Camino a Santiago Day 5: Puente la Reina to Estella

Distance: 22.4 km (13.92 mi)

Elevation gained: 457m (1,500 ft)

Duration: 5h 37m

Steps: 36,078

Calories: 1,563

I met Alf and Thor today!! Really!!! Lol. They are the cutest Spanish dogs. But no pictures. Because well, I was too busy petting them. I met Alf, along with his human father at the most perfect rest stop you could imagine.

Set up by a group of volunteers in the middle of an olive grove, Olive Zen Garden was designed with the intent of creating a space where pilgrims can rest, recharge, exchange ideas, music, etc….and all they ask for is…nothing. Yep. Nothing. Along the Camino a Santiago it is common to come upon what they call donativos. Donativos are little rest stops fully stocked by volunteers with food and drink. Those who partake are invited to leave whatever they consider fair. Most do. Some people—you know who they are—don’t.

But back to Alf and Thor. Alf was on a day hike with his human. Thor was happily riding in the back of his human mom’s E-bike as she cycles the Camino. Because I may not have mentioned this before, but you can either walk or ride the Camino. Don’t ask me why I didn’t ride. The answer is quite obvious. If I can barely stay upright on a road bike, I’d kill myself on a mountain bike in two seconds flat.

Today’s hike was beautiful, starting with a crossing of The Pilgrim’s Bridge to leave Puente la Reina. I can still quite literally smell the flowers. Fields of yellow flowers, with a scent so intoxicating I just wish I could share that too. And the cherries. Oh my G-d the cherries. We are also now firmly in Navarra’s wine country, with vineyards and olive groves beginning to dot the landscape.

While beautiful, it was also quite a tough second half of the day. The temperatures here started out cool and cloudy, which for the first three days was absolutely perfect for hiking. But starting yesterday the heat began to make itself felt. And today there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Add to that the shin splints that reared their ugly head sometime around mile 7. That definitely slowed me down, until the road finally stopped going up and down, remaining flat for the last couple of miles.

I’m not going to lie. Once I got to Estella, I didn’t do too much exploring. I took a quick spin around town, had a bite to eat, did my laundry (or should I say, Linda did my laundry a her albergue), and came back to my room around 6:30 to stretch, catch up with the Giro d’Italia and take advantage of a decent wifi connection here to upload the videos I was unable to yesterday.

Tomorrow I’m thinking it may be a good idea to start out a bit earlier. Speaking of which, it’s time to stop writing and get to sleep.

Accommodation: Hosteria de Curtidores. This is a great albergue for what it is. The people who work here are really friendly. The rooms are very simple, but clean, bright and overlooking the river. A bit on the industrial side. And no air con. This was definitely a problem here, where there was a bit of a greenhouse feeling to it with so many windows, but thankfully there was a small fan and I pointed it at the bed at night. Another thing to keep in mind is its location. It is quite literally at the beginning of town and I had to walk back and forth several times. At the end of an already long day this was not ideal. As much as I liked the place, I would probably choose differently next time. Double room, single use. €42

Lunch: Bar Restaurant Mundo. I’m mixed on this place. The restaurant is very cute and the service is good and friendly. The food was Meh. I believe part of the problem was my choice of a burger. In Spain they use veal which I don’t eat and tastes weird in hamburgers. The cool part is unlike pretty much every other place in Spain the food is quite varied and has lots of international influences, so its a nice departure from the repetitiveness generally encountered along the way. €22 for a burger, fries, dessert and two glasses of wine.