Dave's Travel Blog

We just completed day 6 of our Camino and it was another day of fantastic views. I wish I could say the same about day 5, but it was a zombie walk for me due to the two hours of sleep I got at the Albergue Maralotx. We had a 10 person room there and the guy next to me was a world record snorer. At one point, I fantasized strangling him in the middle of the night. Regardless, the Maralotx has a nice dinner with a walnut salad, chick pea soup and vanilla pudding. As mentioned, the walk the next morning was not fun. The only thing I remember about the walk is visiting the free wine fountain in Estella at the Irache winery. I think the winery gives out 100 free liters of wine a day. In retrospect, I should have had the whole 100 liters myself.

We arrived at our next hostel, La Perla Negra, in Azqueta in early afternoon. The town was very small and the hostel was funky but nice. One of the volunteers was from New Albany, Indiana and we struck up a good conversation about the area. I washed some clothes by hand, had a shower, a short nap and then dinner. The meal was the 2nd best I’ve had so far. Rice, sautéed mushrooms and vegetables, a killer coconut milk tumeric veggie soup, baked scallops on a shell, followed by a sangria for dessert. The lady who owned the place was extremely nice and sent us on our way the next morning with a hug and a bell ring.

Today, we walked to a small town called Torres del Rio. The walk was as rural as it gets, with over 10 miles of beautiful scenery without a town in sight. We finally reached Los Arcos around 11 am and had a coffee and small egg and chorizo bocadillo. We also visited the church of Santa Maria which was extremely ornate and had several periods of art on display…most notably Baroque. We have a great, almost traditional, hotel in Torres del Rio. It has a small pool and I’m about to head down there now. Lots of pics from the last two days below.

My right hip has been very painful since I left Pittsburgh over three weeks ago. I can barely walk when I wake up, but it is almost 90% better when I start walking. I hope it holds up over the next few weeks..

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Camino Day 4 – Spectacular Scenery

We started our walk the next morning with a short, steep hike to the top of Alto del Perdon where the scenery was amazing…a 360 degree view of the valleys below. The majority of the day was one amazing view after another. We took a side road to the 12th century Eunate church of St. Mary. Well worth the 3 km detour.

We reached the city of Puente la Reina in the early afternoon where a celebration was going on. I am not sure what the celebration was about but there were several folks dressed up in very tall costumes dressed as kings, queens, jesters, etc. we bought two pizzas in one of the small shops and at them on the street while watching the celebration.

We then departed for the town of Cirauqui where we will spend tonight. The walk to Cirauqui was a killer as it is a town that sits high on a hill. The alberque where we are staying is at the top of the town. Again, the heat today did not makes things easy. Cirauqui is a town of streets that are like mazes and everything things to go uphill. A very cool town but if you don’t like walking uphill, don’t come here. We already had our beers and some wine at a local bar. We are now waiting for dinner to be served at 7pm.

We are starting to hit our stride and reserving rooms one day in advance. Tomorrow we are off to the town of Azqueta…we think it might be an easier day. But we thought today was going to be easy, but it didn’t turn out that way. Still, a great day…here are the pics:

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We weren’t sure what we were in store for when we booked our accommodations for today.  We knew it was a bit farther than we wanted, but the heat combined with the almost 18 mile walk was a bit too much.  We barely made it to the auberge, but we weren’t the only ones in bad shape.

I got a blister on my right foot late yesterday, and I was more than a little nervous about it all day.  But I patched it with Compeed last night and it held up all day today…even in the brutal conditions.  The day started with an encounter with another walker trying to feed a bunch of horses and one getting his foot stuck in barbed wire. Thankfully, the horse was able to free itself as it was a very stressful situation. 

We then walked through the city of Pamplona, stopping for a super sized hamburger in city center…one of the best I’ve ever had.  Then the 10 kilometer walk to our St. Andres auberge where the temperatures were at their worst.  We ran out of water with about 2 kilometers to go…all uphill.   Needless to say, we were happy to get settled and get to the auberge bar for some beer and food.

It’s going to be an early evening tonight and we will be scaling back on the walking tomorrow…maybe 13 or 14 miles  

Some pics from today:

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Camino Day 2

Last night I went to Catholic mass in Roncesvalles. This was probably the first time in two decades I went to a regular mass service. But considering what we are doing, I thought it was appropriate. Before mass, I had the best 16 euro meal I ever had (see pics in previous post). Tortellini with mushrooms, Basque chicken, cheesecake and a bottle of wine. Easily a $75 meal at a US restaurant, but just €15 each for us. May be worth walking 500 miles if this is the norm.

Today’s walk from Roncesvalles to Larrasoana was about 16 miles and mostly flat, which was a welcome change from yesterday’s 4300 feet of hill climbing. We met our Detroit friends, Stephanie and Kyle, for likely the last time as they only planned to walk 7 miles today. I got a pic of all of us, minus me, before we left them. A fairly uneventful day, except for more walking than we originally planned. Most of the walk was through forest paths which was very nice. Lots of animals along the way…horses and cows.

Resting at our albergue, Albergue San Nicolas, waiting for dinner. This is the first time we will be bunking with people we don’t know. When I say bunking, there are actually bunk beds in our room. Enough for 6 people.

It looks like 16 more miles are planned for tomorrow. We are getting off to a fast start on our Camino…maybe too fast.

Pics from the day:

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