Airport Bus to Bilbao €3 then on to Pamplona €15 Sunday and met the apostles- james and John
Nice to walk to puente la Reina on Monday having a laugh with Larry Brian and the apostles - thought about bus out of town to Estella/los arcos/Torres del Rio - or stay and have a wee bevvy -
Yes a wee bevvy with Bob and Mary Lou from Vancouver followed by a stroll into town with J&J seeing Danny and Darren from Tipperary then sleep and €6.90 bus to Logrono- it arrived at 10:32 which was only 7 mins later than the timetable but how those 7 minutes pained me.
I was speaking with a Romanian guy who had sneaked over to Germany in 1968 in my worst German / Romanian accented franglais about the journey from Santa Catalina to Cruz de ferro when a cleansing truck pulled up to empty the bins. I can't describe the smell but it was like my head had been thrust into a pen with more shit than cattle. Four minutes I held my breath, nostrils flaring, while speaking Cantonese to my new friend, before exclaiming "auto-bus!" as it came around the corner.
Timetable says it stops at a whole lot of wee towns but driver never got the memo and is on the motorway.
I'm glad I didn't do a few pueblos first, we're already at Estella and he just left 1 minute early after asking if anyone wanted off at Azcueta.
After los arcos, as we approached Sansol, I saw two old men who'd missed the right turn on the path out of los arcos. Clearly they got as far as the road and decided to head up the tarmac having missed the track. It brought back memories of 2007 when Si and I shouted some guys back in the pitch black dawn, as they had missed the right fork about 2km out of los arcos. Just as we pulled into sansol there were 2 people at the bus stop on the wrong side of the street waving frantically... they needn't have bothered as the bus was only slowing to take the corner before careering down the hill to Torres del Rio. Lesson learnt for me - always stand on the right side.
Timetable update - wee towns are on demanda- so if nobody wants to go to Lorca the bus just hammers on to next main town. Suddenly we're in viana and next stop Logrono.
Logrono Tuesday Morning was great but over In a minute as clock chimes 12. I then get Jimenez bus machine to work and €7.70 sees me heading out at 1pm but first I have time to hit Calle Laurel. Yum yum. 10 minutes saw me get here in time to sample a wee bit of Logrono tapas before turning back for the station. Only I could be so stupid as to spend another 10 minutes in Lidl trying to buy a bottle of water instead of going to the shop at the station.
The 13:00 bus is a good one out of logrono as it is the Zaragoza bus that arrives at 12:30 so you can board around 12:50 and relax into your surroundings.
I like a timetable so here's my wee bus inspectors bit.
13:28 arriving at najera we were 13:32 as we stopped at bus stop on way back out and 13:55 from Santo Domingo saw us arriving at redecilla del camino at 14:05 and 14:08 at the hostel chocokatero. This is a good time to board the bus for 4 minutes to take you to belorado... there are a few stretches that bombard the senses as you walk along the roadside. Nowadays the camino sends you inland for the first 3km but the last 6 /7km to belorado are all along the main highway. The bus drops you at the hotel jacobeo and it's a good place to stay with it's attic lounge space a glorious piece of tranquility. A few of the albergues in the centre offer great food whether you are a resident or not, unlike the one on the edge of town.
Walking out of belorado couldn't be better. You are 50m to 150m away from the road and depending on the season, surrounded by sunflowers. There follows the pueblos of tosantos with its wonderful hillside cave and villambistia with its superb wee albergue where the lady of the house cooks food with love and I've eaten it 3 times as it's such a great wee albergue. After leaving Villambistia the route takes us over to Montes de Oca with a pit stop available at Espinosa del camino (14:25) where the lomo sandwich can be breakfast or lunch. Leaving Montes de Oca you climb through the forest and go up and down like a rollercoaster before walking through the centre of the forest. I love this 2-3 hour hike but your timings will dictate how much shade you get. Lately I've been doing both this hill and Atapuerca in the same day making my way to cardenuela but it's a big stomp.
Burgos Tuesday afternoon and it's time to check in and then eat some tapas at donde Alberto, los herrerios and the rest, yum yum!
Salamanca Wednesday €23.35
10:30 bus arrives at 14:00
Then onto the camino again
Every camino needs a plan so you can rip it up again, here's ours!
Thursday walk Friday arrive Zamora
Saturday and Sunday walk
Monday then arrive Tuesday Leon/Astorga?
Bus out of Leon back to Seville for Friday Malaga Saturday and estepona Sunday
Buen camino
Here's one I wrote earlier
Walking around Pamplona became a nurse kraychit endeavour as I kept sliding a few degrees off line.
By 4pm first wine arrived with a wee burger. It was swiftly followed by another. I've drank 3l of water so feeling all the benefits it brings. Very hot even though it's only 26.
Sent from my iPhone
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