Pamplona to start of Camino del Norte

Getting married, adopting Channing, taking more than 23 pounds out of our backpacks and taking a bus from Pamplona to Hondarribia/Irun all will go down as best decisions we ever made in our lives! Our time on the Camino Frances was fun and exhausting. We met nice people from Australia, Taiwan, Minnesota, Baltimore, Cologne, and Korea. We knew we brought a little excess baggage with us on the hike, but twenty-three pounds is ridiculous! Hopefully, now that our steps will be lighter, the more challenging Del Norte route we begin tomorrow wont be quite as difficult as we’ve heard! We took a bus from Pamplona to Hondarribia on the coast to start the Camino del Norte. Spain is beautiful! I laughed out loud seeing some of the mountains we avoided (below is a blurry pic from the bus, as an example). I counted 10 tunnels we went through, avoiding having to go over the mountains. Our first day crossing the Pyrenees from France into Spain was difficult, but apparently we took the easy route…I guess that’s why Charlemagne and Napoleon took the same route.

First picture is the cafe in Pamplona at which Hemingway would write. Hondarribia is as far North East in Spain as you can get. The golfer José María Olazábal is from here. Hondarribia has a historic district inside the walls that is still very active and had this wonderful church with the most interesting boat-themed altar and lectern we’ve seen in awhile. The confessional also caught our eye with the 1-10 discs on the door signifying the Ten Commandments.