Day three - Akerreta to Pamplona

Cathie storms the gates of Pamplona before they raise the drawbridge

Monday May 23

We left the splendid Hotel Akerreta in good spirits. It's a wonderful historic building and the service and meals are excellent. Prices have risen since I was there in 2019. Our excellent host didn't mention that, but he did ask us to spread the word as they've struggled through Covid and are still recovering. So here's our plug. It's not cheap, but it's a beautiful place and you can't buy the happy memories you will have. It makes the day from Roncesvalles quite long, but the bonus is a much quicker day into Pamplona. Besides, our host (who reminded us a lot of our swim coach) announced that Cathie reminded him of his daughter and that made us almost like family.

Fond farewells from our host at Hotel Akerreta

We loitered over breakfast - there was no rush to get away, but we set off at about 8.30am.

We had concerns about our bodies. Cathie's knees and feet were feeling the pressure of two very long days and I was still getting over the hamstring tear suffered during my elegant swan dive over the furniture at Heathrow airport. In fact, the pain in the left hamstring had gathered strength from its friends in the area and invaded the inside of my knee. That was somewhat ironic, since for the better part of a year a tear in the meniscus of the right knee had been threatening the viability of the trip.

To cut a long story short, we were feeling the effects of our combined 138 years of wear and tear. Accordingly, we set off gently and continued in the same way for the next few hours.

Here we were in Spain, walking the Camino but, at least for the time being, our thoughts were focused on the physical pains.

I was troubled by recurrent ear worms from the distant past. At first it was the good old hiking song, the Happy Wanderer (Val deri Val dera - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuT3MvLJtLI). By an effort of impressive will, I rid myself of that, only to be invaded by that nationalistic Song of Patriotic Prejudice by Flanders and Swan. I hate nationalism, it's been the cause of more wars, misery and deaths than anything I can think of. Even so, Flanders and Swan are remarkably witty, so I include their little ditty here: https://youtu.be/1vh-wEXvdW8

On the subject of nationalism and also because I was thinking about the millions of people who have trodden this path before us, I thought of Charlemagne, 1300 years ago, who decided to leave France and drop into the Basque country, tearing down the walls of Pamplona on his way home. He let his nephew Roland follow on with the rearguard, no doubt feeling pleased that they'd delivered a bit of Frankish wisdom to those cloth heads down south. They would have taken much the same path that we walked today. Those Basque nationalists, feeling hard done by, ambushed Roland and his so-called gallant knights above Roncesvalles and put them all to the sword. It might sound noble, but it was just another example of someone like Vladimir Putin deciding to state his case somewhere he had no reason to be, causing misery and mayhem - and for what?

I won't bore you much further, but a subject dear to my heart came next, part of Joel Grey's best performance ever in Cabaret: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8P80A8vy9I

The next thing to occupy my brain was technology. I have no time for the cosmic view that to clear our minds for spiritual enlightenment we need to rid ourselves of modern technology. Those of us walking the Camino got here by train, boat and train and we made our booking online, took our money from a hole in the wall by electronic means, and so on and so on. How on earth did those pilgrims manage a thousand years ago?

I record each day's walk using my gps sports watch, a relatively cheap Suunto Ambit. At the end of each day I download the information to the Suunto app on my phone, which then pushes it on to another two apps, Strava and Relive. The resulting Relive video gives an excellent overview of the topography and the route, as well as including a selection of photos. Here's today's: https://www.relive.cc/view/vevYoKreyy6

I also have an app to keep me on the trail, the Wisely app. It has all the Camino routes and in theory will ensure you stay on the trail. Beware - it's not fully up to date and although it'll get you to your destination, it can lead you astray.

This is what happened today. Because of our aches and pains, we were anxious to get to Pamplona by the easiest and most pleasant route. On the whole, we just followed the trail markings and two things happened that we didn't want.

Firstly, at about halfway, the signs and arrows took us on a scenic (rough, steep and difficult) route past the church of S. Esteban (which was closed) and the village of Zabaldika (which wasn't very interesting). We followed the signs, as you do, but when it was too late we checked the Wisely app and found we were way off the regular trail. We eventually stumbled over uneven surfaces and steep climbs to rejoin the tidy trail we'd wanted to be on all along. 

Secondly, I remembered from 2019 walking along a pleasant river path to the walls of Pamplona. I also remember that path had a good public toilet, which I was in need of (but that's another story). As it happened, we walked several kilometres through the suburbs, the app telling us all along that we were on the right path.

When we reached our hotel room we took a look at John Brierley's excellent book, which showed us that the mountain route through Zabaldika was an optional scenic route (which we wished we'd never taken) and that the river route at the end (which the app didn't show) was the route we wished we had taken.

The lesson from all this is that we have many ways of finding the path. Some are electronic, some are in books and yet others are contained in the markings on the trail.

It's not easy to focus the mind and read all the possibilities before each day. Even harder to remember what you decided.

Although I'm a very practical and non-spiritual person, I have to accept that the path will show you the way (whatever it is).

So, we arrived in good time, washed some clothes, showered and dozed awhile. I ducked out for the essential cold beer (much cheaper in the local supermarket than in the bar below) and as 5pm approaches I've nearly finished debriefing (what else do you think this blog was about).

Later we'll go out looking for food. We considered picking up something from the small grocery store nearby, but we're in Pamplona for goodness sake - we have to go out and behave like tourists.

As a postscript, we did go out looking for food, but none of the restaurants were open and didn't look likely to do so until at least 7pm or maybe 8pm. We ducked into the grocery store, bought two chicken salads for less than €3 each and a bottle of red wine for a similar price. Now it's close to 7pm. We're fed and ready for bed - has that something to do with age. We're tired but optimistic for tomorrow.

Breakfast here at Hostal Bearan is reputed to be at 8am, but we got a hint that we may be able to stir up some action earlier than that. I don't think we can wait that long and if they can't serve us earlier, we'll probably forgo the free breakfast in favour of an earlier departure and a coffee and snack along the way.

Here's a photo album - not much from today: https://photos.app.goo.gl/T8Vmf8W4BfdY2V48A