Here’s a little lesson - when a European tells you it is an easy flat walk they are lying! Ok maybe not lying but their definition of flat is not the same as our Midwest definition of flat. The walk from Zubiri to Pamplona is about 13 miles and has an elevation gain of 1496 feet and loss of 1771 feet. Lots of rolling hills but over all a nice walk. According to all the Camino apps there are 5 towns along the way so we figured we would head out and stop for breakfast at the first town. Would have been a great idea if anything in the town was open! So we trekked on and I was getting crankier because I didn’t have my morning coffee. We get to the next town, which was smaller than the last and same thing…not a soul in sight. We continued on and the path went into a pretty forest and I was starting to panic bc I was feeling exhausted and like I wouldn’t be able to make it much longer. As we walked up a hill we saw a white van had just parked and there was a small white poodle in the front. This, of course, made me want to walk faster to see if I could say hi and then the most amazing thing happened. The woman who drove the van, opened the van door and SIX dogs came spilling out. I thought I was hallucinating! Then the nice woman handed me this little peanut who leapt into my arms

We walked about half a mile with these little furry angels. It turns the woman with the van is a dog walker/ trainer. I am 100 % certain that Mom sent these angels my way to reassure me that I could keep going. Not to mention that there was also a lovely man setup with a little coffee and biscuit stand out of his van.

We got to the next town and were able to get a taxi for me into Pamplona. Rich came with me and we navigated our way to our apartment where we are taking a rest day. It is lovely (except up 3 flights of stairs) and it is on the street where they do the running of the bulls in July. I am not a fan of the whole bullfighting thing so I feel a little guilty about that but it is nice to be right in the middle of the old part of town.

Random story from this morning: I watched a man eat an apple in the most inefficient way possible. He took a regular knife and fork and proceeded to peel the apple with the knife, which seemed rather dull. He then went on to eat the apple with the fork and knife the way you would eat a piece of meat. There was lots of clanging as the apple kept slipping out from under his utensils.

Olga’s sister Marta has joined us in Pamplona, which is a special treat! She will be with us for a week 😁

Some pictures from today: