Pamplona pulsing with pilgrims on the Camino

I arrived in the city of Pamplona, Spain, last night and am amazed at the numbers of Camino pilgrims. It seems like there are many more than when I walked the Camino in 2015.

I’m hanging out and exploring the city today while I wait to meet up with Andrea, an acquaintance from the experience seven years ago. I recognize many of the narrow streets from before and even found my way to the cathedral of Santa Maria. I couldn’t go inside but ran into an Irish woman sitting on a bench in the sun outside. We started talking and it turned out she is from County Leitrim, the home of my mother’s parents. You can’t be lonely on this Camino.

I had heard that September is one of the busiest months on the Camino, but I still got a shock when I arrived at the Albergue Jesus y Maria just after it opened at noon and found a huge long line of pilgrims waiting to check in. I waited almost an hour to be assigned a bunk. I may have to make reservations going forward. We never had to do that before, until the last 100 kilometers.

I will be posting every day during my walk. Follow my blog to experience the journey.