Uterga to Cirauqui 15km

Today we set off for Cirauqui, walking through the most amazing countryside, these green green fields of crops, with lots of red poppies popping up along the paths..

Walked through some small villages along the way, and stopped for lunch outside none other than a graveyard.. with absolutely no tree in sight for miles the wall of the graveyard was our only escape from the middle of the day heat.

The hostel in Cirauqui was very pretty with a lovely terrace overlooking the church square.

We experienced the best pilgrim meal yet in a little restaurant attached to the hostel. And for once, NO CHIPS! We were eating in an underground cave, delicious food cooked by the hostel owners husband. What more could two pilgrims ask for after all those pointless up and down hills ?!

Pamplona to Uterga 16km

After a boring time in Pamplona resting a sprained ankle we headed off on doctors instructions to do 5km.. which we translated into 16km! Happily saying ¨Adios¨ to Pamplona we set off through Cizor Menor up a very steep hill to Alto del Perdon´the famous metal cut statues at 800m. It was a really horribly sticky day, hot and muggy with no breeze whatsoever. Unimpressed as we arrived at the top to find cheating tourists driving their way up!
Passed a memorial for a guy who died while climbing the hill last year.. kept climbing before a steep decent to Uterga.

No beds left in the hostel, stayed in a twin room in a B & B which was like 5 star accomodation for us!

Very interesting dinner when we asked a lone man if he wanted to sit with us, he was a Czeck farmer, with no English, Spanish or French!! We were trying to explain the menu to him, all with actions, between Isabels ´moooo´and ´baaah´for beef and lamb, and Vanessas imaginative hand actions to show fish and vegetables we got by! A lot of other tables were laughing at us but we had fun all the same!