ESTELLA – LOS ARCOS

30 MARCH

21.1km

It was a restless night. A lot of pilgrims in one room … some of them snoring, another talking in his sleep and lots of other pilgrims tossing and turning in their noisy sleeping bags through-out the night. I suppose one will have to get used to this if you want to enjoy a good night’s sleep ☺️.

We’ve got up early and had our breakfast in the communal area (hard-boiled eggs, yoghurt and bread). It was still dark when we’ve stepped outside the albergue.

And then, just before 8:00 we’ve got to the well-known wine fountain outside Estella. Though it was a bit early to drink red wine from the fountain, I took a sip – maybe I’ll never have this opportunity again!

Early morning on our way out of Estella

Irache – Wine Fountain outside Estella

We’ve walked through a beautiful pine forest and the only sounds we’ve heard was that of the birds, water flowing and our own footsteps … how blissful! We’ve chosen the option route today that would took us on natural pathways through Luquin.

Walking in a pine forest after we’ve left the wine fountain. At times we had to choose our steps carefully not to walk through the puddles

Halfway to Luquin, we’ve stopped for a break to have a sandwich that we’ve made earlier at the albergue. We were sitting on two rocks under a tree and witnessed a farmer busy loading equipment on his truck. It was such a peaceful moment and at that moment I would not want to be anywhere else.

Natural pathways on our way to Luquin

In Luquin we were happy to find an open bar where we could have some well-deserved “café con leche” (coffee with milk) and lemon cake (already a favourite on this hiking trip). Though Berto is the coffee drinker in our house and me loving tea, I only drank coffee on our Camino – Spain’s coffee is in a league of its own (and their tea is not great 😊).

As we’ve got out of the bar, we’ve came across the young Korean girls (and now also one Korean guy). They were so happy to see us and immediately insisted on a group photo … it’s quite amazing how we keep on seeing familiar faces on our daily walks.

Time for a group photo with our Korean pilgrim friends in Luquin

The rest of our route was flat and through farm fields. There was little shade and we were very excited to suddenly came across a bar in the middle of a field! We’ve stopped for a rest and enjoyed freshly squeezed orange juice … Berto thought a “cerveza” (beer) would also go down well 😁.

Green farm fields as far as the eye can see – on our way to Los Arcos

A welcome sight on a hot day – a bar in the middle of farm fields

The last couple of kilometers went quickly by and we’ve arrived just after 12:30 in Los Arcos. We’ve found a nice albergue, Casa de la Abuela. Our room had 3 bunk beds … a promise for a good night’s rest.

We ate our lunch that we’ve packed in earlier that morning (hard-boiled eggs, chorizo sausage and apples). By now, we were in a routine when we’ve arrived at our albergue – made our beds, ate lunch and then do some laundry (we were lucky thus far to find a washing machine at every albergue).

We’ve explored the town a bit – according to Brierley’s guide book, Los Arcos has a population of only 1,300. Their church, Santa Maria, is in the middle of the town with its high tower and impressive front door. We sat at one of the café’s in the plaza where we had a beer and seen a couple of familiar pilgrim faces walking into Los Arcos.

Santa Maria church in Los Arcos

Dinner was prepared by the hostess at the albergue which consists of bean soup, salad and bread. Three French guys ate with us, but communication was limited due to us not speaking any French and they could only say a few words in English. It was the first time (and the last) we saw them, but we’ve enjoyed their companionship.

This was another good day on the Camino.