Advertisement
Published: September 23rd 2016
Yesterday afternoon was spent relaxing and exploring Cizur Menor. Not much to see but a small park with soft, lush grass became my bed for about 40 minutes. I sat and chatted to 2 Americans and a young Korean guy for a while and was amazed to fear he had walked 49 kilometres that day. He had pressure bandages on both knees and feet full of blisters; not bad for day 2!
Dinner was eaten at the local pub and we shared a table with two German women. It was a very quiet session as they knew no English and our German is nicht up to scratch. They do about 25 kilometres of the Camino every year but by the look of them, I don't think they will ever see Santiago; they're as young as me. After eating we didn't hang around for a chat, and went back for an early night. I set myself up for today, read the papers online, and was asleep by nine.
Today we were on the track at 5.40am and made good time up the mountain. After tortilla and coffee at the small village of Zariquiegui, we were at the Alto de Perdon
Is it a bird, is it a plane...
No, it's John coming up the mountain with the lights of Pamplona behind him.( Mount of Forgiveness ) by 7.30am. We had a short rest and a drink and began the descent into the valley below. It is very steep and rocky so progress was slow but careful. The countryside very green and we passed through crops of asparagus, sunflowers, wheat ( harvested), peppers, and corn, and I am yet to see any of these colours on my plate. Most of our meals seem to be thin soup, meat and frys, and a dessert; not much to sustain anyone walking 25 kilometres a day! Still, the high carb tortilla breakfast gives me a lift.
We made such good time that I suggested to John that we make the 4 kilometre detour to Santa Maria de Eunate, a 12th century hexagonal church, a few kilometres before Puente la Reina. There were bus loads of tourist there and I was approached by a group of Germans who were fascinated to see a 'mature' gent walking the Camino. One even asked me if I was a pensioner. The hide !
After Eunate we walked directly to Puente la Reina and had a drink while waiting for our alburgue to open. We arrived before midday.
The alburgue is great and I'm just waiting for the clothes dryer to finish. John's gone to have lunch as we had a good walk around earlier and there's not a lot to see in this village. We are on the 3rd floor, no lift, but it's a good setup and seems clean. Breakfast is at 6am in the morning and then we walk to Estella. Looking forward to it.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0682s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Camino de Santiago
You are setting a good pace. I started in Pamplona on 7 Sep and walked to the same albergue you stayed at in Cizur Menor. The next day climbing down the Alto de Perdon I had my accident on those rocks and sprained my ankle. I had to revise my plans considerably. I´m in Ponferrada now. Buen Camino