Today’s Data:
The Song in My Head: Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
Word of the Day: Tapas
Today’s (Random) Craving: Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Total Steps: 38,727 steps
Total Walking Distance: 17.6 miles / 28.3 kilometers
⏰ Wake Up: 7:46am
💤 Sleep: 11:30pm
Scooby-Dooby-Doo!
I woke up at 7:46am this morning. I expected there to be music waking me up so I set no alarm. Turns out I was wrong.
Check out is at 8am. I was one of the last two people in the albergue. Still chill though, I packed up and was out of the place in record time.
Got on the road at 8:15am. Today we walk to Pamplona, Spain. Clouds were already clearing up. I was walking solo, because clearly, everyone else had already left.
But no better vibe than walking alone. I passed many rivers, open hay fields, and even another group of Spanish Civil Guards that were handing out stickers this time.
I was stepping to my own pace, which was surprisingly fast because I passed literally everybody during today’s trek.
I made it to Pamplona at 11:43am. That is 13 miles in 3.5 hours.
Who let me walk that fast
Sadly there were no running of the bulls today but I have heard word that we might see some in a couple days.
Anyways. I was presented with the holy grail when I walked into town. The love of my life.
The fruteria.
You best believe I raided this place. I got 4 bananas (potassium, great for muscle cramps), 4 tomatoes, 3 kiwis, 3 oranges, zucchini, and a plum.
All for 10 euros.
And the guy working the register was so nice he even let me grab more fruit on my way out.
I raided that place like I was back at the ucsb food bank.
I continued my way towards the albergue and met up with Max and Jeremy, a guy from Denmark that was ending his Camino in Pamplona.
He walked with me to the Jesus y Maria albergue while Max walked to another one. I checked in. We got complimentary sheets at this place. This is a luxury. We normally put thin hair-net-like covers over our mattress and our pillow but apparently today they were feeling generous.
And laundry was free!
I set up my bed, stretched in the backyard, showered, and did laundry. I shocked multiple people in the laundry room by showing them that detergent sheets exist. They were dumbfounded. I then sat outside and ate a kiwi and orange while I waited for my clothes to dry.
I then met two fellow Americans, Ellie and Abby, who are from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Ludwig and I went with them to the cathedral and walked around. Then we started walking to get food, but I made a pit stop at the knife store to get a knife to cut my food and fruit.
I spent 15 euros on a gorgeous knife. I hope I can take it home with me, but I don’t think it will make it through security.
(forgot to take a picture, I’ll show it in action tomorrow (cutting fruit obviously. What else would I be doing with it))
We then met up with all of our friends, made it to a restaurant, which we then realized had 3.3 stars and a pretty bad reputation, so we got a beer and moved on.
We then found ourselves at Café Iruña where we got pintxos and beer.
We then cruised over to Bar Gaucho, a classic in Pamplona. Ellie and I ordered octopus pintxos and it was the best food I have had in the past week.
We then ran into Alfonso and Jessica having a beer there, and then we all went home.
Today’s walk was very easy. But it was so nice being in a big town where we could eat good food and all hang out as pilgrims. Knee feels much better, hips feel fine, and no blisters.
Tomorrow we walk to Puenta la Reina, 24.0km. Hopefully I wake up early because I heard it’s gonna be a hot day and I’d love to beat the heat.
See y’all then,
David