All images ©Copyright: Earthy Photography®
Day 3 | 28 July 2025 | Walking the Camino Francés
From Roncesvalles to Zubiri | 21.9 km – 13.6 miles
Oh wow! I woke up feeling muscles I didn’t even know I had, apparently yesterday’s steep descent from the mountain was a full-on leg workout. Marianne seemed totally fine. Good thing we had a rest day planned in Pamplona in a couple of days as I was going to need it.
We set off from Roncesvalles under a grey sky, with drizzle greeting us for the first couple of hours. Our guidebook promised a delightful stage with mostly natural paths – nice! – but also warned of a nasty steep descent into Zubiri. We passed a road sign telling us we had 790 km (491 miles) left to walk to Santiago – let’s go! It will be fun.
By midday, the clouds started to break, and patches of sunlight filtered through, the beech woods were magical, and the natural trails were a joy to walk on. We came across a couple who had devised a way of drying their clothing whilst still walking. Clever.
Then came the finale: the infamous rocky, steep last three kilometres. It took a painstaking 90 minutes to get down safely, but it made the arrival in Zubiri even more satisfying.
The town itself was welcoming, and the cold beers waiting for us? Even more so.
