Day 3 Pamplona, No Bulls

Some tapas on display in Pamplona bar
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After arriving in Roncesvalles muddy and exhausted, I "made a deal."  (Do you ever make such deals?  I think we all do.) Here was the deal:  if it was sunny the next day, I would start walking again, if it was raining, I would be on the bus to Pamplona -- I couldn´t take any more rain.  Franzi, on the other hand, was determined to walk, and so she did.  My companion on the bus journey was Lucy a French born Australian resident who lives in Sydney and Paris.  The bus careened down the mountain for an hour, but my motion sickness was thankfully short-lived.

More delicious tapas
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Pamplona is most famous for its Feast of San Fermin, and the "running of the bulls."  But that is in mid-July.  Today there were no bulls.

Vivas Las Tapas!!

Arriving in Pamplona, after the tiny towns I had seen so far, seemed like a dream.  There were so many people; yet, by most standards, it is a small town.  We settled in to the Pension Escaray, on Calle Nueve, for a song (€18.)  The town is compact with small streets, more pedestrians than cars.  Plaza del Castillo seems to be the center, with benches and restaurants all around.  We stopped at one of them for cafe con leche and a sweet roll, and suddenly there was a parade with fun characters for the children.  It was fun to watch, see photo.

A parade started as soon as we arrived, and the children loved it!
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Lucy had heard that Calle San Nicolas was a fun street, so we went off in search of something to eat.  Vivas las tapas!!  We stopped at a few bars with tapas, and quickly realized why so many people like tapas.  In some places, the tapas came free with a drink, in other places there was a small charge.  But hours later, we were still roaming.  Attached are a few photos of the tapas and Lucy and me enjoying one of them.

I found an internet cafe and spent some time there.  Unfortunately, I failed to heed the "I cannot disconnect the device" warning when I disconnected my camera card.  (It doesn´t look as serious in Spanish.)  So I lost about 60 photos; fortunately I had included some of them in my travel blog, so I can get those back.

Lucy and I enjoying the ambience of Pamplona´s Calle San Nicolas
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The Camino has taught me this so far: don´t sweat the small stuff.  I thought about crossing the Pyrenees, and the idea that my camera could have become mired in mud crossed my mind.  So I shrugged off the loss and went out for more tapas!  Vino y tapas, a grand combination.

You can´t go wrong with wine in Spain.  In most places, "una copa de vino tinto" gets you a nice red wine for no more than €1 or €2.  Fortunately, I had no set time to get up in the morning, as I was travelling alone that next day.  I listened to the "jovenes" on the street half the night, but still managed to leave by 8 the next morning.

Backpack well-shouldered, with my Syncpack front pack to balance the load, the Camino´s Yellow Arrows (& my GPS) pointing the way out, I set off for Puente La Reina.  I made it to Obanos, almost 25 km away.

For the mostly mile users among you, the conversion rule is "klicks times six" so, 25 times six = 150, thus 25 km equal 15 miles.  A long days´walk.

But not the longest day, as you shall see.....