Last night the cafe con leche I drank at Zubiri and the other one after dinner kept me awake ALL night. In addition, one of the Canadian women in the bunk next to ours was vomiting all night. It's at those times that you wonder if you might pick up some disease living in such close quarters at these refugios. [I also worry that I might fall off the top bunk and break a leg, a back or a neck] At least it felt so goood just to lie down.
The managers of the Albergue in Pamplona came around at 6 am turning on the lights and saying "Buenos Dias". All pilgrims must be out by 8am. So we started on our way at 7 am, at which time Pamplona is still a charming city.
The streets have been cleaned and everything is closed up. [That is something I haven't yet commented on: how very clean the streets were in the old parts of town, how they cleaned them with small street cleaners EVERY morning! The U.S. is a pig sty in comparison!]
We crossed the University of Navarra Campus, had another breakfast of croissants and cafe con leche, and crossed Cizur Menor into grain fields.
So far the road is good: broad and crushed limestone but it soon becomes steep and muddy and a repeat of yesterday -- except that it is not raining, only misty. There are no services in the area (no bars) and the trail is steep, narrow and mud.
It goes all the way up to the alto de Perdon where there are huge power generating windmills along the ridge and a metal sculpture of pilgrims. Fernando kept losing his shoes in the mud so we were creeping along beside the green grain fields and all the other peregrinos - there were many - kept passing us.
Then the trail down the mountain becomes extremely rocky but at least the strong wind from the west clears the sky and air of mist and the view west is clear and crisp - absolutely beautiful. From the Alto de Perdon you can see Pamplona to the east but today was very misty and so the view was not memorable.
The vegetation on the mountain included wild thyme. The road down, instead of being mud (clay), was river rocks so it was slow going again. We arrived in Uterba at about 1 pm so that means we walked 10 miles in 6 hours which works out to less than 2 miles an hour. One cannot make good time over such paths. It also didn't help that Fernando mislaid his wooden walking stick in Zubiri (he had bought it in Pamplona for about 5 euros, I think), so we were going very slowly and everyone was passing us. Fortunately we were stopping early at Uterba and not continuing on to Puente La Reina, which is the suggested destination.
That means the beds in the private albergue we chose were not full [there was only one pilgrim there at the time we arrived]. We had reserved a double room instead for 45 euros and had clean sheets, two twin beds, and our own bathroom. Such luxury! and I forgot to take a photo of it!
We took a walk around the village of Uterba and the buildings looked historic and the countryside was a lovely green. But there were no other stores, restaurants or shops in the town besides the albergue so we went back and took a nap, had a snack, and waited around for dinner. We also washed the mud off our pant legs and washed our shirts and underwear. Afterall we only brought two sets of underwear, pants, and shirts. Fortunately Papi was able to buy a walking stick at the albergue to help him over the mud and streams.
The Albergue had a menu del dia for 12 euros. I had menestra de verduras again, which was better than the one in Pamplona but still needs some tweaking (or else less cooking because the concept is good).
One thing I forgot to mention is that when there was vinegar and oil on the table for making your own vinaigrette for your ensalada mixta, the oil was always extra virgin olive oil with a wonderful flavor. Spain is the largest producer of olive oil so I suppose it is to be expected.
Fernando had paella (his favorite) as the principio and liked it very much: it was fresh and hot. For the entrada I had stewed veal and Fernando had lamb shank. For dessert we both had Torta de Santiago which was VERY good and made with marzipan.
Then we hit the hay since it felt so good to sleep in a normal bed of one's own!
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