Day 6, Puenta la Reina to Estella

We set out this morning as soon as the rain stopped, did a quick tour of Puente la Reina and then got back on the path. The evidence of last night’s torrential rain made us doubly grateful that we’d missed it yesterday. (The picture of us walking though the town was taken by Julie from California).
This was meant to be a relatively easy day - 21.6km and pretty flat. We passed through a number of lovely medieval villages - my favourite, Cirauqui, reminded me of an Umbrian hill town although our Spanish friend, Bego, said it was pretty typical of this part of Navarre.
This was another varied day where we walked on Roman roads, crossed 12th century bridges and walked both over and under the A12 motorway. I felt confident about how I was coping with the Camino and really content for most of the walk until the moment I began to suspect a blister hotspot developing on the sole of my right foot. Peace shattered, I found a use at last for the deer tallow cream I’d ordered for blister prevention and changed into walking sandals. I’m a bit anxious that I may still have a problem tomorrow.
I really enjoyed the company of our Camino friends Bego and Kim and their stimulating conversation kept me going for the final few kilometres. Kim and I talked about politics at local and national level and Bego told me how worried she was that young people are taught to be afraid with warnings they won’t afford a house, won’t have secure jobs because of AI and that the planet has no future. We talked too about the indigenous people in Mexico she worked with for 15 years.
We arrived in Estella together though I’d been trailing behind. Fiona and I were relieved our hostel was on the near side of the town, we stopped there and agreed to meet the others later since this is their last night.
After dumping rucksacks and finding our room (a 4 bed room shared with an Israeli and a Spanish woman who we have already bumped into) we found ourselves a beer and did a tour of the town. Fiona wanted cherries and we eventually tracked them down.
Said hello to Janice and Cheryl, our Canadian Camino friends, went home and washed some clothes (not likely to dry in time for the morning), and had a healthy dinner at El Mundo.
Estella is a beautiful town, full of magificent churches and palaces. We met Bego and Kim after dinner, had tea with them and were taken for a tour by Bego’s local friend. A memorable end to a good day.Read more