Estellerria / Tierra Estella, Navarre, Spain
time : Sep 12, 2024 7:50 AM
duration : 5h 38m 32s
distance : 21.6 km
total_ascent : 549 m
highest_point : 735 m
avg_speed : 4.6 km/h
user_id : fineartjones
user_firstname : Neil
user_lastname : Jones
We both felt pretty rough this morning due to the lack of sleep last night, but a litre of orange juice and a coffee sorted us out! There is a short, slightly rougher section, around maybe a third or halfway through the walk, where care and poles might be needed, but otherwise this is another fairly easy walking day on either dirt or light gravel trails. The highlight is definitely the free wine fountain at the monastery in the town of Irache. Yes, FREE. WINE. FOUNTAIN. It's right on the Camino, and very well signposted, so impossible to miss. Also, there will most likely be a hoard of thirsty peregrinos accumulated around it! Just be sure to have an empty bottle with you in readiness!
There are four towns/villages along the way (we stopped in Àzqueta, which had a nice cafe), though the final 5km or so is a long walk along gravel track, and nothing else, into Los Arcos, so a bottle of water and some snacks for this last bit might be a good idea! We stayed at the Albergue La Casa Austria, which isn't too bad, with bunks in separated rooms (our room has 5 beds in it) and a sunny little terrace. We've decided that if anyone in our room snores tonight we're going to use one of Jess's walking poles to 'neutralise' them haha!
This town is very small but there is a small supermarket and bar, so everything we could possibly need! The downside is that because the albergue insisted we check in by 3pm (we arrived at around 2pm), and everything in the town is now closed until 5pm, we have some hanging around to do. This would have been the perfect time to do some washing but we did it all yesterday :)