Day six – Aug 14
After a good night’s sleep – because… air-conditioning, ha! – we got another early start, leaving our Albergue before daylight. We retraced steps we’d taken yesterday in exploring the quaint little town and headed toward the bridge leading us out and on our way to Estella. Being as early as it was, we didn’t think we’d be able to have any breakfast or coffee until we got to the next town. But walking down Calle Mayor, we spotted lights in a little bakery, and there were people inside! Woot! We picked up a coffee, a tortilla; AND a chocolate croissant for a later mid-morning snack. We were so excited to have coffee that early, that Cindy forgot her food on the counter. Luckily, we hadn’t gone far before she discovered it.
The moon was still high in the sky and the blue hour was approaching when we walked over the Puenta la Reina. We finished our coffee and ate our tortilla as we walked and, once again, fell into the rhythm of “the way”. The dirt track weaved through valleys and fields en route to the next tiny town, Mańeru; then past the village cemetery where, on All Saint’s Day, you would find locals having parties to honor the dead.
We could see Cirauqui on a hill in the distance, the road passing by vineyards laden with grapes almost ready to be picked and made into wine; olive trees with yet-to-ripen fruit, asparagus fields and colorful summer wildflowers. This is said to be one of the prettiest and most peaceful stretches of the Camino and the blue-sky day made it even prettier.
As we are walking towards Cirauqui, this cute young woman comes up behind us and asks if we will take her photo. And then she asks if we want one of us. Sure! Later, at dinner, who walks up to our table to join our group… but the girl that took our photo, Nora!
The climb up to picturesque Cirauqui rewarded us with narrow cobble-stone streets, medieval buildings and another meetup with a fun group of pilgrims having the mid-morning café con leche and snack. A good place to eat that chocolate croissant!
Then fueled by caffeine and sugar, energized by conversation and laughter and also managing to hoist our backpacks without making ‘old people sounds’, 😉 we wove our way through the lovely old town. Upon leaving Cirauqui, we were actually walking on the old Roman road – where countless pilgrims have walked for 2000 years! So amazing.
The heat wave was still with us so, when on the trek to Lorca, we encountered a small river, we had a perfect opportunity to take off our shoes and soak our feet in the icy water. Benedicte and Frederick were already there putting their shoes back on and we chatted for a minute before they continued walking. Now to soak our hot, weary feet without falling in and soaking our entire bodies! Not that that wouldn’t have also felt good. Ahhhh!
The sun was high as we were heading to the next village through fields with no shade, so I put my hat on. Cindy reached to get hers but it wasn’t there! We tried to figure out where we saw it last and decided it may have fallen off at the Albergue. She called to see if they’d found it – no one had turned it in at the time of the call, so she was told to call again later. In the meantime, we had to walk another 10 kilometers before getting to Estella. That put a little damper on things but we tried to make the best of it. We soon arrived in Lorca, where we once again encountered our friends (which cheered us up!) – having lunch – so of course we were stopping too. Hungry and thirsty, we ordered ‘agua con gas’ and gazpacho accompanied by fresh bread! Perfect for a hot day.
Cooled off, hunger sated, we pushed on in the heat. Since there was no shop to buy a new hat, and still hoping it would be found, the best we could do was share mine – so we traded on and off. And stopped in whatever shade we encountered. There was one more village to pass through; Villatuerta – a small town with a 14th century church and a hermitage that was once connected to an 11th century monastery. At the church, there was a small crowd of people and a band practicing a song. A clue as to what we were going to encounter in Los Arcos, but we didn’t pick up on that until later. And then on to our destination for the day. The sign said “3.3 kilometers”, but it was the longest 3.3 kilometers e-v-e-r! The road was unshaded, dusty and after every bend, when we would see buildings, we’d think that must be the town, but nooo. Finally, we arrive and are greeted by an inviting fountain at the entrance to fill our water bottles and cool our feet before locating our Albergue.
This town had become a market center on the Camino in 1090 and has jaw dropping medieval architecture, beautiful old bridges and those lovely narrow cobblestoned streets. We found our Albergue on a deserted square – it was Sunday so all the shops were closed and it was still early – siesta time. We checked in, cleaned up and joined Matti and Onno for a sangria and lunch; then Cindy took a nap and I sat in the square writing in my journal. The shade was cool and it felt so good to put my feet up and relax. Later we met up with Onno again for dinner and were joined by Alexandro and Nora, who we discovered was from Basque country and actually spoke Basque. What a great conversation that was! We were meeting the most interesting people!
The Albergue was really nice – big windows that we could open for a breeze, clean bathrooms, a laundry and kitchen if you wanted to cook. Our room had only five bunks. But there was a very large man in one of the bunks who was sleeping when we got there and snoring! And he was sleeping when we came back from lunch; and dinner; and the next morning! I swear he never moved and his snoring never changed – it was pretty hysterical. Thank goodness for great ear plugs.
Tomorrow was forecast to be cooler but the afternoon still quite warm, so we planned another early start. Los Arcos here we come! Little did we know what we were heading into…
“The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.”
Michel de Montaigne
New photos in Photo Album