Camino Pilgrim

I’m proud of my morning routine today. It took me only 50 minutes this time to eat, clean up and pack all my gear. The routine is slowly setting in. I won ten minutes of hiking time for free.

It was about forty minutes before sunrise when I was already on the trail. The aim was to have a long day while having enough time after lunch to get my work done as well. I am carrying my work laptop with me after all.

The mourning route went along the mountainside where I met a wild boar just a few meters away. Luckily there was a fence in-between, but for fifty meters we kept walking together in the moonlight. It was a bizarre moment hooking into the eye of a wild animal at night. It is definitely something to remember.

The road through the forest went past a few tiny villages where they served breakfast just for pilgrims. Just halfway between where I started and the city of Pamplona there was an old monastery with an amazing view (as seen in the picture). It really packs together the whole day with constant clouds and mushroom rain.

Afterwards, the trail opened up wide and the ground became sandy for the first time. I decided to run for a while and was able to run around three kilometers. Then asphalt and concrete covered the track. I’m definitely going to do some more runs on the trail. Especially when the weather forecast promises killer hot sun, then I will run before sunrise to cover more distance at a faster pace.

That was the start of entering Pamplona. Even without the suburbs, the land area is close to my hometown of Tartu, with twice the population. Pamplona itself is an amazing small city. Definitely worth a full day’s visit when in Spain.

The main sight to see is the bullfighting arena. Sadly, today there were no events happening, so entering was not possible. Still, there was this amazing and creepy statue nearby of a horde of bulls trampling on men and women. That sight really raised the hair on my arms. Its called “Monumento al Encierro”. I also uploaded a picture of it on Instagram if you want to check it out from my point of view. The center of Pamplona has medieval fortifications that are a sight to see for history fans. The city used to be the capitol of the kingdom of Navarre and it’s said that it’s the gateway for conquering Spain by land.

After Pamplona, the road got pretty dull, but thankfully I saw Matt Eppers from the States while trying to do some landscape selfies in the middle of a field. We just pushed through the boring parts together. Matt is a former baseball player and now a Midwest boy from Indiana walking the Camino and exploring life. Because why not?

The last few kilometers through endless fields uphill already got pretty tough. Especially since I had spent 1,5 hours inside Pamplona taking pictures and seeing the sights. Walking inside the city is pretty tough on feet.

Anywho, Albergue San Andres in the village of Zariquiegui has been by far the coziest place our group has stayed at.

In the group we have Jasmine, also from the States, who is a very practical person trying to have something as random as the Camino under her control. She is also a badass business to business lawyer, so watch out. Together we came up with a plan for the next nine days where the rest of the group is staying every night. Hopefully, things go well, because the group is getting more and more cozy.

Its really interesting how a group of random strangers from different cultures, beliefs and political views can stick so well together as long as they have a common goal. The road has mesmerized us into being a big happy family for a limited amount of time.

Tomorrow will be the first day when I have no expectations. I am willing to take whatever the journey brings. Still, the control freak in me checked the weather. Today it was seven degrees warmer in Tallinn than on the Camino…. Summer, where are you?