4th day, leaving Pamplona

4th day
We left pamplona early today , dawn here comes later, around seven, so it pre-dawn. leaving the city we walked thru the campus of the university of Navarra. We meandered thru the city and when we reached the outskirts we could see in the distance, mountains with windmills on the ridge line. I knew we would be walking past those today.
then we walked onto a range of hills leading up to a very steep hill /mountain called the Hill of Forgiveness, Alto del Perdon at 2,590 feet. As we look back I can’t believe Pamplona is so small in the distance. We had already walked so far today. We are Definitely stronger today, but the back side of this hill was horrible, all boulders and loose stone, it took us a longer going down then up. We needed to watch here we put every step.
After we finally reached more stable ground we then walked through 2 more smaller villages. We sent my bag ahead again, and I wore the dreaded gym bag, which I hate. It only as a shoulder strap, which means I can give the other shoulder a rest, but I look like an imbecile. Al used 2 bungee cords so it wouldn’t constantly flop around, which I try to cover with my scarf, but still, it’s truly horrible.
After 21 km we got to Obanos and picked up my back pack, and it was still early, so we kept walking because the next town was bigger and we needed to make up time. We ended up walking 25km today.
The first 2 albergues w stopped at were already full, and we are still early, only 3pm. I can’t believe how many people are walking right now, we had to walk to the edge of town to find a place, but it was nice. We had to walk across the Queens bridge then only 300 meters, all up.We actually got a private room with just 2 bunk beds, ohh la la! The bad part was the incline to get to the place. It is built on a bluff and it was truly straight up. The queens bridge has 6 arches that span he Arga. Really impressive to think they built this so long ago. The roads are like that also, made of brick or cobbled stone rubbed smooth by countless footsteps.
Anyway, we stayed put and ate dinner there, I just couldn’t bear the thought of that incline to get back to our beds. Lights out t 10pm, more later.
Until then, be well.