On to Pamplona- city of the bulls!

From Roncesvalles we walked to Pamplona - 40k over 2 days. Rolling countryside and small villages - through forests and wide open hills- it was very hot walking, however the shade of beautiful beech forests were respite from the heat. I nearly trod on a small brown and copper coloured snake as it slithered from one side of the track to the other! See if you can find out what kind of snakes inhabit the Navarre region!

We limped into Pamplona on the afternoon of the 1st October and stayed at an Albergue which was once a Jesuit Church! Now converted, this work offers a place for pilgrims to stay and the proceeds go to helping people with disabilities. We stayed in bunk beds in a space that housed 100 people! It was called Albergue Jesu y Maria.

Pamplona is also the place where they run bulls through the streets and have bullfights. It's also the place where in his early years as a soldier, Ignatius Loyola defended the walls of Pamplona from the French and was wounded by a cannonball. Having walked to Pamplona over the mountains I had a new appreciation for how Ignatius must have endured being stretchered home to Loyola over similar pathways! It must have been punishing!!

I think this act of such generosity from the French who stretchered him home changed him forever. The French who took him home to Loyola probably did so because they too were basque - from the French side- where we had walked from! They were looking after a brother then! No enemy for them! No wonder generosity is such an important ignatian gift! Boys, remember your random acts of kindness are so important!!!

As I walked the fortified city ramparts here it was also easy to imagine a young Ignacio defending his beloved Basque Country and people against the French troops. These battles must have been carnage! If the stones could speak!!!

We walked the Calle de San Ignacio many times and walked past the place where he fell- plaque marks the spot and there is a chapel there also to commemorate him.

Fun fact: Local food unique to Pamplona Pincxos ( means skewered!) or food on skewers. You have this for lunch or a light evening meal.
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