Day 4, Zubrini to Pamplona

The day began with a birthday present from Fiona - a silver chain with a shell pendant. The perfect gift for the Camino.
For most of the day we skirted the Arga River and for some of time were within earshot of the N135 highway. Fiona was of course tempted to take a dip at the site of cold water but, with a long trek ahead of us, she resisted.
This felt like a tough day. On the plus side, we met up with Mel and Rachel from England and enjoyed their company during the morning, but it was 11 kilometres before we hit Zuriain and a chance of breakfast.
Later, we enjoyed bumping into a local festival at Villava but found the final few kilometres to Pamplona extremely exhausting. Fiona and I were both pretty knackered by the time we’d pushed through the crowded streets of the old city and found our way to Aloha Hostel.
On arrival we sat on the terrace and savoured a can of beer from the vending machine. The place was lovely and our room very comfortable. We forced ourselves out (thank you Fiona for accompanying me) to find Decathlon where I bought a new pair of trainers (which don’t pinch) and then I took pictures of Fiona in her Marsden tee shirt in front of the cathedral and the bulls sculpture. She scowled at both locations but felt she could dump the tee shirt once the charity photos had been done.
We were delighted to bump into our Canadian friends, Cheryl and Janice, as they arrived at the hostel. They agreed to meet us for dinner to celebrate my birthday.Read more