Pamplona to Puente La Reina (23.9km)

Last night, I finally slept clear through the night without waking up. It felt great, despite not having slept as long as I would have liked. It was a great way to start the day!

Margaret, Sean, and I had decided to wake up early again. We got up at 7:00, packed our bags, and ate a small breakfast. By 8:00, we were heading out of our albergue and through Pamplona.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the city. It was nice to see and walk through, but I like staying in the smaller towns. They have more of the Camino village feel to them. And getting an early start on the day is beautiful when you can immediately exit the town and head straight into the wilderness. You can't really do that in the city.. although you do have the benefit of being able to get coffee right away! I didn't get any, though, since I'm fasting for Ash Wednesday. But Sean and Marget both got some to go from a little cafe.

We walked until we were finally out of the city and away from main roads. Soon, we entered a nice grass field area with a dirt path along a side road. Pamplona was behind us, and the mountains around were covered in thick fog. It was a great sight to see.

We continued on through a path that led through the fields. We saw multiple quaint castles or forts among the miles and miles of grassy rolling hills.

The three of us continued the precedent we had set yesterday and spread out, taking time to ourselves to do whatever we wanted alone for a while. Margaret listened to another podcast, Sean listened to music again, and I did my best to pray. It was pretty difficult to be recollected and prayerful in the city, but it got gradually easier as we left town. For some reason, I was feeling a little down as we walked. But I suppose that's how life is. You can't always feel as if you're on a mountaintop, especially not on a journey as long as this one.

Soon, we started nearing a town on a hill. The climb up the hill was honestly pretty hard. It tired the three of us out, and we took a nice break at the top of the hill. The stone benches were cold and felt glorious to sit on.

One interesting thing to note is that I'm almost always not wearing a jacket, unless it's raining or it's early morning. I brought 4 jackets and expected to be wearing at least two at all times. I selected them for their layering ability. But it's actually warm enough that I sweat with even one on, even in the 40s. Definitely something to note for anyone who's planning on walking in the winter. At least towards the end of winter, it isn't probably as cold as you'd think!

Finally, we continued the short remainder of the hill to the town. The town was actually very small, and any thoughts of a nice snack left our heads. We settled for the sandwiches we'd made the night before. I had forgotten it was Ash Wednesday today when making mine, though, so I had to take out my meat. Luckily enough, there was a little fellow who was really interested in the leftovers!

He was a funny cat. He acted like your best friend when you had a sandwich in hand, but otherwise, he would be skiddish and try to avoid you. I found a shoelace on the floor and played with him for a few minutes. It was fun.

Once we had finished eating our sandwiches, we continued on. I definitely felt rejuvenated after a quick cool down and snack. We started to climb a mountainside, and the view of the valley below got better and better. We could see Pamplona in the distance, snuggled up against a half ring of mountains. It was quite the view.

Finally, we reached the top of the mountain. The mountain ridge was lined with wind turbines, and it was crazy to hear them up close!

The view from the top of the mountain was absolutely spectacular. The mountain was called "The hill of forgiveness". There is a very famous scene there, one of all different types of pilgrims heading towards Santiago:

Before heading down, we took a moment to take in the absolutely stunning view of the route ahead. It really doesn't get any prettier than this. We could see all the towns we'd be passing through splayed out before us. Forests, farms, and towns looked tiny. It was breathtaking.

On the way down, Margaret, Sean, and I discussed our reasons for doing the Camino, what the difference between a long walk and a pilgrimage is, what our definition of spirituality is, and other questions that were included in the spiritual preparation section of the Camino guidebook. It spurred great conversation, and lasted us the entire downhill walk.

The next portion of the walk was beautiful. We passed mini forests with sprawling grass fields all around us. Little towns sat in the distance. A light layer of fog still hung by the mountains.

We passed two small towns and stopped for coffee in one before finally arriving to our destination for the night, Puente La Reina. We stayed at the Albergue Padres Reparadores, which was only €9 for the night and actually quite nice. Us three are the only pilgrims there tonight, so we have the whole place to ourselves!

We dropped our bags off and decided to eat a proper lunch as soon as we could. We went to a little place called "Bar Very" (wordplay on "Bavaria"?) and got the €12 three course meal. It was great! I had risotto, cod and potatoes, and a huge orange. That definitely gave me my energy back. I think it was the same for Margaret and Sean too, because while we were pretty quiet before the first course, we ended up talking well past the time we finished our last course. We asked questions like "What would your death row meal be?" and "If you could only ever eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?" It was good fun.

After our meal, we headed back to the albergue. I showered and then called Mikayla for a good half hour out in the garden to the side of the albergue. As always, it was the fastest half hour of the day, but one of the best. It was nice to catch up and tell her all about my experiences. I also saw cat number 15, but he was very skiddish.

After our call, I said some prayers, then went to Ash Wednesday Mass at the local cathedral. It was a very beautiful church, and the Mass was great as it always is. The priest was very young, actually pretty understandable with my spanish skills, and gave a great ash cross on my forehead. I usually get a smudge.

After Mass, I walked back to our albergue and wrote this blog post while sitting with Margaret and Sean in the common area. We chatted a bit too and figured out logistics for tomorrow. We only have three more days with Sean! Sad, but we'll make them count.

Now, it's 10:00 and time for bed. We plan on waking up at 7:00 again tomorrow, so I can actually get a good 9 hours in tonight. I'm excited to see what God has in store for me tomorrow!

More pictures of my day: