#7: Day 5 Camino Frances - Puente la Reina to Estella 26kms

One of the bonuses of staying in a “private room” is waking up without interrupting anyone, packing, and getting out early on the trail to experience the day.

Early morning on “The Way” is beautiful as its fresh, comfortable temperatures and being “slow and steady”, puts you marginally in front of the “hares” who are racing to the finish!

So much beauty today it’s hard to know even where to begin but it all starts at the exit from the town and the bridge at Puente la Reina is undefeated thus far in a school of pretty beautiful bridges!

There was a real “heart starter” early and after scooting through the small settlement of Maneru, we enjoyed a lovely walk down and into our first village with a stop, Cirauqui. I was joined briefly by Juan from Mexico, Souyan from France (who were familiar faces being Day 5), and Joanne - this little pocket rocket from Maryland, USA.

This “turtle” only held their interest for a short time before the next uphill section had me eating their dust!

One of the comments from yesterday’s post suggested I try a Spanish coffee to be pleasantly surprised (!!), and at this first stop (Cirauqui) I decided to push the boat out and point to the coffee machine! Laced with sugar and a generous dollop of milk, I entered the world of “coffee” for maybe the 9th time in my life. It wasn’t offensive and maybe added a little injection into my fuel for the day!

Today was a really pleasant walk. Some amazing villages, great rural landscape and the introduction of grapes has me excited. You can dissect the Camino into so many stages depending on your point of view at any given time - days walked, major cities arrived at, kilometers gained (I passed 100 today) but something that got my interest was the separation of The Way into three major sections - Body, Mind and Soul.

We are currently halfway through the first stage, by this reckoning, where the focus is on strengthening the body. You can train of course, but for anyone that’s ever played sport, there’s nothing like “match fitness” and whilst I’d love to indulge you with my glory days of college rugby, let’s just say, I’m feeling stronger and fitter and physically happier each day….and by an exponential margin (why did I even say that…injury is the foe!).

I entered a lovely church at Villatuerta not far from my final stop and it’s so beautiful to sit inside these amazing centuries-old structures with such grand interiors and perhaps experience a sense of spirituality in whatever form that connects for you.

Estella was my stop for the night and it’s always a bonus when your accommodation is the first building you come to. I was able to upgrade to a private room again and honestly, this was possibly one of the nicest accommodations I have ever stayed in, certainly the best on trip.

It looks like “Hosteria de Curtidores” has been completely rebuilt inside the shell of an ancient stone building. They have preserved aspects of the original structure and even cleverly incorporated them into the final look but it's new and modern and looks out onto the river which flows through the town. This was a heck of a find.

I headed a short distance into the town to purchase dinner and a quick explore before running into the group of Americans I’d met earlier in the day. Things quickly progressed into “Sangria time” and some fantastic chat. You get the sense that people are becoming more familiar with each other now and even if English is a second language, there seems more engagement. The Bar would have been mainly “pilgrims” and there was a great vibe amongst the tables.

I eventually made it back to my Alburgue and after piecing my dinner together, sat down in what felt like an incredibly lavish communal area to eat.

Israel from Mexico whom I hadn’t met previously joined me and for six euros I enjoyed wine, salad, and bread with the view of a 5star restaurant!

The evening finished with a pretty frenetic thunderstorm and all indications suggest, we’ll be getting damp tomorrow…” Learn 5-star to enjoy and embrace the difficult moments” I thought as I shut my eyes…

Buen Camino!