Camino Francés 2025: Day 4: Pamplona to Puente la Reina

Last night, we took a bus back into Pamplona. We found a bar with some great beers, met up with Lara, and went out for more beers and pintxos.

We said our final farewell to Lara, as she’s taking a rest day in Pamplona.

Up and out a little later today, but no luck getting breakfast at 7:30 in the suburbs of Pamplona—everything was closed. We decided to head out and grab breakfast along the way.

It had been a clear night, and there was a real chill in the air. But once the sun came up, it warmed quickly. Not far out of Pamplona, we began to climb. We eventually found a small café in Cizur Menor, where we had a tortilla and coffee alongside several other pilgrims.

From there, we followed a long, fairly straight path that took us up and over the Sierra del Perdón ridge, crowned with a wind farm.

The views were spectacular—looking back towards Pamplona and ahead towards Puente la Reina. It was here we ran into our American friends again, and this time we did proper introductions: Ron, who worked in university administration, and Mark, who was in finance. They’ve been friends since college and are now both retired.

The descent from the ridge was steep and quite slippery underfoot. Stephen enjoys jogging downhill, so off he went, and I walked for a bit with Ron.

As you’ll see from the photos, the landscape was very different from before Pamplona—wide open spaces and mainly arable farmland, with small villages scattered along the way. Each one had cafés and shops set up for the thousands of pilgrims who pass through.

Arrived in Puente de Reina and stop for drinks in the edge of town before a 1km hike to our hotel.