Tourist in Spain 1 -21 May . Pamplona to Viscarret, St Jean and Zubiri

I arrived in Pamplona on Wednesday after a long flight from Durban -actually it was 4 flights that took us 7 hours east of Africa to Qatar and then 7 hours back west to Madrid with a short flight north to Pamplona.  When I arrived at the Hotel where I would stay the following night the AmaWalkers group were just arriving.  It was great to meet most of them and have a chat with Julie the group leader.
I packed 3 bottles of Amarula cream, two boxes of chocolates and two boxes of Rooibos tea into a bag and at 5.30pm Istvan, from Pension Corazon Puro picked me up from the bus station and took me to his Pension in Viscarette.   I met pilgrims there and we shared a commumal meal prepared by Istvan and Barbara.   I shared a room with a pilgrim from Canada.

After breakfast Istvan drove me to St Jean Pied de Port.  I went to visit Pierre at Gite Compostela but he wasnt there and they didn't know when he would be back.  It was too early for lunch with Tim Proctor but I decided to walk up the Ru de la Citadelle and knock on his door anyway.  Luisa answered the door and told me that Tim was ill.  I told her that I would cancel the lunch and after having a cup of tea with her,  she called a taxi and I wrnt to Zubiri to visit Jose and Rosa at Pension Amets.
Although my Spanish isn't great, I understood when he told me that the Pension used to be their home but when he lost his job, they moved into a converted apartment with his wife's parents and turned their home into a pension.  I first met Jose in May 2011 when walking over the bridge into Zubiri was offered a business card for his new pension.  Our groups have stayed there ever since and they have been very good to all of our pilgrims.
(To be continued.)