End of the trail

I had originally planned to stop walking at Pamplona, and then go help a lady who runs a refugio near Leon. But she says she has help, so I am continuing to walk.

 Once I got out of Pamplona it was rolling fields, with windmills on the ridge. 

I walked 11 km from Pamplona to the small village of Zariquiegui. I had intended to go further, to Uterga, but one refuge there was closed, and the phone number for the other was bad;! it seemed prudent to go with the bird in hand, rathet than risk arriving in town with no place to stay. 

I had a nice dinner with an international group, including Holland, Korea, and Virginia.  

On Sunday I stuck around for the 11:30 am mass, so I got a late start, in the heat. I took a photo at the Alto de Perdon. My left knee hurt a bit on the way down. I had lunch in a village on the Camino Frances, and then detoured to the famous octagonal church of Eunate.  Some believe that it was a church of the Knights Templar. I walked a short bit on the Camino Aragonese, which meets the Frances in Obanos. 

Eunate

Puente la Reina is a large village. I am in a large private refugio, with a third floor deck for socializing. The crowd is pretty young. 

My research shows that I can get a bus from Estella/Lizard to Vitoria, which is near where my friend Blanca lives. This should work well. 

The bad news is that the forecast for later in the week is for 35C, or 95F!  It cools down at night, like Colorado, but it sounds insane to hike in that heat. It makes me think of hotels with air conditioning, or to start hiking at 4 am. :-(

After a hot afternoon walk on Sunday, I got a very early start on Monday, before 7 AM. I arrived in Villatuerta around 11, had a beer, sold a copper scallop shell medallion to a pilgrim who admired it, and then walked to my albergue, La Casa Magica. It is nice, no bunk beds, your choice of sun or shade outside, a fountain running. A bit more money, but worth it. Dinner was with a Frenchman and a South African, with me translating. 

Note that the cold drink machine in the refugio has beer, with coke the same price. 

Tuesday morning I walked to Estella and caught the bus to Vitoria.  My total distance walked was about 200 km, or 125 miles.