Remy’s 2023 Travel Notebook

I woke up around 5:30 today when the first person got up. It’s nice you don’t really need alarms blaring in your ears while on the Camino. Many of the people I mentioned yesterday are ending their Camino in pamplona. I start my day with Isabelle and we get some pastures and coffee in the city before walking. At 7:00, we leave Pamplona going towards Puente de la Reina. That is the most common stop after Pamplona. However, today they have a festival and we are unsure whether we want to be there and be woken up by stumbling party-goers in early morning hours. We decided we will likely walk the 5km past Puente to Mañeru. That last 5km was after lunch, uphill, and in the blaring basque sun. We also passed a famous Camino landmark in the windy hills above Pamplona.

At a small town on the way to Puente we stopped to have a break. We sat down at a water fountain and I decided I would put my feet in. A few other pilgrims were there. Just a couple hours prior I had been thinking that I hadn’t met any Americans on the trail yet. At the fountain I talked to a man from Stockton CA and another from Cape Town. I played ukelele while we soaked our feet and talked for a while.

The stay in Mañeru was quiet and people were sparse. It was a 30km day and the blisters are starting. I went to a bar with a couple other pilgrims and we had some wine before doing laundry and getting dinner. The lady behind the counter was quite upset when a friend tried speaking English to her. “Vino blanco” and “vino tinto” and two good things to know! There was a guitar in the entrance of the albergue and to my surprise it didn’t need tuning and was ready to play. I dusted it off and put some sound into the air.