Alto del Perdón: where pilgrims stop being tourists

Day five on the Camino Francés takes you out of Pamplona and over the Alto del Perdón. It's the stage where most pilgrims stop feeling like tourists.

The morning climb out of Pamplona is gradual, through vineyard country and small villages that haven't changed much in centuries. Then the path steepens onto the ridge of the Alto del Perdón — the Hill of Forgiveness — where the wind picks up and the view opens in every direction. Pamplona sits behind you in the valley. Ahead, the plains of Navarra stretch toward the horizon.

At the top stands one of the most photographed landmarks on the entire Camino: a line of iron silhouettes cut from steel, showing pilgrims on horseback and on foot, moving west. An inscription reads: "donde se cruza el camino del viento con el de las estrellas" — where the path of the wind crosses the path of the stars. It's been standing since 1996 and still stops pilgrims mid-step every single day.

The descent from Alto del Perdón is steep and loose-surfaced — the kind of downhill that tests your poles and your knees and your confidence in your boot choice. Take it slowly. Many pilgrims push too fast here and pay for it later in the week.

Puente la Reina waits at the bottom: a medieval bridge town named for its 11th-century bridge, still intact, still carrying pilgrims across the Río Arga just as it has for a thousand years. The bridge alone is worth the stage.

This is one of those days on the Camino that you'll describe to people back home and find yourself unable to fully explain.