A short walk of about eleven miles to Pamplona. Time to recover from the first two days.

Today's walk from Akeretta to Pamplona was a much needed less difficult day. The distance was only about eleven miles and with the exception of one hill in the first three miles the balance of the walk was fairly flat. I felt the challenge more on the downhill sections. That is clearly the result of the first two days level of difficulty.

 Most of the guide books rank the first two days from St. Jean to be among the three hardest. I agree. Today's walk was made easier because I went well past where most people would have stopped yesterday which of course made today shorter. 

The weather was nearly perfect but it did get a bit warm over the last three or four miles. It was an uneventful day for the most part. I did see Putin today. I had stopped to have coffee at this little outdoor cafe when he walked past. If he had stopped I would have struck up a conversation with him. I'm curious about the tattoos and determined to get a photo of them. I will find away to meet him. It's now a mission.

I did meet a guy from San Diego today. I was moving along at a pretty good pace when I passed a women walking alone. She was struggling. As I came down a hill I heard someone call out to me . He asked a question. "Where are your clubs?" The question threw me at first because I just was not sure I heard him correctly. I know he was talking to me as he was stopped and leaning on his poles and there was no one else in sight.  He was waiting for his wife, the women I had pasted a short time ago.

 I stopped and simply said " no not on this trip. The golf club comment he explained was because he noticed my Callaway hat and went on to say that he lived in San Diego which is near the Callaway headquarters . I explained that I was aware because I also lived near by in San Juan Capistrano. 

He asked me what I thought of the second days walk from Roncesvalles? I told him that I thought it was even more difficult than day one. With that he began an very impassioned expletive laced disruption of what he thought of day two. When he wrapped up his summary he then asked me what I did in Capistrano and I said "I'm a Preist". The look on his face was priceless as he immediately starting to apologize for his commentary but I saved him the trouble and told him I was just kidding. He laughed and was relieved. I wished him well and pushed on. I'm not sure if I will see him again given his wife's struggles on this a very easy day. Hopefully she will recover.

There isn't much to repot about today. I'm just going to lay low and just chill out. I am still very sore. That's it for now. Tomorrow it's a twelve mile walk with a very steep climb out of Pamplona on my way to Puente La Reina. 

One last thought to those who have been sending emails wishing me well. Thank you, the messages of encouragement do provide motivation and are nice to get. Thank you.

Buen Camino.