Pamplona. Yes, I Said Pamplona

The day starts a little later today as we have a much easier itinerary planned. Roughly 14, mostly downhill, miles ahead lies the small village of Urdaniz, where we have 3 beds booked in a 4 bed dorm (it isn’t the busy season here yet so I don’t think we’ll get assigned a rando for the last bad but, who knows?). The weather looks clear so it should be smooth sailing ahead.

Pilgrim’s are far more talkative when they aren’t fighting for breath while slogging up mountains and we meet some interesting people along the way. Far more Americans that I would have expected to be honest, given how much less vacation time we get compared most Europeans. Because it does take so much time, it seems folks on the trail are either quite young – students generally, taking advantage of the transition from to school for one last, grand adventure, or older, often well into their 60s and 70s. It is actually a bit humbling to see how quickly the gray haired stream by whenever we step off the trail for a snack.

The scenery is quite nice coming out of the mountains, with the trees slowly giving way to rolling hills checkered with farms. We are making good time and, at some point, the conversation turns to bypassing Urdaniz and powering straight through to Pamplona, an additional 14 miles ahead. The boys find having extra time there more appealing than bunking up for the night halfway and, for once, I can’t be blamed for what is probably a really bad decision.

By the time we finally stumble up the stairs to the apartment we have rented, 10 hours, 27.8 miles, and 60,000 steps have passed. The tank is completely empty. As upside, we have an entire day now to spend exploring Pamplona, although only time will tell if any of us are able to even get out of bed tomorrow.