We have passed the 100k mark from Roncesvalles which means we have walked a tad more than 124k. We spotted a sign telling us that at a blacksmith’s shop a couple of k up from Estella.
Everyone has been anticipating today, the day we walk to a wine fountain! The Bodegas Irache winery is alongside the Camino and they built a fountain into their wall to provide wine for all the pilgrims who pass by. Bless them! You can watch the pilgrims drinking via their live webcam here https://www.irache.com/es/enoturismo/fuente-del-vino.html
One woman on arriving at the fountain was in a panic ‘I don’t have a cup!’ And then her eyes lit up and she visibly relaxed and started breathing again when she saw us taking our Camino shells off our packs and putting them to good use.
In towns there often are musicians, but on the Camino we even have them playing alongside the paths.
Along the Camino you keep meeting the same people or at least recognizing them. Some you get to know, some you wave to, some get or give a subtle nod. Some you end up having adventures with.
Back at Roncesvalles we have bunk beds, four to a pod. Since there was seven of us, a stranger had to share with three of us, an older Italian man obviously embarrassed and out-of-his-comfort-zone sharing a room with three younger women. His walking partner, a younger man clearly enjoying his friends discomfort, kept passing the doorway grinning and waving at his friend.
At Puenta la Reina a young Italian woman whom Sophie had chatted to along the way, came to Sophie in her bunk and asked her to help an older Italian man whose back was in great pain. She explained ed that older Itslian men are embarrass6to be touched by a woman not their wives and usually went to Male doctors. So don’t feel bad if he seems awkward but he is in great pain. She k we all this as she was Italian AND a doctor. It was almost lights-out but Sophie jumped up with her rolling pin and hurried off. She came back laughing. It was the same man.
This morning while about to head out the door the Italian man ran up to her knelt at her feet and kissed her hand.
During the long day as we passed through a pretty town where the path took us through a small archway in a building someone asks. ‘Where’s Sophie?’ ‘She’s back there massaging the Italian man.’
Los Arcos was a small town with an attractive square but limited accommodation. I had stayed at a Flemish-run Albuquerque but wasn’t keen on having to stay there again. A more modern o e informed us they were full and suggested two more, a municipal one and a private one. Failing that she said we could always come back and see if the Flemish one had room. Interesting that she had suggested the Flemish one as a last resort. So we tried the private one. It was iffy, so we did our bed bug check and didn’t find any. Absence does not mean bedbug free so I decided to try put my mosquito net which I tried to the bottom of the bunk above me.
I got tired up inserting I the middle of the night.
Tobias and Muffin found their way here too, camping in the back yard where a donkey grazed six feet away.
Kilometers walked: 21.5
Food Highlight: sipping wine from a fountain
Highlight: sipping wine from a fountain
Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa 