4/10/25: Estella to Los Arcos Time: 8:14 a.m. to 2:14 p.m. Distance: 14 miles. Steps: 30,273. Elevation Gain: 1,396 feet. Average Walking Speed: 3.1 mph. Walking out of the easy-on-the-eyes town of Estella, I went through urban and suburban streets.… Continue reading

4/9: Puente La Reina to Estella Time: 8:07 a.m. to 2:59 p.m.Diatance: 14.98 miles.Steps: 32,646.Elevation Gain: 1,561 feet.Average Walking Speed: 3.0 mph. I left Puente La Reina early enough to catch the morning sun on the bridge out of town.… Continue reading

4/8: Pamplona to Puente La Reina. 8:41 a.m. to 3:19 p.m. Steps Taken: 36,214. Miles Hiked: 14.79. Elevation Gain: 1,523 feet. Average Walking Speed: 3.1 miles per hour. This day was a doozy. It started when I discovered that a… Continue reading

4/7: Zubiri to Pamplona. 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. hiking time. Steps taken: 33,821. Miles hiked: 14.29. Elevation gain: 1,218 feet. Average walking speed: 3.1 miles per hour. Morning Prayer I had a great night of sleep at the Suseia… Continue reading

4/6: Roncesvalles to Zubiri. 8:09 a.m. to 3:01 p.m. hiking time. Steps taken: 34,496. Miles hiked: 14.42. Elevation gain: 1,320 feet. Average walking speed: 2.7 miles per hour. This will be a short installment due to the length of the… Continue reading

4/5: Valcarlos to Roncesvalles. 7:42 a.m. to 12:19 p.m. hiking time. 20,299 steps taken. 7.67 miles hiked. 2,589′ elevation gain. This is almost the height of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.  Just saying…. Average walking speed: not calculated due to… Continue reading

April 4: St. Jean Pied-de-Port to Valcarlos. 8:24 a.m. to 12:21 p.m. hiking time. 20,081 steps taken. 8.72 miles covered. 1,287 feet of elevation gain. Average walking speed of 2.9 mph. I had a leisurely start in St. Jean Pied-de-Port… Continue reading

The Journey Begins On April 1st, I started. I think I should have known better than to start a major pilgrimage on the Day of Fools. I had everything timed, planned, perfected so I could enjoy an unhurried journey to… Continue reading

Folks have asked me questions about what this whole pilgrim thing will look like. I’m writing this during my pre-Camino training phase. What follows is my distillation of way too many hours of research and observation of other pilgrims and… Continue reading