Larrasoana to Pamplona

A short walk of 18.2 km - 11.3 miles, going up 183 m and down 354 m

I slept better last night: at last my cold seems to be on the wane. However, I am now suffering as a result of inadvertently eating fish. Last night at dinner we think that what I thought was mince on my pasta starter was probably Tuna. So today I have paid the price. Spain is a country that eats a lot of fish so I will have to be more vigilant in the future and ask if things contain fish or not.

At 8 just as we were setting off the lady from the town hall came to kick out any stragglers. We had hoped to get breakfast at the bar where we had dinner, but unfortunately it was closed. It was to be another 10 km at 10:30 before we were able to break our fast.

Our walk started in mist and took us along the banks of the Rio Arga. We then had to walk along a stretch main road and I was grateful for my hi-vis hat. As we walked the mist burned off into brilliant sunlight. We then walked over a hill and down the other side to reach the Rio Arre and the town of Trinidad de Arre, where we were able to get our breakfast of coffee and bacon and red pepper rolls, which may sound strange but are delectable. Our hunger having been sated, we continued on.

The town of Trinidad de Arre is basically a suburb of it's bigger neighbour Pamplona, but obviously has it's own identity and was preparing for some sort of celebration. Fair ground rides and stalls were being set up. Along the road we walked in on, they were beginning to install some heavy duty barriers. The uprights were about 8 ft tall 6" by 6" beams, these were set into the ground in permanent sockets. Fixed to the uprights were 6" x 2" planks all carefully numbered with a 3 or 4 inch gap between each plank. My guess is that they were preparing for their own bull run, similar to that of Pamplona's. I have read that many towns in this part of Spain have bull runs, but that Pamplona's is just the biggest and most famous!

As we walked from Trinidad de Arre to Pamplona, we passed a computer shop. On the off chance that they might have an iPod lead, I popped in, luck was with me and I got the last one in the shop! We were back in business again.

We continued through the streets following yellow arrows painted on lamp posts and blue and yellow scallop shell symbols painted on the ground.

When we got within a couple of miles of the city centre, we were hailed by a local man. I went over to see what he wanted. He told me that we could take an alternative and much nicer route into Pamplona by following the river path, and that it would join up again with the Camino a little later on. We decided to take his advice. The path took us all the way into the city following the Arre on our left, while on our right were a number of Market gardens.

At one point we came across a quirky pedestrian bridge over the river (a photo will eventually be added!).

Just by the bridge in a field were 20 or 30 miniature horses, some with foals.

We then crossed by the Puente de la Magdalene. At the foot of the bridge is a cross with the figure of St James upon it. Sadly though it has been vandalised and St James no longer has a head.

After crossing the river the path climbed into the city through the ramparts and up to the Cathedral.

In this part of Pamplona major works are being carried out to the utility infrastructure, making the whole street a building site. As a result the way is very uneven with raised manholes and all sorts of other trip hazards. Coming the opposite way to us was a burly builder walking very slowly, with a very frail old lady on his arm. He was Carefully helping her through the hazards and bending his head to listen to all she had to tell him, and treating her with the utmost respect.

We eventually arrived at the Cathedral and got our pilgrims stamps. We had decided to try a new hostal that Lucas had told us about, built in an old church, the Jesus & Mary hostal. It has been built into the church without affecting the fabric. It is very clean and has been designed by someone who has thought about the needs of pilgrims. The bunks although in four long corridors, are in bays of four or six. Each bunk has it's own power point for charging equipment. There is a large laundry area with free washing machines, basic Internet access, and a kitchen.

After showers, we filled a machine with washing and headed off for lunch while it went through it's cycle.

In the centre of old Pamplona is a large square, which has cafes on all sides, we picked one and had lunch sitting in the sun.

We had decided that our main task for the afternoon was to get haircuts. We set out to find his and hers hairdressers. However, hard as we looked, for the first hour we just couldn't find any. Eventually we came across a shop but it was closed. By this time it was getting towards 5 pm. We now discovered more and more hairdressers but each shop we went into, told us the same tale, they were about to close.

We then discovered a barbers and so I dived in and got my hair cut. We continued to look for somewhere for Lesley but to no avail, the only open hairdressers were for men. It was now nearly 6 and we decided to give up the search and look instead for an Internet cafe, where I could download pictures from the camera. We bumped into Lucas who told us that there was an Internet cafe in the main square. We went to look and instead found a hairdresser that advertised that it was open to 8 pm. We went in and were told that if Lesley could wait for an hour she could get a cut. I went off to do some chores and then came back to a nearby cafe, where I wrote my blog while I waited. At 7:20 a coiffured Lesley appeared - our mission for the afternoon had been accompanied, and we now both look a lot less shaggy.

It then was food time. We headed across the square to a paella restaurant, we had spotted earlier, and sat down to a tasty chicken paella and a bottle of the local Rose. As the food was being cooked to order, I wandered off to post yesterday's blog. As usual I was immersed in my task and when our food arrived ignored Lesley's waiving and gesturing only being called back to reality by a piercing whistle from our waiter.

After our meal we headed back to the hostal before the 10 pm lock in.

I don't know if we will get much sleep tonight as we are next to an Olympic champion snorer. I can even here him with my ear plugs in! He puts my dad's snores into a very poor 10th or even 20th position and dad is a loud snorer.

On the Camino in Spain