Pamplona to Puente la Reina

After an 8:00am stop for coffee and pain au chocolat at a tiny but busy bakery near our albergue we started the day’s walk through Pamplona city and the beautiful park-like grounds of the University of Navarra.

The route was bisected by the Sierra del Perdón on top of which is a string of wind turbines clearly visible from Pamplona. The climb up was fairly well graded and beautifully scenic, looking out over fallow fields back to Pamplona.

We stopped a bit short of the top in the village of Zariquiegui for a bocadillo and a cold drink outside a beautiful old church. Then on to the summit.

It was very windy up there so we didn’t linger for long. The descent was bloody awful. We dropped 200 meters over a very steep 1.5km long track of loose shifting rocks.

Kevin paused to stop an incipient blister. From there it was a fairly long hot plod to Puente la Reina.

Total for the day was about 24km.

Good 3 course pilgrims’ dinner at our Albergue Apóstol.Read more