March 26, 2017
Before we began our trek, we stopped to get breakfast. I would soon discover my favorite way to start the day: a tortilla made of eggs, potatoes, cheese and ham as well as a cafe con leche.
(My favorite breakfast!)
The hike was marvelous. I had the pleasure of hiking all day with this guy Michel from Germany. He lives on the border of Switzerland, aka sees the Alps alllll the time. He is a wonderful hiking buddy– he listens to me ramble all the while making me laugh and keeping me distracted from any pain.
(SO MUCH GREEN!)
The hard part about this hike was that it was on a lot of sidewalks, very hard sidewalks. Towards the end my resting bitch face was on full effect. I was so ready to get to the albergue.
(At a town called Villava we stopped at a church to get a stamp for our Pilgrim Passport and put pins on the map, can barely see it in the photo though)
We made it to town around 2pm and showered before exploring the city. Turns out Michel is a photographer and managed to snap a wonderful photo of me “jumping” (see below for the pitiful jump I did, but still resulted in a beautiful photo!)
We ate some wonderful Pintxos at a place called “Bar Gaucho” for lunch and then returned again for dinner. But before returning for dinner we (myself, Michel, Stephanie from Miami and Hannah from Sweden) found a beautiful place to sit to talk. We ended up talking for 2 hours. Mostly about relationships, poor Michel was so patient while we had our “girl talk!” We managed to snap a group photo.
That night I slept like a ROCK, literally don’t think I moved an inch because when I woke up the next morning my body was SO stiff. I had to commit the cardinal sin of showering in the morning (can cause your feet to swell and can lead to more blisters.)
Pamplona was wonderful but I was ready to get out of the city and see more of the beautiful countryside of the Navarra region of Spain!
-Ashley
El Camino Chronicles 