Araba / Álava

Up early to beat the heat we were on the hoof by 6:20am, which is 90 minutes before dawn. Our destination was about 25km ahead.

It was deliciously cool walking at that hour but also pitch dark. John has a headlamp so we were able to see the track into Estella. It was an easy walk, we were there in an hour and were across town by 8am, where we stopped for coffee and croissants.

Not far out of Estella is the monastery of Irache. They make wine there and offer it free to pilgrims through a tap in the wall, along with fresh water for those disinclined to drink red wine at 8:30am.

Kevin had a sip and added a few drops to his water bottle for a hoped-for medicinal effect. The wine quality was a tad below that of the $1.29 bottle featured in yesterday’s photos.

From there it was a quite gradual climb to Villamayor de Monjardín. We stopped at the cafe a bit short of there in Ázqueta for an excellent pair of boccadillos and a cold drink. Also a boots off airing of the feet which seems to be a best practice for long distance walkers.

From there it was a long hot, mostly shadeless downhill into Los Arcos, with a food truck a few km short of town where we stopped again to drink something cold and air the feet.

We had been unable to find a room in Los Arcos so we phoned for a taxi on arrival which delivered us a few km up the track at Torres del Río where we have a private twin room for the night.En savoir plus