All posts tagged: Solotraveller

Day 2 – Puente la Reina to Estella

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I leave Puente la Reina for this hike of 22 km, under lightning and thunder. The rain continues to pour down for most of the day, causing the roads and paths to quickly turn into rivers and small lakes. At first I walk on the edges as much as I can to avoid the water. I need to keep my feet as dry as possible, to avoid getting blisters. But as the day progresses and the rain continues, I give up. Nevertheless, I appreciate today’s stage. The landscape is beautiful and the forces of the weather do not make it any less so. Approaching the medieval hilltop village of Cirauqui. I didn’t run into many pilgrims today except Leonardo from Italy, who I bumped into now and then, whose cheerful yellow rucksack cover was the only reminder of the absent sun. Waterfalls in the steep alleyways of Cirauqui! Today’s outfit. The sun hat I bought also turned out to be a perfect rain hat, as it held the hood of the rain poncho in place …

Day 1 – Pamplona to Puente la Reina

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I’m exited to start my camino. This first leg is between Pamplona and Puente la Reina, a distance of 24 km, and I leave the hostel at 6:30. It turns out to be a beautiful day with sunshine, and I’m enjoying myself. Before I even leave Pamplona, ​​I meet Ricardo from Mexico. I notice him because he is walking very slowly. We team up and eventually find our way out of town. He is also starting from Pamplona and will go all the way to Santiago de Compostela. We share stories and have a good time before I tell him to feel free to move on, as I suspect he really is a fast walker, because he’s just described a religious ceremony in Mexico in honour of St. John involving two days of straight walking 90 km on asphalt, which he has done not once but twice. In the distance we spot the mountain we’ll have to cross to get to Puente la Reina. On the way at last and feeling very happy! On the …

Pamplona to Burgos – My Camino Frances 2024

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This year I wanted to experience another section of the Camino Frances, and inspired by last year’s cathedral-to-cathedral theme, I chose Pamplona as the starting point and Burgos as the end point. I arrived from Bilbao completely exhausted, because I spent the night in a hostel there to get a fresh start the next day, or at least that was the idea. It turned out to be a bad decision. Hostels in big cities with no connection to the camino, where everyone is a pilgrim with the same frame of reference, this hostel was full of young people who were partying right through the night and I didn’t sleep a wink. The Camino spirit begins already at the bus station in Bilbao when I met Hanna, a very nice woman from Sweden, who is also on her way to Pamplona and the hours on the bus fly by as we have so much to talk about. She starts her camino right from the moment we get off the bus, while I make my way to …

Day 12 Santiago de Compostela

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My ‘John the Scot’ would have been proud of me. I’m up by 4 AM and rearing to go at 5 AM sharp. When I descend the stairs, I find that the lovely Spanish family are all packed and ready too! We head out and it’s pitch-black outside. Never has a purchase felt so good as my new headlamp does now. Outside it’s eerily devoid of other people, even as we pass O Pedrouzo, and we walk for quite some time before daylight breaks and we begin to see anything at all. The darkness doesn’t bother me, but the teenagers Paula and Maria keep close, especially when a dog jumps up and start barking at us, seemingly coming from nowhere. Luckily there is a sturdy fence between us. We walk all the way past the airport before we come to the first café that’s open, Porta de Santiago. I am grateful to have a much-needed breakfast here, having walked non stop for 13 km, which is halfway to Santiago de Compostela. Here I meet some …