Day 6 - Thoughts from Los Arcos

 Estella is a lovely old town founded in 1090 when the place was granted a charter by the Pamplonese king Sancho Ramirez. So, loads of Romanesque architecture and I wandered into the 12th century church of San Miguel. The place was deserted, but through the silence you started to sense the presence of pilgrims who had paused in this place for the last thousand years.



As there was no communal meal in the Albergue, I wandered into the town square for tortillas and beer before bed. I was in a nice room with the guy from Hong Kong that I met in Zubiri, the former policeman to whom I had been chatting during the day and another Brit.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed today (so far). An early start on a wonderful, cool, clear morning, I have always loved towns and cities as they awaken. People quietly making their way to work, lost in their thoughts.

We are now getting into wine country, and the good news is that there really is a fountain that flows continuously with a reasonable red Rioja, the bad news is we arrived there at 08:30 in the morning. Still, not about to pass up an opportunity like this.

I fell into conversation with a young Brit who was taking time out before starting Uni in September, she will be reading Spanish and Arabic, so it was interesting to share experiences of Sudan and weirdly, her sister lives in our village back in the UK.

We were joined by a lovely Irish guy who certainly had dealings with the Blarney Stone, and a gentle woman from the States. I walked the rest of the way in their most enjoyable company and arrived at Los Acros just after lunch. Checked into a pretty basic hostel, sharing with an Australian, an Italian and an unfortunate man from Texas. Communal dinner tonight to which I’m very much looking forward.

 

 


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