Day four - Pamplona to Puente la Reina

The sculpture at Alto Perdon - with a backdrop of wind turbines. 

"Where the way of the wind crosses the way of the stars."

Breakfast was scheduled for 7.30am at our hotel this morning. We had been hurting yesterday, even though we had a short day, and we knew we needed an early start to allow for our antiquity and infirmities. The cumulative effect of those difficult days had got to us, even though we know we were as well prepared as we could be. Accordingly, we set alarms for 6am. It goes against the grain to turn down a free breakfast, but we were on a mission. There was no one about and we couldn't drop our suitcases in the required spot, but fortunately there was a helpful cleaner, who unlocked the bar and allowed us to park our bags.

We wandered off into the streets of Pamplona, finding a strong coffee and some food. It must have been a good early-morning stop, as several burly policemen (and women) followed us in. We weren't aware of having committed any crime, but we slunk away, just in case, fortified for the journey ahead. It was 7am as we hit the road.

We had an amazingly good start. The surfaces were smooth and ever so slightly downhill as we walked through well-groomed parks and the grounds of the university. We were making 4km/h for a couple of hours and feeling good.

The suburbs of Pamplona are extensive and eventually we got on to more difficult trails as we wound our way uphill towards the sculptures at Alto Perdon. At 750m it was the highest point on the day's walk - not at all difficult for the intrepid conquerors of the Pyrenees.

Before we got to the top, we stopped at the small village Zariquigui. We couldn't pronounce it, but we knew how to say Cafe con Leche.

It's a funny thing, that despite Covid, there seems to be more people walking the route than I'd encountered in 2019. Not only that, but they seemed to travel in convoy, so we were constantly caught up in large groups. Whenever we stopped there would be a queue at the bar, but when we left everyone left with us.

We got to the top, hoping for some quiet shots of the sculptures, but no luck - everyone wanted to take a photo of their friends. I even got waved to one side by some jerk who wanted a clear shot of his grumpy wife pulling the tail of a metal horse. In the true spirit of the Camino I moved aside with a gracious smile. If only he could have read my mind.

Wind turbines from Alto Perdon

It's a strange spot up there. On the one hand there's the beautiful two-dimensional sculptures and on the other there's the huge line up of wind turbines, dominating the atmosphere with a loud hum as if two jetliners are about to take off.

On the third hand, just a few metres away on the downward slope, there's the memorial to those who died in the Spanish Civil War. Like a miniature Stonehenge, the stones stand in mute testimony to those who died, many without trial and most without recognition, which came only 81 years after the events of that war.

The next part of the trail was the most difficult, particularly for Cathie, whose delicate knees find downhills difficult, particularly this one, which was steep and stony. I rewarded her with a Snickers bar when we reached the bottom - I could do no less.

We wandered on to Obanos, where the whole traveling road show also decided to stop. A large proportion of them were up for beer - I'm proud to say we're staunch prohibitionists at that time of day. If we gave in to beer at 1pm, we'd be drunk all day.

Despite our excellent start and our improved attitude, we were starting to feel elderly as 2pm approached and so we were relieved when Puente le Reina hove into view.

The town gets its name from the bridge across the Arga river

From Wikipedia: "Queen Muniadona, wife of King Sancho III was the queen who gave her name to the town and the bridge, also known as the Puente Románico. She built the six-arched Romanesque bridge over the Arga for the use of pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela along the Camino de Santiago."

Here's a whole mass of stuff about Sancho: "Sancho III (c. 1134 – 31 August 1158), called the Desired (el Deseado), was King of Castile and Toledo for one year, from 1157 to 1158."

Sancho died young - maybe old Muniadona spent all the money on bridges.

We have yet to cross the Arga over Muniadona's bridge, so that treat will have to wait until tomorrow.

We were very happy with today's walk, even though neither of our bodies behaved impeccably. Quite by chance, I have a knee brace in my bag, meant for the dodgy right knee with the torn meniscus. I put it on my left knee, damaged in the great Heathrow swallow dive of 2022, and it worked a treat.

Tomorrow is a shorter day to Estella - theoretically 21.6km. The Hotel Rural Bidean in Puente La Reina offers breakfast in the dining room at 9am, or in the cafe down the street at 6am, so our alarms will be set for 5.30am - can't beat those early starts.

Some rain was predicted, but the updated forecast just shows a lot of wind. I feel a little that way myself - too many eggs and not enough green veges perhaps.

On arrival we had the normal conundrum about beer. A big glass at the bar was €3.50, so I shot off to the nearest supermercato, where I got the lineup above for about the same price. The best was the triple malt on the right, which was a massive €0.99. The worst was the incredibly expensive IPA on the left - €1.35

Things I meant to talk about today but didn't, include the sloppy attitude held by many pilgrims towards litter (a subject for another day). Also today's earworm, which I managed to abolish by channeling Tom Jones (or Julio Iglesias). Either would shut down my brain in short order. Here's my pick, the one that stuck in my head, from old Hoagy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qWZg_RK2Io

And here's the Relive video of today's walk: https://www.relive.cc/view/vdORMK1yErv

Here's all of the photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Yxy6fNDRYr32g9Wf7