Larrasoana to Pamplona

Much of the walk today was beside the rio Agra, which flows down a valley to Pamplona:

There were several churches along the way.  Most appeared deserted, as do most of the churches we have come across  This is the chapel in Larrasoana, where we started our day:

Anne painted a picture of the alcove on the back wall of the church:

This is a church in Irotz:

A church that was open is the inglesia de San Esteban in Zabaldika, run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. One of the sisters invited us into the chapel:

She also invited us to climb the bell tower and ring the bell, but only once.  Here is Carlotta Valdes in the bell tower:

When we climbed back down the bell tower, the Sister gave us a piece of paper and invited us to write our intentions on it and place it beside a crucifix with hundreds of other slips of paper.

Last night in Larrasoana, we stayed in a pensione, where we learned about a Spanish Camino tradition.  The pensione served dinner, and there were six other guests in addition to Anne and me, including two Spanish brothers and their wives.  We were all about the same age and bonded quickly, despite speaking little of each other’s language.  At dinner, one of the brothers asked me if I was retired.  I told him that I was.  He told me that he too had recently retired, as had his wife and his brother.  In fact, he said, in Spain, “Jubilado, Camino. Jubilado, Camino. Jubilado Camino.”  There are a lot of couples on the Camino that look a lot like Anne and me, and a lot of us apparently are recently retired.  

Not that our reasons for walking are all the same.  The next day we bumped into the brothers and their wives in the square in Pamplona.  It was like greeting long lost friends.  When we told them we were staying in Pamplona for two nights, one of the brothers said that they were planning on staying for two nights further down the road in Estella. He began praising the cathedral there.   At that, his wife rolled her eyes.  She pointed to her husband and made walking motions with her fingers, then drinking motions with her thumbs and open mouth.  Walk then drink, walk then drink.  We all laughed.  Estrella is famous for its fountain near the Camino that provides the pilgrims with free wine. 

It is hard to criticize him though.  The wine here is good, and cheap.

We are spending two nights at a hotel on the square in Pamplona.  Anne has been struggling with a cold and needs a couple of days of rest.  The hiking has been more physically demanding than either of us had guessed.