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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