Today has to be the longest day so far, and it's only day 3!! Argh.

It was going to be a leisurely walk to Pamplona. Not too much uphill stuff, a very nice scenic route.

Started late as I didn't wake up until 7:30am (grrr) and so didn't make it out the door until 8am.

Promptly took a wrong turn at the beginning: luckily I noticed and turned back without going too far. Went a little faster to regain the time I had lost being lost. Got to these wooden steps that go down next to the river and slipped on a muddy step, hand-planted in the mud of the next step down, and scraped both knees.

At first I was just mad so I walked another hour thinking I would stop at the next point of interest & deal with my knees then.

After booting it down the highway, I started to notice the blood seeping through my pants. Still refused to look but after I thought about it some more, I finally gave in: better to not have something infected & not be able to finish the walk...

Well, I have a fairly big gash in my right knee and a lesser one on the left. Neither hurt unless I'm putting antiseptic on them, but their not just light scrapes like I thought. *sigh*

Some fellow pilgrims I had met along the way stopped to give me hand and some larger bandages for my right knee. Then I forged on, even more angry with myself. Hole in my pants (this is the first frakkin day I wore them) and I felt like I was stopping too many times.

Sounds like I'm being harsh on myself but it was just frustrating not being to get ANYWHERE.

Then... Looking for Pamplona... Walking through the city just before it was gross as it takes lots of concentration to see the little yellow arrows amidst the city environment.. Walking... walking... Where is Pamplona? It's a city, I should see it anytime now.

I get to the University of Navarra and there's arrows pointing to get a stamp. Get to the office and then ask "How far is Pamplona?" Well. Turns out I just walked right through it and about 1 km outside of it. ARGH!

Although the rule is to never go back, I had just about had it with this day. I wanted the bota (which is even MADE IN PAMPLONA) and I really didn't want to walk anymore to the next stop (it was only 2 kms away - believe me I had to think hard about this.) I decided, Pamplona was my destination, Pamplona is where I'll stay, so I took the city bus back to the main area.

Got into a pension, cleaned my wounds, physically and mentally, then went out into the market just before everything closed for the night. Found a knife (Yay) a bota (Yay!) and then found the QuickPod stuck in behind the mesh part of my bag. (YAY!) I didn't lose it after all!

Time for bed. I hope tomorrow goes better walk wise. Ultrea!

Las Tres ZZZ, Pamplona: makers of the genuine bota (wine skins!)