Day 4: Pamplona to Puente La Reina (James)

Day 4
16 miles
Total: 


  Every so often we pass a trailside marker with the familiar yellow scallop shell, a nice reminder that you are indeed still on the right path.  What is strange is these markers are often adorned with hundreds of rocks.  Turns out there is a tradition amongst pilgrims of carrying small, handheld rocks, sometimes carried from home or even picked up along the trail.  The idea is to concentrate your negativity, your doubts, your fears, or whatever you want to rid yourself of, into the rock you are carrying.  When you are satisfied, you deposit the rock, usually at one of the aforementioned markers; a symbolic letting go.  I like the idea and I find it humbling to come across a marker with literally hundreds of rocks piled on it's top and around the base, each representing an individual pain or worry or hope or dream.  It makes me think of all the other pilgrims around me; the women from California, Mathilda from Denmark, the Spaniards, Elise from Italy, the guys from Belgium, and the New Jersey teacher group.  We haven't officially met them, but I also think of The PoleDraggers, a group of three women who Bree and I named after their horrible habit of dragging their walking poles in the gravel, creating perhaps the most annoying sound I have heard on this trip.  And I have slept through four snoring hostels so I feel as though I speak with some authority on this.  Each one of these pilgrims have their own unique story.  I look forward to meeting more of them and I look forward to the days where conversations drift away from blister care, pack weight and daily mileage into something more.  Maybe I will find out why some of these people are walking around with rocks in their hands.

Our morning was guided by the street lamps of Pamplona.  The narrow streets were empty save a long line of groggy pilgrims setting out for the day.  It was pretty obvious from the first few steps that Auna was going to need some special care for her blisters.  They aren't bad, but blisters can change the way you walk and even a subtle change can lead to some real injuries.  We used a combination of blister pads and athletic tape and it held up through the hills.  hopefully just a few more days of that and her feet will have adapted.

Even from Pamplona we could see the high ridge dotted with wind turbines.  We would have to climb up and over that ridge to get to our destination for the day, Puenta la Reina.  There was little shade on the way up, but temperatures remained mild, as opposed to the last two days, and we made it to the top without much effort.  The ridge was in fact quite windy.  Go figure, they put a bunch of wind turbines up there, but the surprise was the pilgrim statue at the top.  I looked at several photo albums online prior to the trip and this artistic piece was in every single one.  It felt great to be standing before it and I must say the views in every direction were spectacular.  

It was too windy to spend too much time at the crest of the ridge so we made our way down the steep, loose rock path, stopping instead in the small towns and their drinking fonts along the way.  Our path began to give way to farmland, wheat fields, and vineyards before reaching Puente la Reina.  Our stop was the albergue run by the Padres Reparadores.  At only 4 Euro, it was our cheapest place yet, and they offered foot massages! 

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent resting.  50 plus miles of walking has all of our feet pretty sore and the best cure is to simply stay off them.  One trip to the supermercado after siesta ( usually between 2 and 5pm) provided enough options for us to prepare food for dinner and lunch for tomorrow.  

I am hoping our bodies will continue to adapt to the stresses we have put on them every day.  It usually takes a week or so and on every one of my prior trips, day 3 and 4 have always been the worse.  Thank you all for reading and the kind words of encouragement!  Tomorrow, we go to Estella!