Day 3 - Roncesvalles to Zubiri

Roncesvalles → Zubiri
Distance: 14.31 miles / 23km
Elevation: +1321 ft, -2660 ft

I woke up at 5:50am this morning! The hostel I stayed at used to be a monastery, so I woke up to church bells and music playing. 5:50am was a bit unnecessarily early, but I was sharing a room with 80 other people and others were up and making noise so I decided to get up as well. It also meant I could start walking sooner!

I got up and packed my things up and was downstairs and ready to go by 6:50am. I ran into some friends heading to breakfast and chatted with them for a minute but I decided to get on the road early. I started for the day around 7:00am, while it was still dark out and the sun was barely rising.

Leaving early meant I beat a lot of the crowd, and it was quite a crowd since the hostel slept nearly 200 people! I walked alone for about 3km through the forest while listening to the new Sabrina Carpenter album until I got to Burgete, the next town over. There, I ran into some familiar faces and walked with friends for a while. We got so busy chatting that we missed the way-marked sign that told us to turn! We walked a few blocks in the wrong direction, but thankfully a local in his car slowed down and asked if we were pilgrims, and then informed us we were walking the wrong way and that we missed a turn a while back.

We turned around and found our way back to the path. After passing through Burgete, the path was through more forest and occasionally the trees parted and you could see the mountains which were so beautiful; I couldn’t believe I had climbed those mountains.

After a bit, a friend from my first night on the Camino (Adrian) caught up to me and we walked together the rest of the way. Although Roncesvalles to Zubiri has a reputation for its steep descents, there was quite a bit of unexpected elevation too!

After going up a hill and then heading down, we got to a cafe where we stopped and had a late breakfast. I got an espresso with milk, and a Spanish “tortilla” which is an omelette with potatoes. It’s a super common dish in Spain and it’s delicious. It came with a piece of baguette and the snack was much needed after the 7 miles we completed that morning. All of that only came out to €3.66!

After leaving the cafe, we kept walking and ran into a few more familiar faces along the way. Our walking group ebbed and flowed with some people slowing down and others going ahead. I’ve met a few Chinese/Taiwanese people on this trip who have needed help translating and it’s been very cool to be able to help out.

Eventually, we got to Zubiri where I’m staying for the night around 1:30pm. I checked into my hostel and was pooped by the day. I spent a while decompressing and unpacking for the day. I took a shower and then the woman who runs the hostel offered to wash my clothes and hang them to dry for €2 which was quite a steal. After washing them on my own by hand the last few days, it was nice to be able to get them cleaned and not have to worry about it.

After I showered, I spent some time looking at hostels and figuring out my plan for the next few days. I went and checked on my laundry which was drying on the patio, did some push ups to try and keep some of my upper body muscles intact through these next 3 months, then went to a cafe.

I had some red wine and patatas bravas, enjoyed some time journaling, and then went for a short walk around the whole town (it’s a very small town), then back to the hostel. I had dinner which was some crackers, Iberian ham, and cheese I had gotten from a grocery store earlier today.

I got ready for bed around 9pm since I plan to wake up early tomorrow to get an early start to Pamplona. Pamplona is one of the bigger cities I pass through on the Camino, and although I’m not spending a zero day (rest day) there, I still want to explore the town and would like to have ample time to do so.