Zubiri → Pamplona
Distance: 14.6 miles / 23.5km
Elevation: +1342 feet, -1771 feet
I accidentally woke up at 4am today and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I spent some time on my phone getting caught up on life outside the Camino and also doing some preparing for today’s walk. I got up around 6am, packed up, and was out the door by 6:30am.
It was still dark out when I started, with sunrise at around 7:30am, and I didn’t bring a headlamp (despite Tovin wanting me to) so I used my phone flashlight until it got light out. Although the Camino is very safe, walking through the woods alone in the dark still freaked me out a bit, and I was nervous at every noise I heard in the forest. At one point, I heard a bunch of noises coming from up ahead and was really freaked out, but I approached and it was just 2 horses eating.
A lot of today’s path went along a river which was very cool and it was a nice shaded path for the first 6 or so miles. Since I left so early, I spent most of today walking alone. I listened to some podcasts and music while I walked - especially the podcast Morbid. I love true crime podcasts. At around mile 6, I came up on a cafe so I stopped and had some coffee and breakfast. I also saw a number of friends there so we all chatted for a bit.
It’s funny how many times you run into the same people along the Camino - you can pass someone just for them to pass you 2 hours later, or you can think someone is way behind you, and all of a sudden you are at the same cafe.
I had a spinach tortilla (a Spanish spinach quiche) with a piece of baguette and an espresso with milk. One friend mentioned that she left her bag near a bathroom at her hostel yesterday and she came back and her bag was gone! It was missing until this morning when it appeared back where she had left it, but it was clearly gone through. Pretty much everything was there, but all her cash was gone. It was upsetting to hear, you really wouldn’t think anyone would do something like that. It really sucked though because then she had to call her bank and freeze her credit cards. It reminded me I need to be vigilant about my pack and making sure I always have it someplace safe.
After I finished at the cafe, I kept trekking onward. I passed through some little towns, went through some more woods, hiked on some dirt and gravel paths, and saw some kitties. After a while, the path went from remote landscape to increasingly urban and we were getting into the outskirts of Pamplona. I ran into a friend, Becca, and walked with her the ~3 miles into Pamplona. After the past several days of being out in very rural, small towns, the city of Pamplona felt a little overwhelming with how busy it was - there were so many people, noises, smells, and activities there.
I walked around the old town for about an hour and saw the cathedral, the bullfighting arena (Pamplona is home of the running of the bulls!), and the town square. I then went to my hostel to check in. I was in a small, three bed room that was all women, which was a nice change of pace after sleeping in a room with as many as 80 other people. I showered, did laundry, and spent a few hours laying, stretching, and reflecting on the day.
It rained a good amount in the afternoon so I wasn’t feeling all that up to exploring. After the rain stopped around 6pm, I went and walked around the downtown area. I went to three different pintxos shops for dinner. Pintxos are small, bread-based snacks from the Basque region of Spain. They’re single serving, usually about bite sized, and are held together with a toothpick. The local way is to go to a shop and have just one pintxo, maybe a drink, and then head out, which was what I did.
I went to three different shops to try some different things out. Then, I walked around the town a bit more before heading to the grocery store to buy some snacks for on the road tomorrow. I walked back to the hostel and then spent some time journaling, talking to Tovin on the phone, and figuring out my plans for the next few days. I tried to go to bed early as tomorrow is going to be a long day. I ended up in bed around 9:30pm and, very tired from the day, fell asleep pretty quickly.
