Pamplona and beyond stage three

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Trip Start Jun 26, 2012 Previous
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  Cizur, Navarre, Spain
Tuesday, July 10, 2012

722 Kms - slight overcast in the morning , sunshine in the afternoon.

After staying in the alberque in Roncevalles we decided to stay in the alberque in Larrasoana. We had met a French couple who had decided to push on to Pamplona and they offered their reservation for a pension in Larrasoana. We were both very tired and when we came to the pension we were not overly impressed by the fact that we were going to be sharing a bathroom with several other pilgrims. My cheap Dutch man streak came out and we turned it down and decided to try the alberque. This was a Very bad tactical error! The alberque was dirty and overcrowded, noisy and only two bathrooms to service 28 pilgrims!!!!  Sometime during the night one of the pilgrims across the aisle from us came over and shook Debbie's bunk because she was snoring!  I slept with one eye open for the rest of the night in the event he returned.  He was however, shaken awake this morning as I went to the washroom... 

We got up early due to early risers that were not too quiet. So we decided to join them and left at 6:30 with no breakfast. Debbie started out at a very fast pace and after 6.5 Kms we stopped at a small path side restaurant at Irotz. We had a great breakfast of fresh orange juice and great coffee, ham and cheese croissants and tea. Yes, Debbie is drinking tea!  We were joined by three amigos from last night, Peter, John and Jerry. We had met them at the pilgrim dinner last night but had a better chance to visit with them this morning.

Peter is from Chicago and is now working in Aba Dabi, John was born in Turkey, raised in London and is working in Lancaster, and Jerry is a dutchman from the Netherlands from Utrecht. We had some good laughs and said goodbye and continued on our way. The walk continued to follow N135 with a pace of about 5kms a hr. We arrived at Villava at 10:45.

Debbie's feet were hurting as she had developed two blisters and her calves were also hurting, so we decided to find a pension in Villava or Hurate. I made several calls but with the Festival St. Fermin in Pamplona there was no private rooms available. We decided to take a bus to Hurate to a albergue there but when we arrived we found that it was closed till August 01.  

We asked a security guard to phone for a taxi and made the decision to bypass Pamplona. Everyone we talked to who had trekked through the city were disappointed by the large crowds and tried to hurry out of the city as quickly as possible.

The taxi took us to the El Albergue de Maribel in  Cizur Menor on the other side of Pamplona. What a relief to come to a alberque that was clean and well run. We checked into our bunks which included eight others in a room. Debbie had her blisters attended to by Madeline the owner of the alberque who has attended to blisters for 25 years. 

We washed clothes and as we waited for them to dry, we sat with several other pilgims in lawn chairs, sipping beer and getting to know each other.  We then went for the pilgrims dinner across the street to a restaurant.  Our table included Irish, Scots, Americans and us and after our first bottle of wine between 3 people each, the songs started to come out. We all had to sing a song relative to our country of origin!  What a wonderful way to end the evening! 

We are planning to leave at 6:00 am tomorrow and we will see how far our feet will take us tomorrow. Good night!

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Resting with some pilgrims at Cezur Menor

The bridge into Villava

The Albergue de Maribel

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