Pamplona Camino Frances: Credencial Stamp and City Tour

JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE CAMINO

Part of the Camino experience is slowly filling up your pilgrim passport with stamps as you inch closer to Santiago de Compostela.

More correctly labelled the credencial, this is the document which qualifies you as a pilgrim - a fold-out booklet about the size of a passport carrying your personal details and boasting space to harbour beautifully crafted ink stamps from the accommodation you stay in along the way.

Your credencial is stamped when you check in at the end of each day. When you arrive to the pilgrim office in Santiago they will use this document to verify that you've walked there legitimately, and reward you with a well-earned Compostela.

These stamps are not just available at lodgings, though. Many cafes and restaurants will have their own mark you can use to flesh out your pilgrim passport. And occasionally, you might just meet someone along the way who wants to give you their own stamp.

Like Gustavo, a Basque chap of roughly 35 years who Dad and I bumped into on our fourth day along the Camino Francés in 2019, just short of Pamplona.

He was down by the river with his toddler son, and called us over to offer us the masterpiece you can see above. It remains one of my favourite Camino stamps - a shapeless wax design portraying a tree growing through the aperture of a letter C.

Running through the design is a red piece of string, fixed in place by the melted wax and dangling a tiny little Camino shell at its base. It's a real work of art.

After meticulously stamping our fresh credencials, Gustavo wasn't done.

“Where are you staying tonight?” he ventured in excellent English.

Pamplona, we told him, which was only a few short kilometres further down the road.

“Meet me outside the tourist centre at 7pm and I will give you a tour of, where they run the bulls.”

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We checked into the Albergue Jesus y Maria soon after that. After showering and some laundry, we ventured out to meet Gustavo and his little boy.

Tony and Brian, two old mates from the US, and our two newest pals, came with us. Each armed with a can of beer to help mask our sore feet, Gustavo and his son took us on a winding tour of Pamplona's passageways as we traced the steps thousands of lunatics and a few dozen bulls took just last month during the annual San Fermin Festival.

We ended up at the arena where they end the Running of the Bulls, although tonight there was a game of Basque Pelota in full swing. We were totally engrossed for 15 minutes, sipping away at our beers as Gustavo told us all about the popular sport - a mix between squash and lacrosse it seemed.

He finished off the tour with a restaurant recommendation which we took straight on board, passing the tip on to a few other pilgrim friends.

The night became a tapas and red wine feast for seven, one I'm reminded of every time I look over my old pilgrim passport.

Just another day on the Camino, really.