The Shortest Day

A clear sky this morning meant a temperature of 5 degrees at 07:30. It was an hour before the sun came over the mountains and then another half an hour before I felt the first rays on my face. It's amazing how such a simple thing made us smile so much. Later in Pamplona it was off to Decathlon for a beanie and gloves for tomorrow. I thought this was summer!

Just under 10 miles to Pamplona, the easiest walk so far terrain wise and we arrived at 11:15. It gave us the whole afternoon and early evening to explore the old town. There was a fiesta on which was colourful and lively though we had no idea what was going on. The bars from early afternoon were really busy, but unlike many parts of Spain it was busy with locals rather than tourists, which was quite nice to see.

Walking around town we bumped into the Korean guy we met on the train, who's father had organised the trip for him and only told him 3 weeks before he was due to leave. He said he came close to giving up and going home on the first day. But he stuck it out and looked in quite good shape considering his lack of training.

We stayed in a nice hotel today, which did feel a little bit like cheating, but two days of bunk beds and sharing with strangers, as nice as they've been, was probably our limit.

At 17:30 we met up with Dave and Christine and American couple we met at last nights hostel. Plan was to have an early dinner however this being Spain, the earliest restaurants opened for dinner was 20:00, so had to settle for tapas and a beer.

Planned to watch MOTD tonight on my phone, using my VPN, but it doesn't start until 23:30 Spanish time. Way too late for an early rising pilgrim!

Larrasoana to Pamplona
Distance: 9.70 miles
Time: 3hrs 48min
Speed: 2.4mphRead more