Camino de Santiago | Jenny and Stephen's Travel Adventure

Camino – Los Arcos (Day 9)

Date: Wed 15th May
Distance: 23km
Temperature: Cold with slight precipitation
Mood: Good
Left: Estella 8:45am
Arrived: Los Arcos 2:15pm
Santiago de Compostela: 654Km

After a very enjoyable laid back rest day with a little sight seeing and giving an Irish couple directions to their Hotel as they wandered in looking a little lost (then bumping into them again out for dinner). It was time to prepare for the next leg of our journey.

Weather forecast looked grim. Storm front came through around 10pm and rain forecast for the next week.

Hit the road around 8:45am (not too bad for us!). Whilst cold, it really is good walking weather as long as the rain holds off. Fortunately it did, with only a light sprinkling to give our wet weather jackets a tickle.

The scenery didn’t disappoint, but just not as photographic without the blue Spanish skies. Unfortunately a photo cannot capture and excite all the sensors. It misses out on the freshness of a cool breeze as it blows across the new growth of a velvet lime green wheat field giving the appearance of rolling waves. The birds chattering and singing, the crunch of gravel underfoot and the waft of cow dung hanging in the air!

We only take a quick rest break in Azqueta for a Cafe con leche and bumped into Leah, a fellow pilgrim we have been constantly bumping into since starting our Camino.

We pushed on to Villamayor and popped our heads into the 12th century San Andrés Church where a clergyman took delight in explaining what appeared to be a very special solid silver crucifix of course all in Spanish! But it did earn us a Selos! (A stamp that Pilgrims collect along the way proving that they have in fact walked the way!) Note: after some additional research, we discover that the special silver crucifix is a processional cross from the 10th Century, called the Cruz de Monjardin!

We arrived in Los Arcos shortly after 2pm. This is usually a good hour to secure a bed for the night before all the Albergues fill up, but not so in this town. All bar one were full and the only one with a vacancy, you wouldn’t even let your beloved dog sleep there (even if it were called Coco!). So it was either continue walking until we find something or go up market to hotel accommodation once more. (It’s funny how I never get any complaints from the other half when I have to break the news). It appears that the Camino is carrying an unusually high number of Pilgrims this year and accommodation is scarce. As we were hunting a young Pilgrim was looking for his accommodation that had been prebooked as he had learned the hard way earlier when he had to sleep on the bathroom floor! This Camino could get interesting (or very expensive!)

After a nice long hot shower, we visit the local Church Iglesia de Santa Maria del Los Arcos and finish off with a 3 course meal with a couple of glasses of Vino Tinto (who said we didn’t drink Red Wine?)

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A local winery provides Pilgrims with free wine on tap!

A bush toilet! Just what one needs along the way, especially when there are no public toilets!

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Camino – Estella (Day 7)

Date: Mon 13th May
Distance: 22km
Weather: Warm and sunny (got burnt)
Mood: High

Today the sun was shining and our spirits were high. We had paid our 4€ each for breakfast and arrived at the restaurant to find only a few well dressed pilgrims remaining. Suited us fine to have the place to ourselves! Breakfast was fantastic value and we stuffed our pockets with extra to take on the road!

Again the last to leave and a quick stop in town to purchase some lunch supplies before heading out over the 11th Century bridge and into the glorious Spanish countryside. Plenty of wild flowers, brilliant blue sky and a cacophony of birds singing. We really need to hit the road a bit earlier than after 9am! We are loving the rural scenery, the Olive fields and Vineyards and the villages we pass through. We rarely see much in the way of Spanish life which is a little disappointing. Spanish don’t seem to exist until after 7pm when they all come out, children and all into the village plaza’s where the kids play and the parents socialise over a drink or 2!

Around lunch time we bumped into our Melbourne friends at a popular cafe/bar (not hard to be popular if they are the only ones open along the entire route) We soon discover that we had enjoyed a full hotel buffet breakfast instead of the Pilgrims breakfast that was served down at the bar between 6-7:30am! (Whoops!) After walking the last few km’s with the Melbourne ladies we reached our destination of Estella. I had emailed a hotel before leaving Puente del Reine for a reservation as we had planned to have a rest day and Albergue’s only allow you 1 night.

We said our farewells and then needed to ask for directions from A local. A lovely young Spanish woman gave us very clear and detailed instructions with lots of agreement from her father. Unfortunately it was all in Spanish! At least we understood the general direction, so once in town consulted another young Spanish woman who had a tiny amount of English to get us to the Hotel.

After visiting the Church of San Pedro De La Rúe and a quick circuit around town we enjoyed diner back at our Hotel. Tomorrow is our designated rest day! Which means a nice sleep-in and no Blog! But also means we will probably lose touch with fellow Pilgrims we have been constantly bumping into along the way.

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Technical talk – Blogging on the Camino

For those of you interested in the technical aspects of Blogging on the Camino ( if not, suggest skipping this one) else read more here

Camino – Puente La Reina (Day 6)

Date: Sun 12th May
Distance: 24km
Temperature: Cool to cold
Mood: Flat

We awoke to piped monastery music at 6am. Up and out by 8am (still the last to leave). Whilst breakfast was included, it consisted of just coffee and toast, so it didn’t take much convincing to top up when seeing and smelling a local bakery when walking through Pamplona on the way out.

The gardens on the way out of town were brimming of beautiful springtime flowers

The scenery as always thus far on our journey was spectacular as the climbed Alto del Perdón (780m) dotted with wind turbines for miles along the mountain ridge.

At the summit we were rewarded with the famous steel cut outs of a pilgrim scene, before descending down the other side. Unfortunately, at this point, my camera battery went flat!

Today’s walk was much harder as the accumulation of kms is taking its toll on our bodies. Mostly sore muscles around the shoulders from weight bearing and of course in the legs.

After walking through many small hamlets/towns we made it to Puente de Reine, famous for it’s 11th century stone bridge (Queens bridge). On entering the town we made enquiries at the first Albergue we came across to find that they also had private rooms with their own bathrooms!

Iglisia del Crucifijo

Iglesias del Santiago

11th Century “Queens bridge”

Note the white Asparagus

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Camino – Running with the Bulls (Day 5)

Date: Sat 11th May

Distance: 22km
Temperature: Cool
Mood: Good

Breakfast was provided by our friendly Spanish host, but all servings were carefully measured including the juice in the jug that just managed to fill 2 glasses! We got the message that we needed to be gone by 8am so she could do the cleaning up.

We left in fresh but sunny conditions and passed a Magnesium factory as we walked out of town. We are now starting to pass through small towns and hamlets which break up the journey and add extra interest.

Just before lunch we came across a very popular Cafe doing great business servicing Pilgrims in a small hamlet and we took no hesitation in stopping for an early lunch. Pizza straight out of the wood fired oven. Yum!

Aussies from the Sunshine Coast. We first meet these guys on the platform at Bayonne train station and didn’t see them again until Orisson. Since then we have bumped into them most days!

More Aussies from Melbourne. Late 60’s and putting the young ones to shame, including us!

The last 5km of the days walk was walking from the outskirts of Pamplona into the old town. Whilst we had consulted one of 3 our guide books, we got lost trying to follow the directions and we also had no idea on where we should stay the night. In the end a nice Spanish couple out for an afternoon walk happily escorted us for a good few km to a small Albergue on the edge of the old town.

The Paderborn Albergue was hosted by a German couple that volunteered their services for 3 weeks every year for the last 7 years. As we had no real options, we decided to stay put and pay the outrageous price of 17€ for the 2 of us, which incidentally included breakfast!

The luxury suite. Only 4 beds to a room!

No time for the wicked! Straight out to explore Pamplona. We really enjoyed this town as we stuck mainly to the old part including a visit to the Cathedral of Pamplona!