Final day of the "Push Start Camino"

My Camino this year is a little different. The first four days are what I'm calling a "push start" Camino - I'm accompanying 4 "newbies" on the Camino Francés, and today's walk from Zubiri to Pamplona was our final day together.

I've tried to pass on as much "Camino wisdom" as I can, but the best way to learn anything is by doing, and I am confident that my fledgling pilgrims will do fine, albeit probably with some challenges and surprises along the way.

We finally had a clear sunny day which was tempered by a cool breeze which kept the weather very comfortable for walking. There were a few spots with mud and puddles, but nothing like yesterday. Still, it was challenging with sore bodies after 3 consecutive days of walking.

Most of the walk was on a tree shaded trail alongside the Rio Agra which was very high and really rushing by.

There weren't any difficult climbs, but some of the descents were tricky. In fact, there was a German woman who apparently had some kind of accident and the Bomberos (Spanish rescue/ EMTs) were on the trail.

We did avoid one hard climb with no shade by taking a slightly longer walk in the shade along the river into Pamplona.

With our different walking paces it took longer than I'm used to to reach Pamplona, and I think that we were all pretty exhausted. We split up for a while in the afternoon while I met up with a fellow Camino forum member and her husband who I had been corresponding with. They actually have a Camino love story - they met while walking from Le Puy in France 9 years ago - she from Australia and he from France.Read more