A load of bull in Pamplona

After two more hard days, we arrived in Pamplona Sunday morning physically and emotionally exhausted. As friends suggested, we got a real hotel room and are recuperating after a hot shower and a nap. With a good dinner and night’s rest, and all your prayers, we will resume the Camino tomorrow.

When we left Roncesvalles we thought we were out of the worst of the trail because we were leaving the Pyrenees and the weather was improving. Our guidebook described one hill and a “mystical walk alongside the river.” Now the book was wrong about where a bridge was day one, and where a mountain was day two, but certainly that was the end of it, right? The hill turned out to be a series of hills, and the riverside stroll was on a loose gravel path up and down the old river embankment. Although we left early we quickly fell off pace and knew we were not going to make it to our goal, but we also knew we could not stop in Zubiri, the next big town, because that is where the guidebook tells everyone to stop. Plus we knew there is a pilgrim bubble on the Camino now, with too many pilgrims bunched together trying to get to the same set of rooms each night.

We trudged on to Larrasoaña, an extra 5 kilometers, for a day total of over 27 kms. Since we arrived so late (around 3:00 pm), the nicer albergues were full. After wandering around town, we ended up in the municipal albergue, where our board of 8 Euros each included a plastic covered bunk bed, no heat, and no hot water! But wait, there’s more. We walked around the small village only to learn only one bar (which is both food and drink here) was open. Ok, no problema, they had a pilgrim meal available for us, which we greatly enjoyed.

What about breakfast, we asked. Sorry, no breakfast, but there is a cafe in the next town (4 kilometers). At dawn we set off, up and down the hills we were not told of, only to arrive at a closed cafe, because it’s Sunday, and in Spain Sunday does not begin before noon. So we marched on past one sleeping town after another all the way (16 kilometers) to downtown Pamplona, where the cafes were just opening at 11:00 am. The only reason we made it was they had a coffee automat machine where we started, and a guy named Dan from Idaho (not kidding) was dispensing fresh coffee trailside just before we entered the city outskirts. As we walked up the hill to enter the old town’s walls, Judy was way beyond her limits. We never trained beyond 3 miles without breakfast, since “there’s always a cafe.” She said, “is there a town inside the walls? This better not be a ruin!” The sad effects of no food, little coffee, and way too much hiking.

We stumbled into the first open bar, dropped our backpacks, and ordered a huge breakfast with mucho café. After our credit card was rejected at the bar and an ATM, we were really worried we now had a money problem, too. The guidebook was totally wrong about the location of several places to stay, so we ended up circling back to the tourist info center where they kindly found us a hotel room. Meanwhile, Judy called our bank and ensured we had no money problem.

After all that drama, we decided to call it a day, rest and regroup, and recommence our Camino on Monday morning. Thanks so much to all of you sending prayers: it was touch and go several times today, and I know it was only the Holy Spirit holding it all together!