Author: Kara Rountree

Day 5 – Sept 10, 2022 – La Trinidad de Arre to Pamplona (4.5 km)

We arrived in Pamplona for a much needed rest day. We booked a private room in a hostal so we could reorganize and refresh. We will be here Saturday and Sunday and head back out Monday morning. 

After checking in and immediately taking a couple of wonderfully long showers, we took a couple hours to book our next few beds in advance to avoid this week’s no-bed-breakdown.  Then we headed out to explore old town Pamplona. We did a pintxo’s (tapas/appetizers) crawl for dinner, stopping in several bars and for tapas and drinks. On Calle San Nicholas, all the bars served gourmet pintxos. We ate our way through a couple of places before calling it quits. 

Once we had our fill, we headed to the market on our way back to our hostel and picked up a bottle of wine for 1,99€ (not Two Buck Carlos either). It was delicious. After watching part of a movie, we crashed. It was nice to not stay n a dorm with 6-10 other people.

Day 6 – Sept 11, 2022 – Pamplona (0 km) Rest Day

After this week, we desperately needed to drop pack weight, so we cleaned out our 20+ lb portable closets onto the bed and reassessed what we’ve been carrying. 

I was able to drop 2.5 lbs from my pack and Rex lost about 1.5 lbs. We plan to to ship the items back home, donate some to hiker boxes, and simply throw other items away.  Hopefully shedding this extra weight will help.  It certainly can’t hurt. 

After searching for a correos (post office), we learned they close on Saturday at noon and don’t open again until Monday at 8:30a. Oh no!  It is going to be a hot one Monday and we planned to leave before dawn since we have a 17.5 km walk to our now RESERVED beds. It looks like we will need to carry this extra weight a bit longer to avoid walking in the afternoon. 

After a week of simple hand washing in the sink, we wanted to give our clothes and bed liners a deep cleaning, so we went in search of a launderia (laundromat). We asked our hostel host where to find one and he gave us access to his apartment complex’s laundry facilities. We were excited to find the washer and dryer were free. Yippee! 

When we were here before the start of our Camino, the energy was off for some reason.  For example, at a cafe the waiter choose not to bring us a menu even though we requested one in Spanish twice and others around us were already eating. When he finally did bring the menu (after our coffee and tea was finished), he brought us a very expensive dinner menu which lacked all the small meals others were eating. 

We didn’t feel the love from Pamplona on our initial visit, but after learning about the dining culture, we determined it was our own lack of knowledge that was the problem, not the waiter nor the cafe. So we decided to give the same restaurant (and Pamplona) a second chance. This time, before taking our seats outside we walked in, greeted the servers, ordered the items we wanted from the counter, then took our seats. This was definitely the right order. The restaurant was fantastic and attentive. Now that we’re starting to figure out the process, everything works so much better. 

There was a Basque festival in the town square with music, carnival rides, and craft booths. It definitely drew a crowd. The “pony” rides cracked me up. 

We headed off to the bull fighting ring for a tour. But it’s Sunday. They stopped tours at 2:00p. We arrived at 2:15p. Oh well, we will just need to come when the bulls are running. For now, we’ll settle for this…

It was a fun couple days of rest in Pamplona, but it is time to hit the trail once again. It will be an early morning again to beat the afternoon heat. 

Hasta mañana…

After back-to-back long days on the trail, it hurts to walk slow, it hurts walk fast, it hurts to stop, it hurts to sit, it hurts to stand, and it hurts to lay down!

Our hostel didn’t offer dinner, so we found a restaurant (thanks to a recommendation from some new friends) serving a pilgrim’s meal and we had to check it out. We received an appetizer, salad or soup, main course with side, dessert, and your choice of a bottle of water, glass of beer or wine…all for 9€ per person. Damn…you can’t get a decent glass of wine in the states for $9. The second glass was only 2€. The best part of the meal (second to the wine of course), was the dessert. We were served whisky ice cream cake because they had run out of canned peaches, which is what we would have been served. More Camino magic!

Great end to today. Looking forward to resting at our next stop in Pamplona.

Day 2 – Sept 7, 2022 – Orisson to Roncesvalles 

We continued our climb over the Pyrenees today after yesterday’s short, but steep hike to Orisson. We woke up early knowing we were in for a long day and the weather could not have been better!  We had overcast skies that kept the hot sun off our necks and the temperature very cool as we climbed. 

We have a running joke when we hike peaks. It varies depending on our craving at the moment, but the gist is we wish there was a food truck at the top of whichever mountain we happen to be climbing serving cold beer and delicious tacos or pizza. We’ve never found this mythical truck, UNTIL TODAY!!  There was a nice man selling local sheep’s cheese from his farm as well as other hiker favorites like bananas and Aquarius, which is a European version of American Gatorade. Needless to say, we didn’t let this opportunity pass by without stopping!  A short while later we crossed the border into Spain which was fairly uneventful. We were hoping for a cool “¡Bienvenido a España!” sign to take picture with, but sadly there wasn’t one. 

We made our way down the mountain and stayed in the albergue in Roncesvalles. It was built in 1127 for pilgrims and today it is run by Dutch volunteers. It was a long walk today with both the remaining uphill climb to the peak followed by the long decent all the way to Roncesvalles. We were very happy with our decision to stop in Orisson yesterday even though it was a short day. Had we tried to go all the way to Roncesvalles in a single day right from the start, we may have hurt ourselves. 

Day 3  – Sept 8, 2022 – Roncesvalles to Zubiri 

After looking at the elevation map and hearing from several people the day’s walk was “relatively” flat, we decided to attempt the 21.5 km trek to a town called Zubiri in a single day. 21.5 km my ass!  The map creators are liars!  Not only was it nearly 24 km, but the hills were insanely steep and never-ending. We certainly bit off more than we could chew today and nearly choked on it.  Rex even commented at one point that these were most certainly kilometers of unusual size!  (That’s a Princess Bride movie reference in case you didn’t get it).  We walked in absolutely exhausted and skipped our usual regiment of showering and doing laundry. We just didn’t have it in us.

On a lighter note, something quite special occurred on the trail today. We witnessed what I am calling Camino Magic. See the video for more on this. We took a video so you can enjoy as well. 

These past 6 days roaming before our Camino have been a whirlwind of long flights, train and bus rides, curvy roads, sightseeing, eating, and sleepless jet-lagged nights.  

Madrid was fantastic. We are planning to come back and stay several additional days here once the Camino is complete. Our hostel was in a great location, close to sites and quaint outdoor dining. We stumbled upon the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, and Casa de Campo Park in the center of town. This large park is reminiscent of New York City’s Central Park with many locals taking leisurely strolls, rowboat rides and even family picnics.  As we made our way back to our hostel for dinner, we walked past a church just as a wedding was letting out and saw the guests throw confetti at the bride and groom.  

We had dinner at the hostel for the small price of 12€ per person.  This included a salad, fish with potatoes, and dessert. The best part, they served bottomless sangria or beer included in the price!  We will stay here again when we return to Madrid.  

We took a 4-hour train ride from Madrid to Pamplona to catch the only bus to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (SJPP), France. Navigating the huge station was chaotic. We continue to work to overcome the language barrier and are very thankful for Google Translate. We really started to feel like Camino pilgrims once we boarded the bus from Pamplona to SJPP.  After everyone loaded their backpacks under the bus and took their seats, you could feel the excitement as all conversations were Camino related.  The ride itself showed us what we are in for as we went up and over the Pyrenees mountains to get to our destination.  We decided to spend an extra night in SJPP and check out the town before heading out for our Camino.  The view from high above the town at the citadel was incredible. The Basque traditions, music and culture is vibrant throughout SJPP. 

Tomorrow, we hit the trail.  Please send energy our way.  We are going to need it.

After a 4am wake up call for the first of our three-flight journey to Madrid, we arrived at the airport to check our packs and learned a very valuable lesson….

WHAT? You’ve got to be kidding!

We were told we wouldn’t be able to check our bag. As panic rose, I begged, “Isn’t there anything you can do?” to get our bag checked to Spain. She said no, and advised our options were to either fly without the bag (by storing it in our car (WTF?), find a way to carry it on, or rebook for a later flight. We quickly ripped open the duffel, threw it away, grabbed our packs and got our boarding pass. The good news is TSA allowed our hiking poles through (yippee) and we gate checked our packs and boarded the first flight of three today.

Lesson learned, to Rex’s disappointment, we will always arrive at the airport at least one hour early for a flight in the future. No more of this last-minute crap. Sorry honey!

We are in route with packs in tow, so it is turning out to be a great day. Look out Madrid, here we come!