At last – it was
time for Camino Part II!
Unfortunately,
although I would dearly love to walk the entire Camino Francés as one
continuous experience and hope to do so one day, due to family and work
commitments I cannot take the time needed to do this at this point in my life.
Therefore as I explained earlier in this blog, I am walking the Camino in
stages, walking a week at a time when possible and then flying back to continue
where I finished on a subsequent occasion.
This method of
walking the Camino has pro’s and cons; on the negative side, it can be the case
that just as you are getting into the rhythm of walking the Camino and gaining
the maximum rest from having time to reflect and seek God, it is time to come
home. On the positive side it means that I can take the time to really enjoy
the Camino in detail and not feel I am rushing to get to Santiago as I find
some pilgrims seem to be doing as they rush past interesting places and
wildlife, seemingly oblivious. After all, the process of the journey and what you learn along the way is just as
important, if not more so, than arriving. The other benefit of walking the
Camino in stages is that it is not as punishing on the body – just as the
joints and feet are starting to ache, it is time to go home!
This time I
was walking with my friend David King, aged 59, but definitely younger and
fitter than his chronological age and definitely thinner than me! Initially I
had been thinking about walking the Camino by myself on this occasion but David
had never walked the Camino before, and having been considering it for some
time, jumped at the chance to accompany me and experience it for himself. I was
happy for him to come with me as we have similar reflective personalities.
The plan was
to return to Estella where I finished last time and then walk for 6 days to
Belorado with a detour off the usual Camino route on Day 4 to visit the
Cistercian Abbey at Cañas and the UNESCO World Heritage Monasteries of Suso and
Yuso at San Millán de la Cogolla. The total distance covered would be 140 km.
I stayed
overnight at a friend’s house in Cork and David ordered a taxi and picked me up
on his way to the airport at 5am. The taxi driver reassured us with tales of airport
security lock downs he had experienced and how his pregnant wife had apparently
been strip searched on returning to Ireland after a foreign holiday!
As there are
no direct flights from Ireland to Biarritz in March, we had booked Ryanair
flights from Cork – Stansted and then Stansted - Biarritz. This unfortunately
meant a slightly tedious 4 hour layover in Stansted.
The flight to
Stansted was remarkable chiefly for the fact that one of the passengers; a
young man in his twenties was attracting bemused glances and attention because
he was wearing a bright red suit dotted with white hearts. I can only presume
he was the willing victim of a stag party, as we felt it was unlikely that his
sartorial tastes could a serious choice – but who knows? I was personally
reminded of a BBC Children’s TV presenter, Mr. Tumble, which my children used
to watch as he who wore similar clown – type outfits.
The time was
passed at the rather soul-less building that is Stansted (they don’t seem to
favour too many seats for passengers to rest on!) with newspapers and some
rather nice Asian food and I continued reading the newspaper on the Stansted –
Biarritz flight whilst noting that the English lady beside me, who had the same
“dragged through a bush” hairstyle as one of my eccentric Aunts and was reading
a book about energy force fields on the Camino.
We arrived at
Biarritz at 16.50. There were three queues for two passport officials at
Biarritz airport which caused problems, but once through, we turned our
attention to the buses. We needed to get to Pamplona by bus as I had booked us
into a small hotel for the night. I had never used Spanish buses before and was
slightly nervous about this leg of the trip. We soon discovered that we needed
to get the CONDA bus to San Sebastian and then change for Pamplona. However, when
we examined the timetable on the bus stop outside Biarritz airport it seemed to
suggest that some of the buses didn’t stop at the airport and that it could be
very late before we got to Pamplona.
We panicked!
Hiring a taxi for €15 we travelled into Biarritz town centre. This was actually
quite interesting as we got to see the large mansions from the early 20th
Century when Biarritz was a favourite resort of the rich and famous, including
Edward VII who used to travel there each Summer in a cavalcade of motorcars accompanied
by his favourite mistress (but not his wife).
The seafront
at Biarritz however was very cold with a tempestuous sea and gusting winds unsuitable
for Edwardian bathing, so we quickly retreated to another Asian food house and
then boarded the CONDA bus – which took us to San Sebastian, calling en route
at….Biarritz Airport!! Oh well, you live and learn!
The Spanish
bus driver, although he didn’t speak any English was very helpful and wrote
down the times of the buses to Pamplona and directed us with a combination of
gestures and our meagre Spanish, to the ALSA ticket office just down Sancho de
Sablo boulevard across the road from the bus station, where we were able to buy
our bus tickets to Pamplona. Overall on this trip we were very impressed with
Spanish bus services; their punctuality and ease of access and the cleanliness
and comfort of the very modern bus fleet.
As we had 50
minutes to wait for the Pamplona bus we popped into Café Autobus close to the ALSA ticket office and had a glass of vino tinto. Like myself, David was to
become a fan of the odd glass of vino tinto as like me he found that when you
walk the Caminon, the odd glass at lunch or at the evening meal, gladdens the
heart and revives the spirits when the pilgrim is starting to slump!
 |
| David enjoying the vino tinto in Café Autobus |
The bus
journey to Pamplona passed uneventfully and we were surprised at how the
motorway ascended into the mountains before we arrived at the impressive ultra-modern
underground bus station in Pamplona which is situated under the park beside the
Cuidadela.
The Hostal Navarra nearby
on Tudela Boulevard turned out to be small but very clean and comfortable and we fell gratefully into our beds, pleased that so far our journey had largely gone to plan and we had arrived safely where we should be for the night.
