April 26, 2023

This morning I was up and finished getting my pack together.

I went down to the front desk to settle my balance.  The staff at this hotel is very attentive, again they asked for the status of my knee and how I planned to proceed.  I returned to my room, put my pack on and headed down in the elevator.  I stopped at the front desk on the way out and they stamped my pilgrim’s credential with their unique stamp.  I headed out the front door, turned right and walked about 100 yards to the Camino, turned left and started to follow the markers out of town.

In Pamplona they have imbedded these silver markers every 20 feet.

These pictures are all in the city, the last is walking through the university.  But soon I was out of town and starting to walk the assent for the day, it would top out at 790 meters at the 8.7 mile mark.  Very quickly the surroundings turned into farm land.

The first town of the day was Cizur Menor, a suburb of Pamplona.  I met 2 Floridians from Orlando. One was named Rick and the other was John.  Both had walked the Camino in 2016. Rick had a new pair of knees he was very proud of and John hurt his back on the first day.  Both walked at about my speed so we walked for awhile. Next up was Zarquiegui.

I stopped in the little church, a lady at the front door was stamping credentials, I didn’t need another stamp but I got one anyway and gave a donation.  It was a very plain stone church on the inside and out except for a beautiful gold leaf alter, not expecting to see that.  I really should have taken a picture of it.  I had not eaten yet for the day so I bought a ham sandwich, power aid and a banana for later.   I sat inside the air conditioned shop on a bench with and Italian family and had my sandwich.  After determining the direction of the Camino, I started the major uphill climb for the day to Alto de Pardon.

The climb was a grind, but not anywhere near the hall over the Pyrenees on the first day.  My knee did acceptably well for the climb, I did, as I did before, on steep grades walk 50 steps, rest and repeat.  Eventually, I made it to the top, saw the windmills and steel cut outs of pilgrims walking along the ridge.  I was shocked, in every picture I have seen of them, they look larger than life.  They are actually only human size, when I made a comment about their size to another pilgrim, I got a tense response.  I rested and made another acquaintance with a guy that I will get his name later in the trip.

Now it is time to head down the other side of the hill.  This will make for more stress on my knee.

The decent was quick and the rock was large and loose.  I kept my stride short and employed a different strategy with my trekking poles. I decided that I would try and get a private room in the first town since I am coughing a lot.

Uterga is a very small town, if I could not find a room, I had another pilgrim to share a taxi with.  But I was able to get a room in the second try; it is a little different from my hotel in Pamplona.

After getting to my room, I changed into sandals and headed downstairs for a desert and a coke to get some sugar.

I have been listening in on other people’s conversations, the pilgrims are helpful to each other.  I watch one woman help another with her feet.  Another couple from Calgary had a conversation with a young man from Taiwan, they invited him to visit them in Canada like they had know each other for years.

I had a very good pilgrim’s dinner at the albergue.  Large green salad, roasted chicken, fries and green peppers.  I shared a table with a man named Kevin, he was Irish, but lives in Liverpool.  He told me to think of Liverpool as being like  Boston. Not Ireland, but a really large Irish population.

Kevin is my age and a Camino pro.  Sounds like he has walked at least 8 times and on multiple routes.   It’s 9:00 and I am ready for bed.  I made a couple of phone calls.  The albergue was probably constructed in the last 15 years, but there is a lot of sound transmission between the thin walls.  While on the phone I could hear all sorts of noise from the upstairs and other side of the wall.  But then, like a switch it fell quite, everyone was as tried as I from the day.  The couple from Canada had a good idea, they were picking stops at towns that were not the traditional stopping points to experience a more authentic town.  Tomorrow I would possibly like to walk a couple of miles farther now that the terrain will mostly level out.