Advertisement
Published: April 5th 2010
Bar - Cizur Menor
Had breakfast here. Was fairly typical of the bars along the Camino, if anything can be said to be typical.Another Early Start
I suppose if one is going to carry a GPS and not use it properly, then one cannot complain about a few navigational mishaps. Well, that won´t stop me.
I actually blame the light. There wasn´t much of it about at 6.30am in Pamplona, at least, not when I needed it.
In reality, Pamplona was well lit, but I wasn´t paying as much attention as I should have been, and despite having loaded the daily routes into my GPS, I didn´t actually pay any attention to it when I walked about a kilometre past one of my marked waypoints.
When I realised that I had done this, I was much calmer than I expected to be, and found a way back on track. Perhaps having made an early start was part of why I was so much calmer, or just that I was beginning to accept that this was part of my Camino, and getting lost, doing a little extra, or being at a certain place when it was bathed in sunshine when others didn´t see that at all.
Today´s objective was Puenta la Reina - Queensbridge would be a close approximation I suppose.
Cizur Menor
View leaving Cizur Menor Stuck right in the middle of the route is a long ridgeline, Alto de Perdón, which has been made into one long windfarm. And as you might guess, as one comes up the ridge line it gets very windy. And then it rained. The track was generally pretty good when it had been dry, but when wet, the smooth rocks that formed the track became quite treacherous. And what seemed a pretty steep slope going up became even steeper going down.
Later I learned that two peligrinos has died on this stretch of track a year or so ago when a steeper section of the track collapsed. I seem to remember someone telling me that before I left Australia, but I was glad not to be reminded until after I had finished that part of the track.
The Cutouts
At the peak of the ridge, there are a string of metal cutout pilgrims. They are the wonderful sort of thing that should have made a great photo opportunity, and I have seen several good shots of them on the web. It crossed my mind as I came towards them that perhaps I should add to this collection. But
Cizur Menor to Zariquiegui
Trail up the Alto del Perdon, looking back to Cizur Menor I was cold. It was raining. And I couldn´t muster the enthusiasm. Much better that you find a photograph where someone had the time and inclination to do the job right.
la senora de la peurta y su companadora and other travelling companions
Today is Easter Saturday, so the track is full of people. Couples, families, youth groups or similar. The walker´s etiquette is fairly clear - greetings of some form or other are offered, and returned. There are minor variations, but nothing really unusual.
Cyclists are quite a different matter, but it should come as no surprize that if you had walked any of the shared recreational paths anywhere in Australia, you would find the same behaviours. Some cyclists are pleasant, and wish one buen camino. Others respond to a greeting, but there is no guarantee of that. And then there are those that just rush past. Fortunately, the latter seem to be a much smaller percentage than might have been the case at home.
Leaving Obanos, the camino became quite crowded. Whether everyone was headed for Puenta la Reina for the night or not wasn´t clear, but where the track before Obanos had been relatively
Cizur Menor to Zariquiegui
Looking towards Zariquiegui clear, afterwards is was comparatively clogged.
Puenta la Reina
Once in the albergue, wandered around the bit of the town close by with Martin and Wal. Don't really know that I got a good feel for it, but it appears to be a much larger town compared to those before Pamplona and on the camino today.
Ate at a restaurant close to the albergue. There is this expectation that one will drink wine with the meal, which I did but I'm not sure that this is really going to work for me every night.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.346s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 9; qc: 49; dbt: 0.1314s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Peter Doré
non-member comment
Keep'a'dancing.....
I'm certainly jealous, Doug. This reads like an interestng wander around Spain. THanks for the blog and keep on dancing... Cheers Pete and Joy