Zubiri to Pamplona – 20.5m, 7.0 hours, Bar Bearen, 62€

With occasional slight drizzles and dark clouds overhead all morning, most pilgrims, including us, were happy. The cool, wet air is great to walk in. I only put up the umbrella a couple of times and Melanie only used her poncho twice. The clouds protected us from the sun so it only got up to 20.5º. I only know that because of all the pharmacies display the time and temperature on the fluorescent green cross hanging above the entrance. After noon, the heat started to take its own toll on us like the rain and wind did previously.

For the first time on our Caminos, Melanie forwarded her bag this morning to the next stop. After the walk yesterday, Melanie was sore but nothing unusual about it. She rested while I went to the pharmacy. When she got off her bed, her knee was hurting like the blazes. She was sure she couldn’t carry 11 kg on her back so we are shipping her bag ahead each time until that gets better. It’s okay though; people get Compostelas for walking all the way to Santiago, backpacks don’t.

We only had four steep climbing sections today but none of them had us ascending more than 70m. It was the the last climb up into the old walled city of Pamplona and all the descent that gave us trouble today. There were several slippery descents of 50m or less that burned our thighs and knees. But we made it to this old city and checked into our basic room above a bar. We can’t complain about our lodgings for the night as the rooms are soundproofed and we are only steps away from ice cold beer and pinchos.

On the trail today, we have constantly been meeting old friends from Orisson, our first stop. The last time we did this walk, we fairly quickly outpaced our original friends but it’s nice to chat for a few minutes with a series of Camino family who have had the same experiences. It makes the miles go quicker. We also got overtaken by about 70 college-aged kids doing a Camino, probably a orientation team building exercise. Unfortunately for me, Melanie was standing next to me as they passed and she also saw the gorgeous buxom blond co-ed leading one of the groups. Melanie already slapped me before I could even start drooling. I barely had two or three seconds to stare. That’s not fair!

The best part of today’s walk though was the wild blackberries along side of the trail in scores of locations. My grandson, George, would have loved it. At two years old, he taught me how to pick the ripest berries while avoiding getting pricked by the thorns. He also showed me how to blow on your fingers if you do accidentally get pricked so that you don’t have to cry. The only thing he couldn’t teach me was how to eat them without turning your fingers, teeth, tongue, lips and chin a dark purple. I had to figure that part myself while George is still trying to accomplish it.

Speaking of George, we miss him, his little brother and their parents greatly. We saw them in July but we should be there now to help take care of the grandchildren. Thie last harvest is my son’s busiest season with the fewest helpers. Our daughter-in-law is also just going back to work after her maternity leave. We should be there, but we “have to be” here on the Camino. Because of COVID disrupting our “one Camino per year” routine, we knew that missing a fourth Caminos in a row would likely stop us from trying another one next year. So here we are now, finding out if we can still do them.

Peace y’all.