And so the day had come when we were to return to 'Clean Knicker Land'! Jenny and I were up, dressed and first in for breakfast as the lure of El corte Inglais and some of the other rather nice shops we had passed the day before was too great even for weary pilgrims like us. Our travelling companions showed more restraint and had clearly managed to shake off more of their materialistic ways than we had so we left them to enjoy their breakfast and agreed to meet b...

There were new sleep inhibitors at the Logrono Albergue in the form of squeaky rubber coated mattresses and Mosquitos! We were all quite badly bitten in the morning and there was a suggestion at one point that they might be from bed bugs! But this was dispelled as we concluded that the bites would be in a line. Travelling with half the NHS has its advantages! We managed to visit the Cathedral after breakfast in the cafe next door. It was very dark and ornate like...

We had a lie in until 7am!! left Larrasoana at 8am after another machine coffee. The experience of not getting a room the night before in Zubrini was unsettling but Pamplona was, at least, a decent sized city and we were pleased that we had a bit of a head start on all those who had slept in Zubrini. The walk continued to be alongside industrial areas like it was beyond Zubrini the night before. The path then became quite wooded and opened up to a lovely cafe w...

We were woken by an alleluia chorus sung by the Albergue volunteers. Very amusing and,dare I say it, uplifting! the revolting machine sweet coffee was our only nourishment before those boots were back on and we hit the road. There was a familiar pattern beginning to emerge to our early morning departures. Fiona and Jackie chomping at the bit and resembling the horses coming out of their stalls at the National! This morning Anne fell at the first hurdle stopping...

A reasonable night's sleep in sturdier bunks. It was Anne's birthday and the hostel gave her a slice of gateau basque with a candle at breakfast and the pilgrim brotherhood sang happy birthday! She liked her buff! The sunrise was quite stunning over the mountains. Anne suffered bladder problems before we left (no connection with being 63!) and once this was sorted we hit the road at about 8 am. It was a long struggle uphill and our poles were beginning to prov...