Day 4 to Maneru—April 25, 2024

I was the last one to leave the Auberge after sleeping in until 8:30 AM.  I guess I needed that after a long hike yesterday.

Around the corner from the was a café that had a scrambled egg sandwich, juice, and coffee, which was what I needed to get in my step for the next destination.

Monument to the Camino Pilgrims in Obanos

Many villages have these public fountains. I’m using my Steripen, but I probably don’t have to throughout Spain.

It was a continuous climb up to alto del Perdón, which was lined with windmills. 

At the top, there were two monuments one was for the Peregrino Pilgrims that were made of metal. 

On the other side of the road, there was a rock memorial to all of the villages that were pillaged during the Franco regime. Each rock represented a village that was wiped out.

From there, it was a pretty steep drop down to Uterga I enjoyed the stop for some coffee and orange juice.

I continued on to Punta la Reina and saw the old bridge.

I continued on to Mañeru where I stayed at the Aubergue el Cantero.  Here are some pictures of the accommodations there including a Templar knight.

Rosalin was a very gracious host and made sure I had a bottom bunk along with real sheets and a blanket.

She also hosted a delicious dinner that included lentil soup or salad, pork loin, or chicken, and ice cream dessert and of course, a couple of bottles of wine for the table. I enjoyed my water and picked the soup and pork.

There were some familiar pilgrims at the table, including Siggy from Austria— he was an expert with Google translate since he only spoke German—the Croatian couple and the two Chinese women from Kirkland, Washington—my hometown: Maan and Amanda.

 

Day 3 to Zariquiegui—No Bulls in Pamplona—April 24, 2024

On day 3 of my Camino Santiago hike, there was no running of the bulls as I passed through Pamplona. Hiking was fairly easy since it was mostly downhill.  I walked 32 km to Zariquiegui only because the aubergues in the earlier town of Cizur Menor at 25 km were closed.

Along the way we passed by some 12th century Romanesque Abby Ruins near Illaratz

It was raining a bit so we stopped at this café, just across the bridge to have some tasty breakfast as well as warm up. 

We then came into Pamplona where we saw a historic milling building that has been restored.

It was a long walk through the streets of Pamplona by following the painted yellow arrows, the Camino Santiago icon tiles and metal icons as well.

I detoured through Pamplona to see the street where they do the annual running of the bulls, the Plaza de Toros and the street named after Ernest Hemingway.

Plaza del Toros

Empty running of the bulls street.

Same street during the running of the bulls.

While walking through Pamplona, I met up with Boris a French guy and CPA and we navigated our way through the city after seeing the street where they do the running of the bulls.

I stopped by a field full of peas and grabbed a handful to eat for my walk up to Cizur Menor and enjoyed the views of the many mustard fields. I was planning at one of the aubergues there as Boris continued on to the next village.

It was not to be. Both Aubergues were closed.  It was another 6.1 km to Zariquiegui that had an aubergue with only 18 beds.  I was hoping that they would have room, and they did.

I met up with Boris again and we had dinner along with Ila from Sweden. She had written Swedish guidebook about the Camino and was also a medium. 

She told us the story of when her father had died. A little bird appeared, and again when a friend of her’s died, the same bird appeared.    Today she saw the same type of bird and wasn’t sure if it was a message from her dad or from her earlier friend who had died.  As she told us this, she received a text message that another friend had just died. But now she thought it was about the friend that had just died that day.  Talk about a downer for a story during dinner time.

The washers and dryers were going full-time with the family that had taken over one of the dorm rooms.

Once again, the showers were hot and wonderful, and the bed was comfortable and even had real sheets instead of the disposable ones.

Day 2 To Zubiri in the SNOW!—4/23/24

After a chilly night in the basement, I got up to leave and I saw that it was snowing outside, so I decided I’d better buy a poncho from the folks here in Roncesvalles.

That was a good decision since it was windy and snowy all morning as we made our way to the second stage city of Zubiri, some 22 km away and the 2nd of 33 stages of this journey.  The total ascent was just 250 m.  This was an easy day compared to the previous day despite the snow.

It was better to have snow since we didn’t get wet as we headed our way along the Camino to Zubiri.  

After walking through the snow for a bit, we came to this café that was in a the Erro village  called Café San Juan. I went inside and had a delicious potato frittata along with OJ and coffee con Leche.  The best part was warming up inside while eating and later enjoying the bathroom.

In this area, the trail was away from the road. Today over 80% of the trail was away from the roads which made for some enjoyable hiking in the snow.

The snow had dropped off as we came into Zubiri which was at a lower elevation at 500 m compared to 960 m at Roncesvalles.

I stayed at the municipal Aubergue called Antigua Escuela and cost €14 which included a much-needed blanket.  

They did not serve a pilgrim dinner here so we went to a nearby café Camino, where I met MK from Boston, Jenny from London, and Siggy from Austria, and a couple from Japan who were at the end of the table.  I would see several of these people during my travels.