Pamplona to Puente la Reina

Today's goal was simple: go up a big hill and come back down. With determination gripped in our sweaty little fists, we set off out of Pamplona.

While my pack happened to be 600g heavier, those 600g happened to be several bags of salted cashews and spanish lollies - weight I'm more than happy to bear.

The highlight of today's leg came early on in our journey, and involved me (humble little me) getting to be The Hero. You can imagine my reluctance to explain the details of the tale, sigh, yet, in the spirit of travel documentation I suppose I must. We had been plodding along and a singular black sandal was laying on the footpath, which caught my eye. "That positively stinks of pilgrim" - thought I, and I recalled (in my vast memory stores) seeing a woman wearing these exact sandals some days ago. As such, I scooped it up, vowing to carry it 20km ahead in hopes of reuniting it with its owner.

Imagine our surprise when, just a few kilometres down the trail, we came across a group stopped in discussion about a lost item. Two girls were getting directions from two boys, saying something about an area further back along the way they'd come. We paused, and I waited until the ideal dramatic moment to innocently ask "what are you looking for?" One of the girls (quite miserably) tells me, "a single black sandal". I allow a beat to pass, and proclaim, "I picked it up" - turning to display said sandal clipped to the outside of my pack. Delighted chaos ensues. Gratitude professed, hugs shared, names exchanged, I only narrowly avoided being hoisted onto someone's shoulders and paraded through the streets (I can only presume).

It was deemed a "Camino Miracle" all around, and all parties continued on with a grin.

The rest of the day was not quite as joyful; alternating between steep climbs on chunky gravel, and steep descents on (surprise) chunky gravel. The halfway point, and summit, was a happy milestone of the Camino however, as it featured the Alto del Perdón Monument, a famous metal sculpture depicting the pilgrim's journey. In honour of this, we, of course, took some silly photos.

Following this, we slowly made our way down the hill, roasting in the Spanish sun by this point, making a wonderful pitstop for an icy Coca-Cola. Eventually, we made it to Puente la Reina, where we raced ourselves into the two available showers, and committed solemnly to some much needed Horizontal Time before having an early night.

This was also the time in which our plans took a bit of a turn...but that's all we have time for folks, tune in next time to see what unfolds!!

- Branna

I also asked Branna, mid-trail, if she thought it was nice that we are like grasshoppers in making our loudest sounds by clapping (rather than rubbing) our arms together and she said it was one of my all time shit takes and that yelling was definitely louder. Maybe normally, but jokes on you, my throat don't work!

- LexRead more