Day 6 - Puenta la Reina to Estella

Up and at it 6:40, breakfast at 7:10 and ready to dash off.  That is until Russell couldn't find the camera, which was exactly where it should have been.  So, on the trail at 8:15.

Before we leave Puente la Reina, we should say that the restaurant in our hotel is the first place we have ever seen an all-you-want, serve yourself, red and white wine dispenser.  Just place your glass under the spigot with the colour you want.

We had supper last night with the Aussie brothers we met the second day in St Jean Pied de Port. One is a high school teacher and the other a professor at the university in Melburne. It turns out the teacher is the one that wanted to do the Camino. His brother is accompanying him for two weeks, he will then do most of the mesa on his own (this is the stretch with the highest pilgrim drop out rate-that may be hard for him), and then his wife will join him for the last two weeks.

The teacher is doing the Camino for almost exactly the same reason as Lynn. Isn't that a remarkable coincidence we met such a kindred spirit at the start of our journey. He is also booked with the same travel company as we are and we are going to be in mostly the same hotels on the same days. I take that as divine intervention!

We had a very long, and I think mutually supportive conversation after dinner last night. His brother says it is very difficult for him to understand because he has never had to deal with that problem. However, we really understood what each has gone through. Unfortunately, he has actually lost his son. Lynn spent a lot of time thinking about the conversation today. A lot was there to learn from.

The path out of Puerta la Reina was easy to follow, and we crossed the river arga for the last time today via the first of many medieval bridges we will cross today. It didn't take long to reach the first steep hill of the day to climb.  Behind us we could make out a line of wind turbines and the wrought iron pilgrim statues in the distance.

This is certainly wine country and judging by the houses, they are doing very well.  The vineyards look very straight and orderly from a distance and when you get close, you can see the enormous bunches or red and green grapes, that still need a bit of time before harvesting.

The other thing we have noticed are the fig trees, olive trees, pomegranite and what we think are mango trees.  It is obvious the climate is much kinder in the winter than in Ottawa.

The other thing are the incredible number of blackberry bushes along the path.  Perigrinos are nibbling on them as they walk by and yet it looks like one could make hundreds of jars of jam from the pickings in just one km.

A curious thing we have noticed for the past few days, is that along the path, the wild dill weed is absolutely covered with white snails.  The plants are 5 or 6 feet high, and the snails are along the stems, almost to the top, not in ones or twoes, but in dozens.  And this doesn't seem to be isolated.  It is almost as if they are saying, if you want supper, have me and my friends with a bit of this dill.

 We continued to run into perigrinos we had met on previous days and make friends with new ones.  You would chat for a bit and then steam ahead.  The feeling of being a family is amazing.  Today we met a very interesting pair,  an Israeli girl walking with a  christian Lebanese guy that she had met along the Camino.  Now there is a contrast. We told her about our trip to Israel in 2012 and she wanted to know the name of the kibbutz we stayed at. Can anyone help? Was the city it was near Tiberius? She had served her time in the IDF.

We met a fellow from Ireland who shared pistachios with us. We called to Sarah from Spain who had missed a turn and was wandering off the Way. She was very grateful. She has a sister living in Canada. Russell found a backpack on the trail someone had dropped and carried it asking everyone we passed if it was theirs. We did find the owner who was very grateful.

Churches, churches everywhere, and nothing less than hundreds of years old. Medieval bridges, hundreds of years old and still looking like they were just built.

For the most part, today's walk was along trails, rather than roads, and crossing over and under the highway rather than crossing the rio agra .  Looking down it was always amazing to see stone paths that pilrims have walked for a thousand years, built by who knows who, and walked on by millions.  Quite amazing.

The high point of today had to be the hermitage of San Miguel.  The structure is set in an olive orchard and one can't help but think of the garden of Gethsemane.  Inside, the stone benches along the walls and on the alter in the middle are covered in prayers left there by other perigrinos.

Another hill, what else can you expect, and you slog into Estella. In a parka on the edge of town, John and Margret, from Australia, are having an elaborate picnic lunch with table cloth and all the trimmings.  It made me feel so inadequate. Their Camino ends in a few days at Logrono.  Further along, the Lebanese lad was picking blackberries and offered some to us. He had just completed medical school in Lebanon, and is off to Boston in the US for his residency.  We had a long conversation on the situation in the middle east. He said he had to stop and wait for his Israeli friend to catch up but we are sure we will meet again on the road to Santiago.

The hotel we stayed in today is the only four star hotel we will stay in along the Camino.  Can you guess which window we perigrinos are behind (hint, look for laundry)?

Summary - I think we may be getting into the swing of things.  Our feet aren't too sore after our trek today and we even went out sightseeing around town after we gor here. It is still strange that the difficult days are completed faster than expected, and the "flat" days take more time.  But all in all, we feel very good today.

Distance today - 22 km
Distance total - 118.5 km