When I booked the place at the hostel in Puente la Reina yesterday, the staff member advised me to start early, "It's going to be over 30° in the afternoon, so it's best to do as much as you can in the morning." I set off at 06:40 in the dark. I reckoned that Pamplona's …
Continue reading Camino Stage 6: Day 12 – Pamplona to Puente la Reina
This hardly counted as a walk, to be honest. I gave myself permission to lie in, and so didn't leave the hostel much before eight. I was joined early on by Martin, an ex-prison governor from Milton Keynes, and together we shared a pleasant flat stroll through suburbs which brought us to the hefty and …
Continue reading Camino Stage 6: Day 11 – Villava to Pamplona.
Yesterday evening was convivial with other pilgrims, in fact, probably a bit too convivial. I realised it was time to go bed when I led the entire terrace in a rousing rendition of "Oh, Canada!". Anyway, I went straight to sleep for eight and a half hours, and awoke feeling remarkably spry! The old bridge …
The lights came on in the abbey dormitory at 06:15, breakfast was at 07:00, and we had to be out and away by 08:00. It had not been a restful night. Twenty or so people jammed into a room with bunk beds. I have to say that my years of going on the top bunk …
Continue reading Camino Stage 6: Day 9 – Roncesvalles to Zubiri
The day started before dawn with breakfast at 06:30. With my walking companions, Jackie and Simon, we had left SJPdP by 07.20. Normally, I would have considered this a very bad thing, but today was a particular day of challenge! Through the Virgin's Gate early The old town of SJPdP is really very small, and …
Continue reading Camino Stage 6: Day 8 – Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles
Today has been a special day on this adventure. After a good night in Ostabat the group of ten or so pilgrims who had stayed together, shared breakfast and left at about eight. My plan had been to go to Mongelos, eleven kms away. But it was a perfect walking day, and my foot seemed …
Continue reading Camino Stage 6: Day 7 – Ostabat-Asme to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
From The Quire 