Day Five- Lorca to Estella and beyond!

There is a sound that comes with morning in an alburgue.  Doesn't matter if you have a bunk bed or a private room, the sounds of the pilgrims will wake you. Or at least they woke me. The sound of rustling of backpacks and of boots walking down the hall and stairs.  Whispers and sometimes talk not so quiet can be heard in multiply languages.  I figure the talk is mostly the route of the day and where to get coffee.

Morning five was no different. We hadn't set an alarm and our room with the shutters closed kept out the morning light.  So for us the sounds of pilgrims was our alarm clock.  We packed up and headed out. We noticed a vending machine on the outside of the alburge that had coffee and other drinks.

We sat on the bench and had coffee and breakfast bars. I tell you, our breakfast bars and granola bars were life savers.  After our quick breakfast and our little coffees, yes we had a couple each, we were ready to hit the road.

 In our minds we knew it should be an easy day. After all we were suppose to be able to walk it yesterday, right? so just a few kilometers.  As we made our way down the dirt road, I was once again thankful we had stopped.  Those next 10 kilometers proved to have their challenges.  After heading out of Lorca you are meet with a few ascent.  Not huge, but steep in their own way.

The sun was shinning bright and once again the path had little shade to offer. I know it couldn't have been very warm temperature wise, but it felt quite warm.  Occasionally we would get a cool breeze that would feel great. Sometimes I would just stop for a moment and let the breeze pass over me, just taking it all in.

We seemed to make good time that morning and we arrived in Estella in the late morning.  The town of Estella was founded in 1090, and it still maintains a lot of its history and charm. The cobble streets and the Romanesque architecture of the Churches.  On our way in we passed the Church of San Miguel. What a beautiful example of early craftsmanship. It amazes me how they were able to carve and sculpt the figures all those years ago. With just simple tools and a lot of patience.

As we continued into the city we came across a tourist office. We stopped and were able to get information on the buses for our ride back to Pamplona the following day. The nice lady also gave us a map of the town and directions to the bus station. We decided since it was early we would go and check where the station was.  It was pretty easy to find.  The station itself was in the old train station and next to the city center. There was a large square with lots of shops and cafes.  We did notice a few cafes open and so we decided we should go ahead and get lunch while we could. After all we had time and we only had a few more kilometers to go for the day.
We order a sandwich and a couple of beers. We really didn't know what sort of sandwich we were getting we just sort of pointed. It turned out to be  a hard roll with a Spanish omelet inside. I thought it was pretty good.

Then it was time to head back to the trail and look for the lodging for the night.  I had seen a campsite that also had little cabins to rent at a decent rate. It was outside of Estella, i was told 3 km. I also read it was close to the wine fountain.  I was looking forward to seeing this fountain that dispenses free wine along with water.

 We found the route again and headed out of town. I do wonder about some of the signs and paths. Especially today. We did start talking about how it seemed they were sending us out of our way. I can only imagine it had to do with the old path being there. We found ourselves in a residential area.  However the locals and other pilgrims were good at keeping us on track, especially when we choose to go off the path to look out of the valley. They keep calling to us....:this way, you go this way'.  We did get back on the path and we passed a local who we asked for directions to the campsite.  First she said told us to go to the wine fountain and then we will get to the campsite.

Sure enough a bit more down the road and we were at the wine fountain or Fuente del vino.  We got our pictures taken and filled up one of the water bottle with some wine. Well only about half full.  It was a nice break and by then I needed it. I was just losing steam fast that day.
Every kilometer felt like it was taking me forever to walk.  Its funny how being tired makes things feel longer. In fact, my fitbit says that yes we did slow a bit our average was still around 25 minutes, to includes breaks.

We arrived at the Campsite and were able to check in right away. We were told there was a market for food and that the bar served food as well.  So we were set for the night. Nice. We found our little cabin with its own little wc. There was a shared shower block right across the way.  We did the clean up thing and then went to the little store to have a look around.  We didn't see much that interested us and we figured we would get dinner at the bar. They had pizza and hamburgers on the menu and those sounded pretty good. So we got some beer, 7up like drink for me to make  a shandy, and some chips.

We sat on our little front porch and just relaxed. Listened to some music, drinking our drinks and watching as the other pilgrims came by.  I don't know why, but I was surprised to see how many others choose to stay there.  But it was probably the same thoughts I had. It was right on the path, and it offered a little bit of peace and quiet. Also it being only 28 euro a night had to help a lot of budgets as well.

Soon we thought we should head over to get dinner. I was starting to get hungry and my stomach hurt. I just needed something more on it than chips and granola bars.  So we went to the bar and asked for a burger. We were told that they only had a set menu that day. No other cooking.  The bartender than put out the starters on the counter. There were an assortment of spanish food, most of which I did not recognize. I did notice there was the black ink octopus, I once wanted to try that. However at that moment my stomach started to act up and just looking at the food made me nauseous. So we thanked him and headed out to see if we could find something else. The little store was closed and there was no where else to eat.  What to do, what to do.  We headed back to the bar and I got an ice cream. At least it was something on my stomach. Then it was back to the cabin for another granola bar and some trail mix.

We settled in for the night. Tomorrow would be a big day with an early start.

Total km walked 14.  I know it was suppose to be only 10 go figure.