The 3rd day of the Camino started very slowly. I took my time.
Breakfast around 7am, a help yourself affair as no hospitalero was in sight.
Lesson learnt here. Ask for a stamp in your credential as you check in. I didn't and now there is nobody around. Not that the stamp matters apart from curiosity value.
Of the 6 pilgrims sleeping in my room overnight, 3 were elderly Dutch women and all 3 were snoring, one was snoring badly. Thankful for my ear plugs. First use
There was absolutely no need to rush as my target for today was Larrasoaña which is only about 5.5km away from Zubiri.
Why am I only walking such a short distance today? Because my timetable got stuffed up when I did not stay that first night in Orisson.
I had booked two nights in Pamplona, Friday night and Saturday night. I could easily have walked to Pamplona today as the distance is roughly the same as yesterday's, around 22km.
Anyway, I took my time and took a lot of photos instead.
Leaving Hostel Susefa in Ziburi. Literally a converted new townhouse as it appeared that locals lived in the adjacent townhouses.
I bought myself a couple of bananas and relaxed here at Ziburi Plaza Mayor. Yep, it was actually called so.
I left Ziburi around 9.20am and started walking. Up, of course, with a nice view of town.
They take the Camino very seriously here. As they should. No surprises there.
I stopped here as other pilgrims had done the same. It is an old church in desperate need of restoration, managed by a soft spoken, story telling Irishman.
And yes, he was from Melbourne, Australia and he was 85 years old.
I arrived at Larrasoaña after 11am despite taking my time.
It was really nice to start late, go slow, look around a bit more, take my time, listening to some music (Thomas Newman soundtrack for atmosphere).
It seems to be a rush to get ready as soon as possible in the morning and get cracking. It feels totally against the Camino spirit, but I understand that not everybody can spend the same amount of time as me (9 weeks in Europe).
Anyway, tonight's albergue is called San Nicolás.
Business hours are from 12pm, but no problem when I buzzed the intercom at 12.15pm. A shower and a load of machine washing for 3€ followed. Pretty much everything I carried ended up there.
Note to self: I can get away with using the same shirt 2 days in a row but it stinks the 3rd day.
There is a mini mercado almost opposite the albergue. I had my lunch there. It was a microwave heated can of ravioli (simple food is a poor pilgrims lot. Where is Good Mrs when you need her...) and an espresso which was actually really nice. A total of 5.15€.
Dinner will yet again be "Menú del peregrino". Pamplona tomorrow and the day after and then I will eat much much better.
There are some odd pilgrims. There is a South Korean woman with dirt poor English staying at the albergue. That doesn't prevent her from yapping away in Korean English. What I figured from her is that
- she made up a name for the Camino, Sonia
- it has taken her 9 days to get this far (me 3 days including today's short 5km walk)
- she got to Zubiri last night at 9pm. I didn't even want to know, never mind ask, why it took so long
Late afternoon was spent chatting with United Nations. In other words, pilgrims from a few corners of the world. Lots of laughs, lots of beer.
This "menú del peregrino" was really good. A vegetable soup not from a can. 3 pan fried pork cutlets and a sponge cake. All washed down with an excellent Rioja wine. Well worth the 10€.
In fact, bed and dinner was a total of 21€. Best value so far.
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