Woke up at 2:30, was wide awake and felt ready to go, however forced myself to go back to sleep. Woke up again at 6:00 and woke everyone else up when I walked into a metal ladder that clanged against the metal bed rail (it wasn´t there when I went to bed and I couldn´t see it in the dark). Stayed for breakfast which was served at 7:00 - cornflakes and granola, what a treat.
Left Estella 7:15, arrived in Los Arcos around 12:45 (took two 15 min. breaks), 5 hours to walk 21 km.
4 km outside of Estella there is a wine fountain - Bodegas de Irache - were pilgrims can drink their fill - can view webcam www.irache.com
I filled one of my water bottles half full. Walked a couple km to the next village and realized it was not a good idea because it was 14 km to the next place to get water and I really needed my water bottle for water. As I was about to dump it, the young Irish lad happened to come along and was obliged to drink it. He said when you are Irish you can drink anytime.
The path was fairly flat, but the sun was hot and by the time I got to Los Arcos I was more than ready to stop. Walked a bit with Mary from Dublin, she has travelled quite abit, even crossed Canada by train.
The albergue where I stopped today is an Austrian Albergue. It is quite nice. Am sitting on a couch in the court yard with Liz & Jacques writing this and watching people ring out their clothes with the top of an old ringer washing machine. Sure does bring back memories of laundry day when we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Meisner´s on the farm. Most of the young people don´t have a clue what it is. It is very entertaining.
The computer was free so I worked on the blog for about an hour. Explored the town and went for tapas (realized it was almost 5:00 and hadn´t had anything to eat since breakfast.
Went to 8:00 mass with Mary. At the end when the priest called all the pilgrims up for a blessing, there were between 30-40 people. This priest talked to each person individually. Mary said, at this point, in Ireland someone would say ¨we have time to go for a pint¨. The bar was just across the street from the church and there were tables and chairs in the church yard where people sat and visited after the service.
Back at the albergue a bunch of people sat in the court yard talking and drinking wine. We actually stayed out there till just after 10:00, which is quite late for pilgrims, but the commaraderie was nice and no one wanted to end it till we had to turn lights out.
Chatted with Stephan from Germany who lives in England and Sho from Sooth Korea who is a student in Spain but was taking a vacation and walking the camino.
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