Camino de Santiago, Day 4—From Pamplona to Puente la Reina

This morning I felt very well-rested and ready to go. Spending yesterday’s afternoon and evening out in Pamplona was like an energy boost for me.

During the past few days, I realized that the Camino can be lonely without civilization or vibrant cities every night. I know, I know—still like 700 km to go, what am I talking about, I don’t know anything yet…

When I started I thought I will do this solo, but… walking alone happens to be lonely—for me. This time was enough to realize that I need company. Motivation pep talks here and there before the fucking uphills, a bit of whining if you feel like or just random bullshit needs to be heard.

Without Cindy and the guys, I would give up already

You don’t have to talk all the time; walk next to each other like a herd. We agreed if anybody wants to go faster or with music in ears or whatever just do it, and we will meet at the next rest stop. Luckily though, we clicked well, we have more or less the same speed and all, so we stuck together like 80 percent of the time.

So it’s just good to know that someone is there I think. Maybe I’m just not at that mental stage where I have to be with my own thoughts only and constantly… Maybe my life is not even as bad as I thought it is—lol Princess, your diamond shoes are too tight?

Aaanyways, I heard rumors about today and Alto de Perdón—spoiler alert: with its 766 m height.

The day started easy, but we knew we shouldn’t be too excited 'cause soon it’s about to change big time, after Cizur Menor. We were catwalking through beautiful sceneries, everything was super green, blue sky, and full of flowers and wow…

… And because of the wind, all this around you looked like this:

… And then all of a sudden we started to feel that uphill coming

As we headed higher the wind became very hardcore; it was pushing you back, literally—which kinda made everything 10 times harder. Slowed us down completely, and it was really cold. Every now and then we had to stop to catch our breath, but then we got our reward…

The Donativos [Donations in Spanish]

Another version of stops on the Camino. This was the first time we came across a thing like this, and needless to say, they chose the perfect spot for this place—you are just about to die, but you can already see the top with the wind farm. God bless whoever sets up these donativos, seriously. And I really hope that people are not just taking stuff, they are leaving donations too… That keeps them going, come on. And hell yeah, a banana gave me the sugar kick I needed, and thank fuck, finally I could clean my nose with proper tissues.

It’s super random what you can find at stops like these, but everything is useful on a Camino—water and some fruit always comes handy.

I heard a shocking story from a girl I met later on, in Leon I think… She said that she stopped at one of these donativos and the guy who was setting it up was still nearby. Anyway, she took like whatever… a pear and water or something and left a hand full of € coins in the little donation basket. The “owner” started to shout at/after her, stuff like "how dare," and "what the fuck she is leaving all this change here" and blabla. She said he literally made her cry right there with that rude attitude. Especially, cuz with a handful of coins she left like 5-7€ for a pear, which was couple cents for the guy—or it was growing in his garden. And a bottle of water, which you can buy at any stops for 1€ or in supermarkets for cents.

As we reached the top, suddenly it wasn’t even that bad anymore. That’s also a thing with me here… I feel like I’m dying like three times a day, and then as soon as I arrive at the albergue [hostel in Spanish] or finish a harder part, everything becomes great again—minus those goddamned blisters, cause they just have no time to heal or… I still don’t know what and why. The compeed plaster is still on it—so many days now, eeew. But people said it has to fall off by itself and it can take many days. The pressure I have in my shoe at every step is awful. Maybe I’m getting used to it though, cause it’s not killing me today that much (wait for it), and I guess everybody has some sort of pain.

Alto del Perdon

The view from the top is amazing. You can see Pamplona, and also the path for tomorrow. It was breathtaking, we were sitting here for a good hour and a half, and just chill and progress.

We heard a lot about today’s uphill, but those people forgot to mention the downhill that comes afterward. I prefer downhill, but I have to admit it was tricky. We got the uphill part nicely spread out in 10 km, on your way down you just… basically, fall down in less than 3 km—with nearly 400 m hight difference.

Full video credits to my Camino Friend, Clemens—go check out his Instagram for more

I think it sums up what you can expect for a good hour. And then it becomes a nice and easy path again.

We finally reached Uterga, and decided that it’s about time to take our lunch break and have some proper food—gotta love them bocadillos, but there I felt like I could just kill for a decent warm meal. We stopped at Albergue Del Perdon—delicious food, really nice place, but we decided to carry on since it was still only around 4 PM in the afternoon.

After the good food, I was all ready for a nap, so when the guys said it’s time to move our ass and carry on I was disappointed—big time. But finally, we learned the lesson and booked the accommodations. So we knew that we can take our time, cause a bed is waiting for us in Puente la Reina. By the way, if you book through phone or email—if they answer—then normally keep the bed till like 2 or 4 in the afternoon, if you are late then… tough life. But if you book it through booking.com or hotels.com you can arrive later, it’s still there. We used the online option, cause most of the albergues and hostels are listed on one of these sites. Plus, like this, there’s no stress like what we had on the first days… And there’s no rush, you can actually enjoy your Camino.

After Obanos, for the last two km we ended up in the middle of nowhere again, and that’s when it started to hit me—like yeah… it was kinda enough already for today.

Thank fuck, our albergue was sitting at the end of this path. Clemens and Ryan had to carry on a bit more cause they were staying at a different one. Hopefully, we're gonna run into them tomorrow too…

But first things first: It’s time for a shower and to finish today in a proper way…

See you tomorrow,

Buen Camino

Noemi

PS: If you enjoyed this post, let me know by hitting the ★Tip button, and please share the love on your socials!

Aaand if you want to hang out with me between uploads then find me on Instagram and on Facebook for daily and more personal updates!