River. It ended on the bustling city streets.

As we walked in wildflowers above the valley, industrial areas soon intruded. 

We came down the path into the village of Villava and saw a beautiful old stone bridge crossing the Arga River.  A few feet later, we see the old village leads into a modern town. 

The building we slept in last night dated back to the 1500s with exposed beams, stonework and furnished with antiques.  Six hours later, we dropped our backpacks in a sleek, modern minimalist room in the middle of the old town Pamplona.  

But since today was a "short" day of only 10 miles, we didn't start until 9 and stopped to enjoy a little cappuccino along the way. 

After an egg and ham sandwich in an outdoor cafe, we proceeded on a jaunt through the outlying suburbs of the city. 

We ran into a woman and a group of about 10 high school kids from Memphis TN. They were walking to Logrono-about another 50 miles. What is she thinking!? We arrived at the city walls around 3:30 pm. 

After a nice hot bath, clothes washing, and rest we headed out for dinner at a respectable (for Spain) nine pm. We promptly found the party - a rose wine festival. 

And city hall. 

A nice dinner of salad and seafood augratin, and we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

The way of the Camino - you must go way down BEFORE you can go way up.

Total distance = 18 miles

Total ascent = 952 ft
Cumulative distance = 32 miles

Today was a real challenge. Not only did we have a very long way to walk but we had 3 steep climbs. We are two hurtin' peregrinos Americanos. But as our host said tonight, we haven't gotten strong yet.

We thought that after yesterday's slow slog through the rain, that we should start earlier for today's longer hike. However, after a conversation with last night's host, we decided we could start at 8. He told us that we did not need to climb as high, but he failed to consider that we had to walk 18 miles   So it was a very long day. The total climb listed above is maximum height, but the real climbing was much more - it was a roller coaster.

The morning started well. Sunny, and our bellies full with a nice potato omelet. Soon after it turned misty and then drizzly. We did see more animals today. Horses and lots of cows..

...and lots of cow pies. 

But shortly after lunch the sun came out again. For the most part we enjoyed the walk through quaint villages, shady lanes, over streams and by waterfalls.  

As we came into the town of Zubrii, we crossed a medieval bridge. It,s called puente de la Rabia. So called because of the legend that any animal led three times around the central arch would be cured of rabies. 

We had four steep climbs of moderate heights today, some on stamped concrete. And it just seemed like we had steep declines right before we had to climb steeply up again! 

We finally arrived at Hotel Akerreta around 7 this evening. A hot shower helped, but we're both pretty sore. Fortunately, tomorrow is a relatively short walk of 10 miles to Pamploma. Even better, Saturday is a "rest" day. No packs. We are touristas, not peregrinos. 

Just call me pilgrim" quote of the day -David Fick

Total distance = 14 miles (sure seemed like a lot more)

Total ascent = 3,250 ft

Well, the weather didn't break our way today.  We awoke to drizzle and clouds. So, we took the advice of the pilgrims office and chose the lower route (only 3,250 ft of climbing vs 4560 ft). Even so we often found ourselves walking in fog.  The slow drizzle of the morning turned into a steady light rain after lunch - just in time for the longest and steepest climb.

Even the animals decided to stay in today. The only fauna we saw were a couple of field mice and snails.  Lots and lots of big black snails. 

And a couple with pretty shells. 

We made it to Roncesvalles by late afternoon. A quick shower and some hot chocolate revived us. 

Roncesvalles is a small town of about 25 that has existed since the 12th century to serve the pilgrims that flow through this area on a daily basis. Today there are more than 300 pilgrims staying in a town that is no bigger than one city block.

This is also where Charlemagne's rear guard was defeated and Roland died (Song of Roland). Reputedly, this12th century chapel was built on the graves of the slaughtered rear guard. 

Tomorrow is another challenging day. A little longer and lots of steep uphill and downhills.  So, it's dinner and bed for us. 

Hotel Ramuntcho - St. Jean Pied-de-Port

We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Ramuntcho, at dusk last night, just in time to feast on lake trout and lamb. We were quite tired from our flight over, even though we managed to nap during our 12 hour layover in Paris, so we went to bed right after dinner. 

This morning we went to the pilgrims' office to get the first stamp in our credencial and to check on the weather and path conditions for tomorrow.  Afterwards we toured the "old town" part of St Jean. Below is a picture of the town wall taken from our hotel room. We walked along the top of it, up to the old citadel which is now used for a school   

We had lunch by the Nive River, then bought our walking sticks (TSA doesn't allow them as carry on) and water in preparation for tomorrow hike of 28km. 

This is where we will be going - Roncesvalles just to the left of the tree covered hill - as far off as you can see. 

All that's left for us to do is hope that the weatherman is wrong about the 80% chance of rain tomorrow. 

Bien Camino

About a year ago, David and I watched a movie called The Way, written and produced by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen.  It's a film about the Camino de Santiago- St. James' Way.  We were hooked.  What a neat trip!  A way to immerse ourselves in the culture while seeing part of Spain.

Well, nearly a year later, we are about to embark on our adventure.

We spent a couple of months taking long walks, trying out different shoes, pants, shirts, and backpacks and read several different guides on the path.

We made our hotel reservations - sorry - no hostels for us.  We know the value of a good night's sleep at this age.

We have our scallop shells, the symbol of the Camino since medieval times,  for our backpacks.

We have our Credencial del Peregrino - the pilgrim passport that we present at the Santiago de Compestela in Santiago to receive our compestelo (certificate of completion) at the end of our travels.  We must have it stamped twice a day to prove that we walked the Camino.

And we have good walking shoes - we hope!  If not, we have lots of moleskin.

Follow along with us as I post our trek across northern Spain.