Estella

Portal of San Sepulchro church in Estella

Albergue Maralotx proved to be perfect in every way, except there was no Breakfast! However the Pilgrims Dinner last night was superb. We had spinach soup, salad, spaghetti and meatballs and a pot of set custard: the chef was Italian! Ten of us dined well.

We had to leave by 8.00 am, but this enabled me to see a lovely sunrise. We finally hit ion a breakfast spot after 1.25 hours, near an ancient bridge where the water was said to be poisonous to horses in the Middle Ages. A Japanese guy was cooling off his feet in the water.

At first there was a lot of cloud cover, ideal for walking, but the sun came out and it was another hot day: about 22 degrees. I got to Villatuerte for lunch (beer and a piece of tortilla), then walked very slowly for the last 4 kms into Estella.

I had booked a private room on the newly opened Albergue Curtidores, a converted tannery on the riverside. Everything was pristine, and the hospitalera helped me book a  room at Pension Mave in Los Arcos for tomorrow. Apparently, Estella was a big centre for the production of leather, and there had been several tanneries on the area.

I walked into town in search of a restaurant, as the Albergue didn't serve dinner, past the Church of Santa Sepulchro, with its magnificent carved portal. I ended up at a restaurant in the main square which did a Pilgrims Menu for € 16 (Cafe Astarriaga). I had mixed salad, grilled salmon w potatoes and Santiago Tart.

Looking back to a beautiful sunrise over Cirauqui at 8.00 am

Stretch of Roman Road between Cirauqui and Lorca

Long shadows in the early morning

View of the weir from Albergue Curtidores

Tapas

Church of Santa Sepulchro 

Cirauqui

I managed to sleep till 7.30 am, thanks to some new earplugs (French) which completely cut out the noise of the church bells chiming the hour and the sound of other pilgrims departing early.

The climb out of Puente up to Maneru was pretty steep but it's going to be the last one for a while.  Looking back, it seemed that we were as high up as the line of wind turbines on the Alto.

Maneru, where I stopped for coffee and an orange, was pretty quiet on a Monday morning. There was a small baby with pierced ears sporting the Basque emblem like mine!

Approaching Cirauqui, the vineyards and olive groves started to appear. The olives were small and green, and nowhere near ready.  A cyclist who had sped past me stopped to help himself to grapes. He gave me a bunch. They were black, small but juicy and sweet.

In Cirauqui, a typical hill town with a maze of streets winding up to the Church, my first priority was to find the Albergue. I had booked a private room. It was upstairs and had a stunning view over the surrounding countryside. I went out to look for some lunch.  The bar was closed so I had to settle for some bread and cheese from the supermercado!

Beautiful bridge leaving Puente la Reina

Looking back to the windmills of Alta del Perdon

Approaching Maneru

Maneru has lots of coats of arms

Cirauqui in the distance

Picking grapes

Climbing up into Cirauqui 

Church door in Cirauqui 

Church door back in Puente

View from my window in Cirauqui: worth the climb 

Bulls

At 5.30, I was sitting outside my hotel having a drink when they suddenly started clearing away the tables and chairs. Neighbours were boarding up their doorways. I was told to get inside quick as it was "Muy peligroso" on the street. A mini Running of the Bulls was about to take place. As my room was at the back, I wouldn't see anything, but a woman next door invited me into her house to watch from an upstairs balcony. Down below the only people on the street were young lads pretending to be bullfighters; when bulls ran past they quickly ran behind temporary barricades. The bulls were running in dribs and drabs, three at a time and I realised I was a prisoner till it was all over!

After an hour I enlisted the help of some guys downstairs who dared to go out, knock on the door of my hotel which was firmly closed, and then signal to me to hurry inside before the next wave of bulls arrived!

I had dinner with a merry group of pilgrims from Ireland.  See photo!

Puente

As I stepped out from the Albergue in Muruzabal, I asked an Irishman to take my photo. At 8.00am, it promised to be another perfect day for walking on the Camino. Temperatures of 27 degrees were forecast for the afternoon. With only about 5 kms to Puente, I could afford to take my time in the cool of the morning.

I arrived before 10.00 am and stopped for a coffee at the bar of Hotel Jakue. There is an Albergue in the basement, where I stayed last time. Today, I am booked into Casa Rural Bidean, right in the centre of town on Calle Mayor.

Today, Sunday, there is a fiesta going on, with market stalls all the way along the street. In the main square, they are raising money for something in Ecuador. By donation, you can help yourself to a glass of wine and all sorts of tapas. A lot of these feature very mild red chillies preserved in olive oil. Delicious! On the way into town, I passed through all the vegetable gardens (huertas) where they were growing in abundance but still green.

Fortunately my little room in the hotel is on the 3rd floor and at the back, so I won't here any noise no matter how long the celebrations go on for.

Leaving the Albergue 

Coats of arms in Muruzabel

Wild fennel

Rose hips

Elderberries 

Street market in Puente

Cheese stall

Bread stall

Wine and tapas by donation

Statue of Santiago in the church

https://structurae.net/structures/puente-de-los-peregrinos/photos

(Lovely pics of the famous bridge)

Muruzabel

An amazing day! Somehow I've managed to do 20 kms and 30,000 steps according to Fitbit. This device is confused; it still registers Australian time so I have to add 6 hours to its reading!

I left the lovely Hotel Europa at 8.15 after a delicious breakfast of fruits, coffee and the Spanish delicacy of mild cream cheese w quince paste. It promised to be a super day: typical Autumn weather. It was sunny and warm and still, with Autumn scents in the air. Blackberry canes lined the route, but the berries were small and wizened. Rose hips and sloes were better, but nobody was making sloe gin or rosehip syrup.  The fields were bare of their crops, many just ploughed for next year.  There was a steady stream of pilgrims going out of Pamplona, past the green parks of the university campus and up to the first stop of Cizur Menor. At 9.45 am, I stopped for a coffee, then pressed on.

It was a day when every pilgrim en route passed me, but they were mostly younger and fitter!  The only person I passed was a guy carrying as much weight around his waist as  J Sinclair plus an enormous backpack and beard! I never saw him again.

I was looking forward to a stop at the Romanesque church of Zareiquiqui, and stopped to take  photo of its door and a French woman resting outside. My memories of this place were that there were no facilities whatsoever but now I was delighted to find a new Albergue and a bar. A beer was just what I needed to fortify me for the climb! (A Frenchwoman said not to have any alcohol till I reached my destination! I said it will give me strength to get there). There was an enormous dog flat out on the pavement while its owners were enjoying their refreshment but giving it nothing.

I finally reached the Alto de Perdon at 3.00 pm. Everyone had gone and even the man with the refreshment van was about to leave! I struggled a bit on the stony downhill track onto Uterga, wishing I had sent on my pack with Jacotrans. I made it to the Uterga Albergue where I had stayed before. This time it was full so I had to settle for a place 2.7 kms on. It was my lucky day when one of the staff was just going home and she agreed to drop me off on her way to Puente la Reina. So I managed to get to Murutzabel without a complete collapse!

Pamplona

The This morning the women's dorm somehow slept till 8.30 am, which is unheard of in an Albergue! Usually you get kicked out well before this. It was very dark and pouring with rain, we discovered. The three of us shared a quick breakfast, some scrounged from the fridge in the kitchen: items left behind by other pilgrims. I had also bought yoghurt which went down well.

I decided to take the bus into Pamplona as it was such poor weather, and I'd walked this bit before. I had to re-orientate myself as the bus dropped me off in an unknown part of town, but I soon saw a sign for Gran Hotel La Perla. I made my way there and saw my favourite hotel, the Europa, across the square. I had no booking, but they said I could have a room after lunch.

Dropping off my backpack with them, I decided to revisit the Cathedral where there are always interesting things to see, including the excavated remains of Roman Pamplona underneath and now glassed in.  A recording of archaeologists at work, scraping of trowels and the like, gave the impression that the dig was still going on.

There is a side chapel dedicated to San Fermin, an early Christian martyr who died in Amiens in 306 AD.  In 616 a relic (part of his skull) was brought from Amiens to Pamplona and other bits followed in subsequent years. Part of his femur is there in an elaborate casket. His hip bone appears in better shape than mine!

I photographed the Mausoleum of Carlos III the Noble & wife Leonor carved in alabaster. The sculpture was done in 1413-19. Around the outside are figures of the mourners, some wiping away their tears. 

The Cloisters are  under repair. There is a large Refectory and kitchen next to it. The kitchen is perfectly square, with a very high central chimney, built in 14th cent.

I had a late Lunch at Cafe Iruna: the delicious set meal for €15.50: ratatouille w poached egg starter; fish of the day, trout: my favourite!w salad and mushrooms; melon for dessert. A whole bottle of wine was placed on my table, but I restricted myself to two glasses only! I arrived after 2.0 pm but the place was buzzing with a large group of well-heeled Koreans. The Spanish diners only started arriving after 3.00pm.

I returned to my hotel for a long siesta.  I should explain that the best way to get a good meal on the Camino is at lunchtime, otherwise the 9.00 pm dinner time is too late for a pilgrim planning to be on the road early.

Raining and cold in Pamplona

Royal tombs in the cathedral 

Mourners round the tomb with tears in their eyes

Construction of the cloister

Modern renovations of the cloister

Kitchen

Beautiful floor

Reliquary containing bone of San Fermin

Lunch spot: Cafe Iruna, haunt of Hemingway 

Trout was fish of the day

Photographic exhibition of San Fermin fiesta 2017