We heard everyone packing their bags and moving out of the albergue at around 5am but we didn’t leave until 6 am. We had a nice relaxing breakfast with lots of coffee before leaving. Amazingly enough, we were the last people to leave the albergue, these pilgrims sure like their early starts.
We had a great night sleep last night in Albergue Roncal it was perfect. The rooms were not too packed, the beds were comfortable and the Hostel room was cool with lots of ventilation. I’d highly recommend this Albergue, we loved it here.
Day 4 of the Camino Walking Plan
All the pilgrims that we have walked with for the first 3 days are trying to follow the route set out in their guidebooks. We need to shave a few days off our guide book because we are trying to get to Leon a couple of days quicker than they recommend.
On Day 4 our guidebook recommends walking from Cizur Menor to Puente La Reina, about 19km long. We are hoping to walk slightly further than that, and maybe walk about 27km to Cirauqui. This would mean that we could walk to Los Arcos the following day and possibly cut 1 day off our walking time.
Walking the Camino de Santiago Day 4 – Cizur Menor to Cirauqui
Within 30 minutes, we had left the town and busy roads behind us and we were back walking on country lanes. Gina spotted a field full of sunflowers, she had to take loads of photos but unfortunately, every one of the photos were shakey and we only realised later that evening that we are both very poor photographers.
Cizur Menor to Zariquiegui
After walking past all the nice sunflower fields, we continue walking past corn fields on either side of the path for 55 minutes until we reach the town of Zariquiegui. As far as we could see, the town only really had 1 Cafe/Alburge and a church. We got a quick coffee and a croissant to keep the energy levels up.
We arrived at Zariquiegui at 07:20, 1 hour 20 minutes after leaving Cizur Menor.
Zariquiegui to Alto del Perdon
After our quick stop in Zariquiegui, we started walking toward Alto del Perdon, the metal sculpture and wind turbines in the film the way. The walk is all uphill toward Alto del Perdon and is quite hard if your legs are tired. It took us 40 minutes to climb this 2.5km section. When we got to the top there was a portable coffee shop. For once we didn’t stop, as we needed to make up some time. It was great to see the statues after watching the film “The Way”.
Alto del Perdon to Uterga
We follow the Camino arrows on the ground point out the rear of the hill. The path starts to cut back down the other side of the hill toward the town of Uterga. Most of this section is downhill and hurt the knees after walking uphill all morning.
It took us 45 minutes to walk to the town of Uterga. It was now 08:45 and we were looking for our second breakfast. we stopped in the Camino Del Pardon for a nice break and some potato omelette all washed down with a nice Coffee. The Alburge had a nice outdoor seating area, where you can watch all the other busy Pilgrims scurrying past.
Uterga to Muruzabal
After our breakfast, we started hiking again, we left Uterga at 09:46. The Camino path now cuts in between corn fields until we reach Muruzabal. In Muruzabal the Camino has an optional route to visit the church of Eunate, visiting the church will add 2.5km to today’s Camino, we decide to continue walking without taking the detour (we regret not visiting more of these amazing little detours, if you have time visit them all).
Muruzabal to Obanos
Just as we leave Muruzabal, a signpost points us down a path that parallels to the road to Obanos, the signpost has Puente La Reina at 4.8km away. We walk into Obanos and visit the church in the middle of the town. There was a courtyard outside the church with about 10 Pilgrims just lying around relaxing.
Obanos to Puente La Reina
We visited the 14th-century church and then left the town by walking under a medieval arch toward Puente La Reina. The walk from Obanos to Puente La Reina was filled with sculptures and statues scattered beside the Camino path. It took us 30 minutes to walk into Puente La Reina.
It was now only 11:15 am and we had reached Puente La Reina. This is where everyone is walking too on day 4, there was a big crowd waiting outside the albergue for it to open. We had originally agreed to walk on to the next town and assess our energy levels before we stopped for the night. We walked through the town until we found a Coffee shop for some refreshments.
Puente La Reina to Maneru
While we were having our 11 o clock snack, we sat down and consulted our guidebook on the route ahead of us. We decided to try and walk to Maneru, 5km away and see how tired we felt there. We left Puente La Reina at 11:50 by walking under the large stone arch and crossing over the footbridge. We turned left after the bridge and walked uphill on the road.
We walked for 5 minutes on the road, the Camino then turned onto a nice gravel path with fields on either side. It took us 50 minutes to walk to Maneru but it was now 12:50 and everything seemed to be closed for siesta, we found a bar open and sat down and got a nice cold drink. We both felt that we could walk to the next village of Cirauqui as it was only 3 km away.
Maneru to Cirauqui
After a break out of the sun for 30 minutes in Maneru, we got back walking again. This section of the walk was particularly beautiful and was the first time that we saw vineyards. After leaving Maneru, we could nearly straight away see Cirauqui perched on top of a hill in the distance. Which always makes a walk difficult for me as I keep looking at it and it never seems to get any closer.
The village of Cirauqui is on top of a hill, so we had a gradual climb up to the town. As we got closer to the town we could see that it was full of uphill small windy streets leading toward the main square. We walked up through the town until we found the Albergue Maralotx. We arrived at the Albergue doors at 14:00 and there was a large queue of people looking to book in. It is €13 for accommodation in the Albergue and they also have an option for dinners in the basement for an additional €10 (which is amazing).
Accommodation on day 4 of the Camino de Santiago
Albergue Maralotx is an old building but the beds and facilities were very good. We really enjoyed our stay in this Albergue. Because everyone came into the Albergue at the same time, there was a bit of a scatter to try to get a shower first. After the initial scramble for the shower, we explored the town. There was not much to see in the town but it was an unbelievably peaceful place, we just relaxed and chatted to other Pilgrims, until they called us for dinner. There is only one shop in this town and it is very small with not much variety in it.
The dinner in Albergue Maralotx was AMAZING and they served a custard with a cinnamon type of desert and it was the best dessert of the whole Camino, we spoke about this dessert to everyone we met, it was divine.
Time and distance from Cizur Menor to Cirauqui
- We left Cizur Menor at 06:00 and reached Zariquiegui at 07:20
- We left Zariquiegui at 06:25 and reached Alto del Perdon at 08:00
- We left Alto del Perdon at 08:00 and reached Uterga at 08:45 (We had breakfast here)
- We left Uterga at 08:45 and reached Muruzabal at 10:10
- We left Muruzabal at 10:10 and reached Obanos at 10:35
- We left Obanos at 10:35 and reached Puente La Reina at 11:10 (Small snack here)
- We left Puente La Reina at 11:10 and reached Maneru at 12:45 (Another snack here)
- We left Maneru at 13:25 and reached Cirauqui at 13:55
We walked 27km today in 30 degrees heat but thankfully there was a lovely cool breeze, plus we took lots of breaks.
Advice for day 4 of the Camino de Santiago
- Take every opportunity to have a break in the shade or coffee shops
- If you like to take photographs of your journey this section has loads of amazing opportunities
- If your schedule allows, do all the optional routes, everyone speaks highly of them
- There were large crowds staying in Puente La Reina, try to be early to beat the crowd
- If your legs allow it, stay in Cirauqui
- The best meal of the Camino so far has been in Albergue Maralotx