We slept until 0930 and got packed and off. Not unlike Maine lately, there was snow falling and more on the ground.

In Muruzabel we turned off the Camino Frances to make a nifty detour. First we had breakfast at a bar and the walked to Eunate (with help from friendly Spaniard). Eunate has a 12th century Templar chapel (PRS-15). It is octagonal and quite fascinating.

The capitals on some of the columns have faces with turbans and Negroid features indicating Moors.

We proceeded on the Camino Aragones, which we had joined at Eunate and proceeded to Obanos where we rejoined the Camino Francés and on to Puente la Reina and our room at the Albergue Jakue. (Jakue is James in Basque in case you didn’t know it) Seven miles today due to late start and tired bones.

After getting settled in and doing laundry we tried to go into Puente la Reina to find a farmacia or super mercado by they had closed since it was Saturday after 1400. I did manage to photograph the Iglesia del Crucifijo, another 12th century Templar church (PRS-22).

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We left the hotel before 8, stopped for a croissant before walking out of Pamplona. Our first stop was up a hill to Cizur Menor – PRS 22 and the 12th century Church of San Miguel, founded by the Hospitallers in 1135. The Romanesque-Gothic door has a tympanum with a crismón, a motif invented to distinguish Catholic monuments from Aryan. It contains a cross, the chi-rho that begins Christ in Greek and then alpha and omega as the beginning and end of all things.

Here is the Church of San Miguel.

After this, we had some yogurt at a bar and started up towards Zariquiegui arriving around 2 PM. Were told that the Albergue was closed and that we had to continue another 6 km to Uteri.

Here is the 13th century church in Zariquiegui.

We had lovely ham and cheese Subs and then proceeded up through incredible quantities of mud to the Alto de Perdon, the peak which is covered with windmills and at the top there are Pilgrim sculptures. Here are the sculptures, with us and without.

We continued over and now the mud was replaced by steep rocks for several km. We finally arrived in Uterga after 8 PM, a 12 hour 12.4 mile hike. We had dinner and slept in a private room.

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