MeAndering the Camino

Longest day for time and distance of the first 3. Managed to get up and out before 7:00 am today. Partially thanks to limited sleep die to a barking dog next door who was outside all night and maybe stopped barking for 45 minutes. Really the only negative of the Albuergue Last night. Another great dinner group and fin conversation.

Was colder than I expected at 7:00! Switched shoes also as my little toes on both feet were rubbing and getting uncomfortable. Much better today in the Alta shoes. Quiet morning, cool temps and mostly flat made a nice start to the day.

Small hillside towns led to Reach Pamplona about 10:00am. Was able to walk around in the bustle of shops opening and day starting. Usually Pamplona is the stop for day 3 but as I had gone farther yesterday, it was only a coupe hours in to the morning. A beautiful city and an amazing city park. I stopped for a coffee and snack and watched the morning crowds. Continuing the day, walked through suburbs and the University of Navarre where peregrinos can get stamped in their camino passports by the administrators! Then was out to the start of the farmland and hills of the ridges surrounding the Pamplona valley. Today was the first day of no rain and am still deciding which is better, cool and mostly or sunny and warm! When I decided I could make Uterga, I walked through a giant filed of now dead/scorched sunflowers. Imagine a week or two ago it was amazing. Getting to Uterga meant hiking up the ridge past a line of windmills through a pass. The views were amazing and the breeze felt great as the direct sun brought temperatures close to 90 degrees! Once at the summit there is an awesome sculpture of peregrinos looking into the next valley.

The descent into Uterga is STEEP which made me nervous since my knee has been giving me trouble on downhill. A nice little town and when I asked about the water tap in the little park, a man said “it’s fine but walk 1 minute, the fountain is better. It’s from a natural spring! Another fun dinner table. One of the women is Japanese and when I asked where in Japan she was from, she said “you have probably never heard of it”. Turns out she is from the town I lived in as an English teacher after college! Such a small world. 49,725 steps today!