Day five, Puente la Reina to Estella
Yesterday was a shocker, with all the rain and mud, I walked the entire distance without a stop.
Here's a link to the day's effort from my watch, although I forgot to hit the 'start' button until I was 3-4km from my start point - about 40 minutes in:
Although I have a tendency to just keep walking, I promised myself that from now on I was going to stop and smell the roses a little more.
Not that there were many roses, but there was a lot of nature, some of which I've included in the photo album at the end of this blog.
I didn't feel that wonderful when I woke up. Something I ate didn't agree with me overnight and I didn't feel that I got my money's worth for breakfast (although I did get full value from my private toilet). I swiped a little sandwich from the breakfast bar for later though.
My Camino is different from most - I didn't realise that at first. Most people carry their pack from town to town and stay in large hostels or alburgues - often in large bunkrooms with snoring people.
I enlisted my good friend Andrea from Wildside travel to sort my entire itinerary, booking flash hotels at every stop and having my suitcase picked up each morning, so it's waiting for me at the end of each day. Yesterday I was cutting it fine, arriving at the same time as the luggage van, but if my new policy of more stops works I'll be arriving a bit later from now on.
Having fewer restrictions on luggage has meant that I've brought more than I need. I know that now, but I didn't know it when I was packing. I also have my computer in there.
My suitcase is a clamshell design and it can be tricky encouraging it to close enough to zip it up. Fortunately it's fairly forgiving, although I'm just waiting for the day when the zip explodes.
I hadn't explored Puente la Reina yesterday. I was too busy drying out. However, last night's hotel was at the entrance to the town, so I got to walk right through when I started today's journey. All the photos in the album up to the bridge photos were taken as I walked through. The strange little slits in that old wall were for archers to shoot their arrows.
The church of St Mary dates back to the days of the Knights Templar.
In the eleventh century, Dona Mayor, the wife of Sancho III was concerned at the difficulties pilgrims faced in crossing the river Arga. The French and Spanish Caminos have merged by this point and with nearly as many pilgrims then as there are now (a thousand years later) it was important to provide a bridge. Dona Mayor caused it to happen and now the town bears the name of "The Bridge of the Queen".
So - I wandered on through town and out over the bridge. As self-advised, I stopped at the village of Maneru for a coffee. Given my condition, it was attractive that it had a very clean and inviting toilet.
Interesting that if you just wanted to use the toilet it was €2 but if you had a coffee for €1.10, you could use the toilet for nothing.
We had a bit of a climb early on and due to my short term memory limitations, I can't remember if it was before or after Maneru. Nevertheless, the climb was short and sharp. I had my first conversation of the day with an Irish lady called Kathryn (sp?), who drew attention to herself by walking backwards for a time. She said it freed up the muscles and made you walk faster when you turned around. An interesting concept.
Later on I walked with a young Belgium (Belgese?) chap called Jeff (sp?). He was highly excited when he learned I was from NZ, as he really wanted to go there. We took photos of each other along the way and parted at a village whose name I can't recall. I'd reached 14km - two thirds of the way along and had promised myself I'd stop and eat my stolen sandwich.
Nothing eventful after that. I tend to go into a bit of a zone after about 16km, when I can smell the end of the day. I caught up with my friend Linda from Christchurch, who was walking with a Mexican/Canadian girl, who also wanted to come to NZ, but I pressed on to the finish line.
There was a horrible rural industry going on over the last kilometre before Estella. I don't know what it was, but it smelled like shit.
Well here I am. I must say the Spanish know how to price beer. I went out to buy a couple of cans, but of course the supermarket was closed, so I came back and bought one from the bar. €2 for 300ml, a nice accompaniment as I sit here tapping the keys.
Gubby may be cross (but probably not) if I don't go and find the church she recommended, so I will go out and see if I can find it. It's 5pm now, so a bit cooler out (and I've finished the second beer. I walked around the town square earlier, and although there are pilgrims meals on offer (usually three courses and wine), I think I'll grab something downstairs here. I think tomorrow's hotel doubles as an alburgue, so I'l socialise then. Only two more days and I'll be in Logrona, where I have my first rest day (that'll be Sunday)
Well I went out, but the church was locked up. I took a few photos around town, including some of the Chapitel area, where I'm staying. In fact the last photo in the album is of my hotel, where my room is on the second floor on the right.
Very nice dinner at the hotel and good night to Martin and Lynn from the US who I shared some of the evening with.
Today's photo album https://photos.app.goo.gl/wyxdAYkdB6GhsNaz8
Thank you for beer and good conversation at the square today. Se yoou later.
ReplyDeleteJens
Bar downstairs at 7pm?
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