Camino: Roncevalles to Pamplona

I was super excited about waking up and doing the walk this morning. The prior evening, the couple of companions had decided to start today's walk at 8 AM, thereby freeing me mentally to start as early as I could. I was ready by 5 AM and started walking by 5:15AM. It was very cold, 31° F and I was walking in the dark, not having the foresight to put my black diamond headlamp in an accessible compartment of the backpack.

I missed my way, rediscovered it, backtracked and got on the correct route. I almost missed the bridge and was walking directly inside the river.

In the desolate wilderness with no one present, trees all around and chill, cold wind blowing, I was a bit unnerved, but pressed on.

After walking for an hour, I discovered a café that had just opened and enjoyed fresh coffee with two slices of black mushroom pizza, and a basque cake which was quite delicious.

By now there was bright light. I saw another local pilgrim who was doing just that stage of the Camino. After walking post breakfast, I lost my way again, took a long cut and reached the start of the dense forest, just as that pilgrim had reached the same spot using a shortcut.

The next route through the forest was quite picturesque. There was a creek flowing parallel to the route, and I came across a couple of dams on it.

I reached the halfway point which actually was the stage three, Zubiri. Finding Café Valentin with good food, I had an entire fish, coffee, red wine, and dessert, a satisfying meal.

Feeling well rested, after the hour and a half lunch break, I started walking, and the path was quite narrow with many subducted sedimentary rock layers. I saw five bicyclists which were bicycling the Camino. No other pilgrims on foot were seen all day so far.

The weather improved while my speed degenerated and I felt successively tired. The last 10 miles were slow going and I was ready to be done.

The beautiful vistas, meadows, wildflowers, trees, springs, small road signs indicating the next bend in the Camino all kept me happy and in awe of nature.

In the wilderness, I saw this building with a beautiful mural and it just made me feel so good.

The last three miles were inside the city of Pamplona and had beautiful structures.

I reached the municipal albuegue as my legs declared a mutiny. The Albergue was run by two German volunteers who rotate every three weeks. It was Casa Paderborn, a 26 bed hostel and had a six bunk beds room in which I got a spot. For 7.5€ a

night with 3.5€ additional for breakfast, it was quite a steal.

My aching muscles notwithstanding, I went out in search of food. Three Brazilian pilgrims became my instant companions and we all hobbled together in search for a supermarket as they were worried tomorrow everything would be closed owing to Good Friday holiday. We passed by the bull fighting arena but shows are supposed to be in July.

We found a Carrefour and I bought some chocolate and awaited the Brazilians to come out. After waiting 20 minutes and looking for them, I concluded that I had lost them and continued my search for good food.

I came to the center of Pamplona and was pleasantly surprised at the hustle and bustle, the beautiful promenade with fantastic shops plentiful of people.

I look for a top rated seafood restaurant and walking in, first discovered the Michelin 2023 rating board, and saw a small interior which had standing room only. After unsuccessfully trying to get attention of the waitress, I moved to the far end of the long serving area. Luckily, I caught the attention of the strictly Spanish speaking waitress, and she served me many seafood dishes instantly. Paying for them right at the ordering time, I stood there and relished each bite.

Having burned 2,746 calories today, I was not shy about ordering another dish, followed by a dessert. A young couple from Spain, who were watching me standing and eating next to me, struck up a conversation and the man was inspired to bicycle the Camino next year, he looked at the information of the 33 stages of the Camino on my phone.

As I went back to the Albergue after dinner, I came across the Easter celebrations and floats on the street.

Soon back at the Albergue, I was fast asleep in minutes.