2022 another look Pamplona - Logrono - Burgos

To get a flavour of the camino is like dipping a toe in a mud bath. Your toe will get the flavour, but better your toe than nothing at all!

You need time on the camino to savour the wines and the expeience, to suffer the smells and sounds of the Albegues before going off piste to a hotel!

That said, not everyone has the time and a little is better than nothing at all. Here's a version with 60km of walking, 30 litres of beer and 10kgs of tapas!

Most accessible from Edinburgh are Bilbao and Santander. Bilbao is best for Pamplona.

Flying out 7am on sunday morning you arrive Bilbao at 10:35, head to cafe iruna, via Guggenheim and old town for early lunch before bus down to Pamplona. Walking in Bilbao is largely a flat 3km. 

Arrive Pamplona 5pm and walk around city walls and tapas bars for 3 hours then get taxi 3 minutes to hotel. Hotel is close to bus station. 7:30 bus (or taxi) to cizur mayor for coffee and then walk up to Mont Perdon (3 hours - with one stop for beer at Zariquiegui near summit. Stop at summit for beer then walk down to Uterga for beer, then Muruzabal, then Obanos before arriving at the Jakue in Puente La Reina for monday night.

I say the Jakue but the other plan, is we get to Puente La Reina (3.15-3.25), or even Obanos and get the 3.10-3.20 bus to Estella. The walk to Estella is another tremendous stroll particularly the route from Maneru to Cirauqui, as you slowly walk towards the roof top town, but if time is of the essence then the smart money gets you to Estella for the night, ideally the Hospederia Chapitel, which is ideally located in the centre and whose rustic charms will doubtless appeal to those pilgrims wanting luxury with quaint echoes of bygone pilgrims, without their comforts!

In the morning of Tuesday, the first stop out is the wine fountain at 9am, followed by the glorious climb via Ayegui  and Bodegas Irache to Azqueta where an early beer is followed by an 11am bus to Los Arcos. 

Ideally we'd climb to Villamayor de Montjardin, sit down, survey the valley, beer in hand, before slipping and sliding our 12km way to Los Arcos, shooting the breeze and feeling the crumbs under our boots, but we're on a fact finding mission!

With 8km in our legs and a hearty rest at Los Arcos after our arduous 9 minutes on the bus, we'll pile into the wee square by the church and have a beer. The next walk is only 6k, or a game of football, 90 minutes. It always makes me smile when I arrive after only 75 minutes, but that's because I used to always get subbed and a game of football for me was 75 minutes!

Having left Los Arcos at 12 we arrive at Sansol at 13:20 and have lunch at the albergue, before getting on the bus again to Logrono.

There's a great walk from Torres del Rio (1km across the gorge from Sansol) to Viana but that's not got any pub stops, unless the guy with the camper van station is open, a very risky gamble to take in the afternoon!

Tuesday night in Logrono means we wake up on Wednesday and dust ourselves down for the trip back up to Bilbao, then we realise the flight is not until 9pm so we take the bus to Belorado and do one of the great September Sunflower strolls to Villafranca Montes des Oca via Tosantos, Villambistia, and Espinosa del Camino. 

This section is so accessible you could take a 90 year old or a 1 year old on it!

This is a very short stretch which hugs the highway but offers easy walking and numerous pit stops for bowels that may need them after 2 heavy days! An early bus will see us in Burgos for 2pm for lunch and then a train at 5pm back to Bilbao, or a bus to Santander for the 22:30 flight back, both work well.