April 29, 2015 - Day 4 Pamplona --> Puente la Reina

April 29, 2015 - Day 4

Pamplona --> Puente la Reina - 23K

My body felt surprisingly good after a restful night (thanks Advil pm). Advil is the friend of all of us on this journey, with our various aches and pains. Miracle drug. 

We wandered through the streets of Pamplona, past beautiful parks and Navarre University, and headed toward Cizur Menor. A very clean and quaint looking town. From there, we started the gradual climb that would take a few hours up to the top of a ridge, Alto del Perdon, where bronze cut-out statues  are perched along the side, framed by hills of large wind turbines on either side. These statues are prominent in the movie, "The Way," and it was a high point of the Camino walk to reach this point. The long winding climb up was mostly on a dirt path, with massive fields of dense bright yellow flowers. Leon said he thought they were mustard fields. 

We all started fairly strong, except for Steve, who is struggling with his sore feet. He has a bad bunion on his right foot, and blisters that are very painful. While it helped that he sent his pack ahead to the next hotel to take off some of the weight while hiking, he started contemplating a day or two off to rest his feet. Take a taxi to the next goal town and rest. No final decision yet, will evaluate at the end of the day. 

Donna is looking stronger and stronger as she walks. I am very proud of her tenacity, and the way she has fought through the pain to a place where I can see she is starting to turn the corner physically. She has remained quite cheerful, even during the hardest challenges. I think we all are turning the corner physically, with the exception of Steve's feet. We also feel as though we are starting to trim down a bit, although I am eating a lot. Donna and I both looked at Steve the other day and commented that he looked as though he was trimming down a bit, which brought a big smile to his face. 

After leaving Alto del Perdon, we descended for what seemed like miles down steep rocky paths. After finally leveling out, we continued on and on and on..."Pamplona legs" were starting to set in again - the name we have started assigning to our feet and legs during the final 5 miles or so at the end of the day. It isn't pretty. We all start getting real quiet and shuffle a lot. At least the view was pretty. Large, lush rolling green grass fields on either side of the path. 

The Hotel Jakue was the first place we saw when we left the trail at Puente la Reina. It has one of the nicer pilgrim's albergue as well as traditional hotel rooms. I had called and booked the last hotel room available from Pamplona. The receptionist gave me this mischievous smile when I told her my name and said, "You realize that you booked the 'treehouse' don't you?" I told her all I knew was that I had booked the last room. Well, in fact, we did stay in a treehouse. Fantastic room with a rather unique bathroom, including a futuristic shower that took 10 minutes to figure out how to operate. But, very cool. A full size bed with a beautiful comforter, and a loft to climb up into - I called dibs on it. Had our own little balcony overlooking the trees and fields, and a coffee maker with half and half. I sat on the deck and sipped my first Via of the trip. Staying in the treehouse was one of those sort of surreal experiences. Randy Garmon and I have had several of those during our various bike trips. 

Before dinner, Donna and I had a foot/leg massage at the albergue. A big disappointment. Felt more like a gentle rub - like I might pet my cat - than a massage for tired, sore, aching muscles. I asked the guy several times to please use more pressure, without success. 

Hotel Jakue is also known, for good reason, for their outstanding dinner buffet. A beautiful spread of veggies, breads and desserts, with the choice of  pork or fish as the entre. Wine and coffee were included in the dinner, which cost approximately 12 euros. 

I spent an hour or so after dinner trying to work on the blog, and experiencing technical difficulties with photos. We also unsuccessfully tried to skype home. I was so frustrated that I waisted valuable rest time messing with technical stuff. I resolved that next time it appeared that wi-fi might be weak, I would immediately stop and leave it to the next day. We finally went to bed exhausted, but mostly very, very happy.

Tomorrow, it is on to Estella, another 23 K or so. I found the B&B Zakul - a little off the Camino, but hopefully not too far. Got a text from Leon & Steve - we will try to hook up on the Camino in the morning.