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

Trinidad

The train from Barcelona to Pamplona took 4 hours, speeding along at a steady 140 kms per hour. The landscape appeared dry and dusty, as I'm used to seeing it more green in the Spring. I looked at El Pais newspaper on the train; the demo in Barcelona was front page news. I took a shot of their aerial photo which I had witnessed at ground level. There had been rousing speeches, patriotic songs, police roadblocks, TV outside broadcast vans and even a helicopter hovering overhead.

I took a taxi from Pamplona Station to  Trinidad de Arte, hoping no other pilgrims saw me arriving! I haven't done any walking yet. I wanted to stay here at the oldest Albergue on the Camino, built next to the 12th century bridge. It used to be a religious house till recently, but the monks are all gone now! I'm in a small all-women dormitory which can only be a good thing. The other two occupants are Danish.

Trinidad Albergue 

Barcelona

On arrival in Barcelona Sants, the main station, I joined another queue to book a ticket on the train to Pamplona for tomorrow morning at 9.30 am. Worn out by this time, I took a taxi to my final destination for the day: Hostal Oliva at Passeig de Garcia 32. The direct route was blocked by police because of "a demonstration". Crowds everywhere: I've never seen Barcelona this busy. It's all to do with the vote for Catalan independence. After a quick shower in my tiny hotel room, I went out to view the excitement on the street. Desperate for a drink in my dehydrated state, I stopped for a beer and some people watching at Divinus Tapas, where two of the protestors allowed me to take their photo, wrapped in the red and yellow Catalan flag. A poster informed us that the referendum is to be on 1 October. It said VOTEM PER SER LLIURES. The crowds were building as all the Catalans were out in force, as well as all the regular paseo goers and shoppers. As soon as I'd finished my squid and patatas bravas, I went down the street to see the action. It's a long time since I saw a demo!

Emirates

First impressions of Emirates flight: at the last minute I purchased an upgrade to Business Class, my excuse being that I'd been suffering from a terrible cough for the last 2 weeks so not in the greatest shape for a long haul flight!  The B Class cabin was absolutely enormous, taking up virtually the whole of the upper deck. There were plenty of cabin crew to look after us and the Purser greeted us individually. I got a window seat that was also an aisle seat, which will convert to a full length bed when the time comes. All the drinks and meal orders were taken by a stewardess on a mobile device, and my G&T came with a bowl of warmed nuts, most of which were secreted away as emergency rations for later. On the late night dinner menu was smoked salmon followed by beef tenderloin with mushroom sauce and colcannon potatoes. All delicious and nice to have the courses served separately. Also, there were no trolleys trundling about as the individual trays were carried from the galley. Best of all was the seat that reclined to an absolutely flat bed. Toiletries by Bulgari.

I managed about 5.5 hours sleep before sounds of breakfast being served woke me up. Fresh fruit and a cheese omelette with asparagus went down well. On arrival in Dubai my life of luxury came abruptly to an end! The airport was absolutely packed and it grew more and more crowded as time went by. Long queues for coffee and even longer ones for ladies toilets. Boarding the Barcelona flight was incredibly slow and generally disorganised and very very hot. I imagined all kinds of new bugs entering my body already weakened by my chest infection and dose of antibiotics. The second leg of my flight, now in Economy, was a real come-down. The crew were run off their feet looking after a full plane. I tried to take my mind of it all by watching two films: The Queen of Spain (in Spanish) with Penelope Cruz as Isabella, and later The Circle with Emma Watson.

Araluen

Our latest expedition to see Spring flowers took us to Araluen, where each year there are massed plantings of tulip bulbs (the work of volunteers). We were a bit late in the year for daffodils, but the tulips and camellias growing in the sheltered valley didn't disappoint.

Yellow tulips open to show their red centres

Camellias

Magnolia Starwars

Their huge flowers hang low towards the ground

More wildflowers

A second visit to Kings Park was called for, in order to see the everlastings and the formal plantings near the cafe as well as the beds representing different parts of WA.