Distance: 24.8km (115.9km).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 350m / 485m / 505m.
Weather: Nice, thunder nearby in the evening.
It has now almost become a daily routine to get up early, however it does not feel much of a problem. The reason is simple. I am now looking so much forward to each day and what I will experience during the day that my motivation is high. From Puente la Reina it is usual that the next stage is going to Estella, but what I had in mind was a more unusual place, which was Ayegui. I tried to convince the rest of the group to join me in going there; in that way, I had a small ace up my sleeve.
In the morning after Puente la Reina.
When we left the albergue, the sun had ever so slowly begun to announce its arrival on the sky, there was a lovely colour breaking the darkness above Puente la Reina. I have as well begun to enjoy these wee hours in the morning when walking, I do not want to begin too early, but enjoy starting in the dark just before it begin to brighten and so see the landscape slowly reveal itself around me.
We are getting nearer to Cirauqui; notice the church at the top of the village.
Between Puente la Reina and Estella, the Camino went mostly on gravel tracks, with a surplus of dry and barren fields around, only a small part of the walk went on road. Still, there was some walking next to a highway, as well as underneath large concrete structures that housed both the highway and an aqueduct. Not so exciting a walk as yesterday, but still pleasant enough.
In Cirauqui, small and narrow streets with houses adorned with ornaments and flowers.
The most pleasant surprise of the day came when Emma appeared after my first pinecone animal on the Camino saw the light of the day. She had yesterday felt better and had eventually walked to Obanos (the last place before Puente la Reina).
The San Miguel church outside Villatuerta.
We had lunch in Cirauqui, a pleasant small village with narrow streets situated on the top of a small hill, where it was confusing trying to find the way. I walked up to the top of the village, where two churches are guarding over Cirauqui, with a view of the area around.
Grooving with the yellow arrows. The characteristic yellow arrow visited by a street artist.
Estella is a pretty obvious place to stay at on the Camino, the town houses around 14 000 inhabitants and is by that large enough to entertain the pilgrims resting there after the days' walk. The medieval bridge, Puente de Carcel, which goes over the river Ega to the old town, is a well-known landmark on the route. The town contains enough places to eat, bars and accommodations for pilgrims, together with museums and churches. The Basque name of the town is Lizarra.
In Estella, the church of El Santo Sepulcro.
The official albergue in Estella however, did not have the same good reputation as the place itself, but that was not the reason why I wanted to go further to Ayegui. I did not know much about the albergue there either; Ayegui itself is just a very short walk away from Estella and is more of a sleepy suburb for a city. When we arrive at the albergue, we meet Jon who immediately exclaims 'guys, you're not going to believe this'. And correctly enough, the albergue is located in the ground floor of a sports hall, or more correctly one of the usual pelota-courts here. An unusual place for a pilgrims hospital, me like.
The pelota court in the albergue in Ayegui.
The ace, which I however had in my sleeves, was Bodegas Irache. A short walk away from Ayegui you find this wine producer and they have a free wine fountain outside. Instead of quickly walking by tomorrow morning, I thought it would be more fun and enjoyable to meet outside of it in the afternoon. So, after having done our daily routines and rested for a while, we are a small group that goes visiting, Emma, Michael, Jon, Avril, Torsten, Christel and me.
The wine fountain at Bodegas Irache, Michael and Torsten.
Dark clouds had gathered in the horizon when we arrived, but they left us alone. And free wine it was. Not flowing free though, you had to work to pump out what you wanted (reasonably enough). Some local men came also in a car and had brought with them empty bottles to fill. They were somewhat rude, but they were chased away by a guard shortly after they arrived. We were allowed to be there. I also got to look at the nearby Monasterio de Irache, a Benedictine monastery with thunderclouds in the background.
The Benedictine monastery of Monasterio de Irache.
The pelota-albergue did also serve food, so we got our menu del peregrino while local heroes played pelota below. Afterwards, outside, there was a tiny trace of rain in the air and dull rumblings from the thunder not far away. The evening in Ayegui and at the wine fountain was the definitive highlights of the day when the walk of the day was pleasant enough, but not anything more.
The sun breaking through the clouds at Bodegas Irache.
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