Stage 4 – Pamploma to Puenta la Reina

Feeling well rested after a night in the comfiest of beds and with a fresh OJ (Spanish OJ is the best!) and my first Spanish Omelette in my belly, I headed outside to see blue sky!

It was quite surreal strolling through the empty streets of Pamploma at this early hour and so nice to be able to take in the sights of this beautiful city at my leisure.

I headed up the narrow streets towards the Cathedral to find my way back onto the Camino path, only to find that I was already on it and had to backtrack, lol.

But it was meant to be, because who should I see jumping out of a taxi at the top of the hill but Marian – my new amiga who slid down into Zubiri on her bum. 😂 She’d hitched a ride with Trent who had cabbed it in to the city for Sunday morning mass and so he passed the ‘Marian’ relay baton on to me.

Marian is adorable and so warm hearted but in a seemingly constant discombobulated state. I was her Camino Angel that morning as Marian was anxious about finding her way out of Pamploma. So much so that she desperate enough to put her trust in me!

We wound our way out of this beautiful city, stopping by the gardens to take a ridiculous number of pics of the flowers.

Leaving the city behind me, and reassured that Marian was safely on her way, I headed along the gravel path that would become a feature of the next stages of the Camino, along with blue skies, sunshine that becomes relentless by mid afternoon and a landscape dominated by canola flowers and grain crops. Seemingly endless mountain ranges define the horizon.

For the first time on the way, cyclists began to appear on the path, many just locals out for their training rides and frustrated by perigrinos. It wasn’t long before a police car escorted an ambulance down the steep, gravel track after a cyclist and walker had collided. I kept my ears attuned to bikes coming from behind from then on as there are no bells on the bikes and cyclists here rarely give hikers any warning.

Steadily climbing all morning, by lunch tine, I arrived at the gorgeous little village of Zariquiegui. As I turned to walk out of the store, Fresh OJ and ham and cheese baguette in hand, Marian appeared through the door and shopping chaos reigned! I’m not sure what was left on the shelves!

I bade farewell to Marian once more, leaving her seated on the ground next to the cathedral, tucking into an enormous Caesar salad, a large can of San Miguel cervaza in her hand! Her first cervaza fell over and was running down the hill so I bought her another can as she looked so settled in for her lunch and rest. She was going to be at least an hour so I left her to it.

Bidding farewell to Zariquiegui, I continued on, upwards and upwards with the most incredible views at every turn until I turned a corner and came upon the amazing steel sculptures of peregrinos! I’d arrived at the top of Alto del Perdon (so much for reading my guide book that morning)! But I preferred the element of surprise – simply stunning.

If I thought the climb was a challenge, the descent awaiting me was even more so. It was literally like climbing down through a dry and rocky creek bed the whole way to the bottom. My knees were screaming and it was constantly a choice of should I go the bad way or the even worse way.

Eventually the road smoothed out and I arrived at my Albergue in the village of Uturga in time for a delicious pilgrim’s dinner along with some great conversation. And there was lentil soup for the first course! Vegetables! Finally.

While the food was incredible at the Albergue, the beds were not. I spent the whole night lying awake, fearing that every double bunk in the dormitory would collapse and crush those on the lower beds. The creaks every time a person moved were terrifying! 😂

I couldn’t wait to get out of there the next morning – it was my first experience of a whole lot of people getting up at some ungodly hour and banging and crashing about, getting packed up to leave. And the endless scrunching and rustling of plastic bags! Boy, I had a lot to learn about life on the Camino!

On to Puenta La Reina

Now, it was just a hop, skip and a jump to my destination for the day – Puenta La Reina. I’d planned it this way so that I could spend most of the day in this gorgeous little village. And it didn’t disappoint.

And of course, who should be sitting up at the counter in the bakery when I dropped in for some breakfast? Yep. Marian! I knew that she had a huge hike ahead of her that day and she was still hanging around at 11.30! I pretty much chased her out of town as she was distracted by every interesting thing and every person she came across.

After a quiet afternoon catching up on my journal over a glass of wine and a mini cheese board, it was time to catch up with my Camino family for the usual noisy and hilarious dinner.

It was a really pleasant way to spend my ‘half day off’ from walking. My favourite village so far. Next stop Estella! And my Camino visitor!