Monday May 23, 2022 When I woke up, everyone had already left the room. I chose to sleep in because it was supposed to be a shorter day, and I hadn’t slept well the night before, thanks to the resounding snores that filled the room. Leaving Estella was bittersweet, as it was the most beautiful city on the Camino, and remained so even after completing my walk. If I were to walk the Camino Frances again, I’d do so to revisit Estella.

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Peyman and I shared a room with two other guys. One of them, a guy from Germany, snored so loudly it sounded like thunder. For a moment, I thought a tank was passing by. I reached for my earplugs, but at the same time, Peyman got up and put his phone near the guy’s nose to record the sound. What a guy. After a hearty breakfast and coffee, we set off.

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We walked from the outskirts of the town to the center of Pamplona in the dawn and passed through the old city through the medieval walls watching the sunrise. The whole town was asleep except for the pilgrims. City wall of Pamplona,a city built in 74 BC by the Roman military. The Basques calls it Iruña, meaning 'the city' As we walked out of the city, I saw a massive wheat field splashed with red poppies.

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My whole body was sore during the sleep. The Aussies on the other side of the room snored hard, woke up, and made noise getting ready at 5am. I surely was irritated, and Peyman could see it. The walk started along the river, and it was nice to hear the sound of the flowing river. The walk started along the river, and it was nice to hear the sound of the flowing river.

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With the noise of people fighting with their backpacks, I woke up and felt barely recovered from day 1. Nevertheless, the day started with a leisurely walk along the wood and the creeks, and we passed several cute small villages. I often thought Spain as a very dry country, but we passed along many rivers and creek during the entire walk I was expecting the Camino won’t be as busy this year with COVID still going on, but it was not.

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I could not easily fall asleep with excitement and partly because of the snores in the rooms. Pilgrim’s office warned me about the heatwave, so most of the people in the room had already left when I woke up at 6. I got a cup of coffee, and started walking. The trail was already full of people. The high route over the Pyrennes is called Route Napoleon even though Napoleon did not set a foot on the path I met my Camino buddies in the first two hours of the most challenging section of the entire French Way.

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