May 7 Irún-Ainhoa
I had to cruise my way forward via countryside roads in order to connect to Camino del Baztán. Ainhoa has a camping ground that also has a shelter.
May 8 Ainhoa-Urdax-Elizondo
Guest house. Single room with shower. Ate pigs ears and pigs snout while waiting for the cook to start his shift. The ears were quite ok but I will not recommend the snout – it was disgusting.
May 9 Elizondo-Lantz
Tough walking in heavy rain on steep, slippery, stony paths. Lantz had a recently opened shelter that I had all for myself. In Navarra almost all restaurants and supermarkets in a village are closed on the same day every week. In Lantz that day is Wednesday. May 9 2018 was a Wednesday 🙁 But Lantz also has a hotel and the hotel has a restaurant and they also can deliver drinks to carry and even batteries for your GPS device. That evening they also served me an excellent supper. But I had to find the hotel by myself, none of the villagers that I talked to gave me a hint that it even existed 🙂
May 10 Lantz-Pamplona
Pretty boring on rocky cattle trails. Joined with ramblers on the Camino Francés approaching Pamplona. Accommodation in an ordinary one-room flat.
May 11 Pamplona-Puente de la Reina-Artajona-Mendigorría
All the way to Puente de la Reina I had plenty of pilgrims walking towards Santiago in front of me and behind me. After Puente de la Reina I was perfectly alone on the track. On my way out of town I was approached by several anxious locals that wanted to point me in the right direction to get back on the Camino Francés 🙂 When I told them that I was following the Camino de la Vera Cruz to Artajona and was heading on to Olite and GR-1 most of them relaxed, but one of them told me that I wouldn’t find the trail as it was terribly bad sign-posted. He was right. I had to use country roads in order to get safely to Mendigorría as I had not been able to find any GPS track information about Vera Cruz. Slept in a barrack in a well equipped camping site in Mendigorría. Fabulous dinner.
May 12 Mendigorría-Tafalla-Olite
Transport stretch in order to connect to GR-1 Sendero Histórico in Olite. Good accomodation in Olite old city.
