Puente la Reina to Villatuerta & Estella

After breakfast at the Apóstol Albergue we had a shorter day of about 17km with a few stops. The weather started quite cool but was sunny and warm soon enough. We walked through lots of fallow fields and also vineyards and olive groves.

We stopped for café con leche in Mañeru; then a foot cooling boots-off stop in a nice olive grove with views to Cirauqui, a very picturesque walled city built on a hill. We had a cold drink and bumped into various pilgrims we’d met earlier. Kevin also spoke to some Brazilian coffee farmers from Minas Gerais.

Our next stop was where the Camino crosses the river Salado. The water looked tempting so we dipped our feet in the frigid water. It apparently flows out of the bottom of a dam further up the hill. Feet refreshed for the 2nd time, and John’s blister re-dressed, we hoofed it on into Lorca for lunch. But not before stopping at the free-for-pilgrims snack table setup somewhere before Lorca: chilled water and toast soaked in olive oil; good fuel.

Then we walked a few hot sun-washed kilometers into Villatuerta. We’re in a casa rural called the 643KM. That’s the remaining distance to Santiago. Very nice room.

We decided on a rest day and checked in for a second night in our casa rural in Villatuerta then took a taxi about 5k to Estella, a beautiful medieval city of 14,000 people.  We ate breakfast and then a had a stroll around the older parts of town. Saw the magnificent church of San Pedro and its adjacent cloister.

Then we walked the Calle Mayor, the main street dating back to medieval times, very narrow and lined with 5-6 storey buildings with shops on the ground floor. Coffee and cake in one of them.

Kevin bought a better phone SIM, and we topped up our supplies for blister wound amelioration, and snacks for a planned early start tomorrow. We walked a leisurely loop through the beautifully shaded park near the river, then found a sandwich for lunch and booked the next two nights’ lodging. We caught a taxi back to Villatuerta after attempting a bus ride. Alas Google Maps had the bus schedule wrong.

Tomorrow is a longish haul to Los Arcos so we plan to begin at 6am. We are both feeling better after a rest day. There are no restaurants open here in Villatuerta, it being Monday, so we will buy ingredients and throw something together in the kitchen in our albergue.Read more