Amy’s last day (Day 4)

Today is very bitter sweet for me. My darling (Craig Ross calls "my bride") is going home. I will miss her a ton and the Camino won't be the same without her for sure.

Today we broke our distance record with 29 kms with an elavation change close to 5000 ft. Started the morning in streets of Pamplona where we saw Frank (the comedian from LA) and walked with him for the first 3 hrs. As expected, walking with a professional comedian is a rewarding experience. I was amazed how much he got Amy talking. I always complain that Amy doesn't talk enough with me but today realized perhaps the issue is not her.

Frank lives an interesting life where he splits his time between gigs (LA and cruise ships) and world travel. Name an interesting place on the planet and he has been there. He talked about Machu Pichu with such passion that after an hour Amy already had plans for spring break to take Eva/Ellie there. I wondered if I would be invited as she kept saying "I should take my older daughters there". I thought she would have said "we"...felt sad.

As we left Pamplona in the background we came to a small town Zariquiegui. In the movie "The Way" Martin Sheens character Tom and Joost meet the female lead Sarah at this below spot right off a church. Today it was occupied by very loud Italians (which I never saw before on the trail). Thought Holly Grammer and all fans of that movie would enjoy this photo. Amy and I got our passports stamped inside the church.

Outside of Pamplona you climb a serious hill and the summit is called Mirador Alto del Perdón. During the climb we left a slower pace Frank in the back as I have reputation I aspire to as the king of hills on the Camino. Also if we stayed another hour with Frank I think Amy would have planned 3 more vacations without me and just with her kids. I do hope to see Frank again in coming days. He is a fun spirit to be around.

Mirador Alto del Perdon is one of the iconic places on the Camino. Below are the photos from the peak.

As we came down the peak we saw our 3 friends from Kansas and walked with them for an hour or so. All of us took a detour where we visited a 12 century church that is believed to be built by the Templars.

Camino also gave me a deep lesson today. Don't drink from random water fountain along the way even if the other oblivious pilgrim next to the fountain says "good water, safe drink my friend". Yeah that didn't end well.

We are now at Puente la Reina. Amy will join the pilgrim dinner and off she goes.

Photos from our day.

Kms today: 29

Kms total: 106.5

Steps total: 158.4k Amy, 149k Ahmet