A lovely evening in the albergue on the outsk irts of Pamplona at the end of my 2nd day, a great mix of nationalities and all with the true peregrino spirit. A very peaceful night and that rarity on the camino, no 5.30 am early risers the following morning. So day 3 saw me leave Trinidad de Arre about 8.30 am and on a cool, drizzly morning make my way through Pamplona.
it By the time I reached the far side of Pamplona at Cizur Menor, the rain had ceased for the day, I was able to put away my rain jacket and stow my back pack cover. 10 kilometers covered so into a cafe in Cizur Menor for a nice breakfast cafe con leche y tostado and then the long steady climb up the Alto del Perdon . A chilling breeze meant that after the near obligatory photos of the wrought iron representations of medieval pilgrims, I quickly made my way down the rocky descent and soon found myself in the small village of Uterga where I bravely managed to get myself outside another cafe con leche y tostado. Alas because of my slightly late start, I had to forego my intended detour to visit the 12th century church at Eunate as this would have added 3 kilometers to my travels and I still had some distance to go. Onwards through a lovely stretch of country lane walking and through the small villages of Muruzabal and Obanos before reaching the small town of Puente la Reina with it’s very attractive narrow streets and 6 arched mmedieval bridge. I was now just under 8 kms from my intended overnight albergue but before I got there there was a slight kick in the teeth with an unexpectedly severe climb just before Maneru but once crested I was left with 3 kms to go to Cirauqui and Albergue Maralotx. Cirauqui is a lovely hilltop village but alas the last part of climb through the village bore an unwanted resemblance to St. Patrick’s Hill in Cork City. The village square just in front of the albergue was playing host to a festival with the last act due to come on stage at 4 a.m. Sunday morning so a good nights sleep was looking a little uncertain. Although the last peregrino to arrive for the day, I soon myself in a pleasant, roomy dormitory and after a shower and wash of the clothes I’d worn that day, I was finished just in time to join in the dinner prepared by the owners of the albergue and even at this early stage I doubt very much if I’ll have much nicer meals for €10 on the camino: spinach soup to start, spaghetti Bolognese for mains and a lovely custard based dessert and as much of any course as you wanted and a nice red wine which flowed freely. After dinner myself and 2 Dutch peregrino s strolled down to listen to the music for a while and then headed into the local Sport’s club bar for a coffee and to watch part of the Champion’s League final.Back to the albergue and the pleasant discovery that the windows were more than up to the job of preventing the music from the festival from disturbing our trip to the land of Nod.All in all, a very pleasant evening at the end of 36.1 kilometers of good mixed camino terrain.
supersullivan and the Camino 