Day 4: Pamplona to Cirauqui 32km, 450m ascent.

Today was the longest walk of the trip, so I had to start early. I got woken up in the hostel around 530 am by some South Koreans also getting an early start, so decided to get out a little before my alarm. The weather is hotting up in Spain, with the afternoon getting up to around 36C today. Morning is much cooler so it pays to get as much hiking done before midday as possible. I walk through the almost deserted streets of Pamplona, passing few on my way. After 45 minutes, I’m near the edge of the city.

A while later, one of our group approaches me from behind, they left later than me, so they must have had a good pace on. I’ve barely walked an hour alone this morning. It seems impossible to walk much of the Camino alone. We arrive in a town where another of our group is staying, and find him waiting for us at the local shop with our French friend. Unfortunately, the Frenchman has a pretty serious big toenail problem, so can’t walk too fast. I chat with him for a bit, and end up walking ahead.

We pass the famous Camino sculptures about 3 hours into our walk, and before we know it, we’ve arrived in Puente la Reina, around 1130. I know there is a festival on, but there’s actually some bull teasing going on when we arrive. The streets are shut off and young men are running away from two small bulls running up the street. The jump onto barriers if they get too close, taunting and teasing them to attack. I’m not sure I get it, but it seems like a rite of passage. It finishes shortly after and the street opens up. Shops and bars have metal grills on the front of them to stop the bulls running into the bar. We see a lady exiting through some bars after a morning drink.

We still have 7 km to go, and it’s getting hotter. The walk to Cirauqui is tough. The heat is kicking in, and makes the off road route we decided to take quite a challenge. There’s a cooling fountain under shade 2 km before our destination, we wallow like hippos cooking on the savannah. Finally, our destination arrives in the distance, a beautiful hilltop village surrounded by sunflower fields. Cont’d.