Pamplona to Puenta la Riena

April 21, 2016 Thursday

Walking from Pamplona over Alta del Perdon and on to Puenta la Riena    Walking Day #4

After the rain yesterday, today was clear, bright, with a little crispness in the cool air. A beautiful morning. On the route for today is crossing over Alta del Perdon, where the sculpture of the pilgrims sits on the mountain in between the power-generating windmills (this is another place that was seen in the film, "The Way").

I walked out of the old city of Pamplona, down the hill, through a little town of Cizur Menor, and stopped for a cafe-con-leche at a little bar where many pilgrims were sitting outside. I found that I was developing my very first blister at the side of my big toe. This was easily taken care of, and I headed onward.

Outside of Cizur Menor and off and on until Puenta la Riena, we saw these bright yellow fields of what people were saying was canola. They are quite bright yellow and they sway softly in the light breeze - stunning.

The Camino continues onwards, over rolling gentle hills, sometimes in the fields and sometimes into bits of forest.

The climb up to Alta del Perdon was steep, and fairly long, about three kilometers. For most of this time I was walking alone. Outside Cizur Menor, I was walking with Don and Kim, a couple from North Carolina who at one time owned a business importing antiques from Spain. I liked walking with them, but Don takes many pictures, causing their pace to be almost uncomfortably slow for me.

I finally made it up to Alta del Perdon.

 The sculpture was placed here on the Camino trail in 1996 by Friends of the Way of Navarra (the region of Spain in which we are now). The inscription says "where the way of the wind crosses the way of the stars." (It is written in Spanish...that is the translation from a guidebook.)

A couple of ladies from Australia took a photo of me with my camera, without my backpack, hat, or rain jacket. It was a beautiful view from the top of the mountain, and all around are large windmills generating power.

The path down is steep, and rocky with large and loose rocks. Very slow going down the hill, and though steep, it seemed quite lengthy.

After getting down the hill, we are again in the fields of flowers and other green crops. The day was nice, and a bit warm, so I took off my hat (just in case the Fashion Police are close by), and learned later that with extremely short hair and no hat, the top of ones head can become burnt.

The scenery is beautiful and sweeps across one's view. I caught up to a young British lady named Holly (my parents often said that they almost named my sister Carol Holly after the Christmas holly because she was born just before Christmas; apparently a Christmas Carol fit better than a Christmas Holly). I learned that Holly is a pilot for British Airways, and she flies the Airbus A380 (the largest plane made). Wow! I told her that seemed to be a pretty cool job, and she told me is was definitely a cool job. Holly and I talked about airports and flying and the Wright Brothers and pretty soon we were at the entrance to Puente la Riena.

I found my hotel, got a shower, texted Nikki (from Colorado) that I had arrived (she had borrowed my Swiss army knife, and wanted to return it), and she replied that she was in a restaurant and to join her. I did, and we talked for a bit about the walk today; we both are loving every section.

When I got back to my hotel, I saw Philippe and Marie-Pierre, the French couple. I had thought they would be many kilometers ahead, but they told me they wanted to slow down a bit. We shared dinner together and then the couple from Columbia, Alex and Leidi joined us. It was great fun with good food. Like every day.

Next: Puenta la Reina to Estella