Camino de Santiago - Days 4-6

Day 4: Cizur Menor - Puente La Reina

Distance: 20.4 km(12.7 miles)

Approximate Walking Time: 5-6 hours

Altitude: Start at 460 m(1,510 ft.), rise to 780 m(2,560 ft.) at Alto de Perdón, and end at 345 m(1,132 ft.).

     We left Cizur Menor at 6:30 a.m. and headed towards Puente La Reina. We learned a valuable lesson that night. Earplugs are a great investment. Leaving Cizur Menor, we passed through lots of sunflower fields. A lot of people had stopped and picked out shapes like faces or words in the flowers. We ascended up to Zariquiegui. It was just far enough away so that when we arrived, the small shops were open for a bite to eat or something cold to drink. We followed the trail up the highest point of the day at Alto de Perdón. There was nothing there except a large sculpture of pilgrims and a guy selling snacks and drinks out of a truck. The view was beautiful of all of the golden fields of Navarra. 

     The descent from Alto de Perdón was a bit rough. The rocks were large and going down was quite steep. It eventually leveled off into rolling hills going up and down and passed through the towns of Uterga, Muruzabal, and Obanos. There were medieval churches and nice plazas in Obanos. We walked through the woods and along the highway a few more km to Puente La Reina. There were several private albergues there, the one just beyond the famous medieval bridge even had a pool. The local monastery, Reparadores(built in the 12th century) was 4 euros and the privates were 8 euros. We stayed at the monastery. The town had a nice supermarket and the albergue had a good kitchen. There are some good restaurants in town with the Pilgrim Special. The highlight of the town was the medieval bridge on the westside of town. It was built in the 13th century and offers a great place to relax by the river with lots of shade.

     At the end of each day, a warm foot soak is always welcome. We used warm water and soap. Another great recipe is to use epsom salts and vinegar. Taking care of your feet is always priority number 1.

Day 5: Puente La Reina - Estella
Distance: 22.4 km(13.9 miles)
Approximate Walking Time: 5-6 hours
Altitude: Start at 350 m(1,148 ft.) and rise up to 470 m(1,541 ft.) at Cirauqui and end at 430m (1,410 ft.).

     We left at 6:10 from Puente La Reina. The albergue there was one of the few that allow dogs. We saw a couple sleeping with theirs outside. Even though it was dark out, the bright white dirt and rocks made it easy to follow the Camino. We walked for a bit on level ground then ascended sharply up to the highway. The clouds were a bit ominous and threatened rain. We passed through Manerua, a small town that was still asleep. Just 3 km beyond that, we arrived to Cirauqui. The albergues there cost around 8-10 euros. As you can see from the picture above, there isn't a house out of place in this town on a hill. There is a nice bakery at the entrance to the town. If it's early, stop there as there aren't any others. The croissants we ate were fresh and still warm.

     A km outside of Cirauqui, it started to rain a bit so we pulled out our rain jackets and wrapped ourselves and our bags. A lot of people had huge ponchos to cover themselves and their bags. They are a great investment but that day was the only we encountered rain while walking so they would have been extra weight. The gamble is yours to make. We waited a bit in a tunnel under the highway for the rain to subside before walking on up to Lorca. If it's really nasty, you can just take the paved road up to Lorca by the tunnel instead of following the muddy trail. Lorca had a handful of albergues. We stopped in one to warm up and have coffee. 

     From Lorca, we walked on through more golden fields of hay and grain. The rainy clouds dissipated and we were able to enjoy a beautiful day. The next town we came to was Villatuerta. There's a river, which isn't even quite a stream, at the entrance to the town. We stopped there to rest our feet and fill our empty stomachs with a sandwich. The walk through the town is all uphill. Most of the houses and buildings are nice and have a sleek stone look.

     From Villatuerta, our next stop was Estella, our stopping point for the day. The town was beautiful and quite old. Founded in 1090, it is one of the bigger towns along the Camino de Santiago in the Navarra region. There were several albergues in the city. One is based on a donation and the municipal one is 6 euros, had a decent kitchen for cooking, and all the flies you could ever want. The best thing to do in Estella is go for a nice stroll after showering and washing clothes at the albergue. We visited the grocery store and stocked up on some cold cuts for sandwiches and something to cook for dinner. We joined some Spanish friends we'd met the first few days and had a drink and lunch at a restaurant called La Casa Nova. We recommend the stuffed red peppers, tuna steak, and chickpeas. We spent the afternoon answering questions of our time in Spain and strolling around and enjoying the town.

Day 6: Estella - Torres del Rio 

Distance: 29.5 km(18 miles)

Approximate Walking Time: 7 - 8 hours

Altitude: Start out at 425 m(1,394 ft.), rise up to 605 m(1,985 ft.) and descend to 440 m(1,444 ft.).

      As became customary in Navarra, we awoke early to face a steep climb. We left Estella around 6:30 and walked through the town and its suburb of Ayegui. There are albergues there as well but if you really want to visit the towns on the trail, its a better option to stay in Estella. The trail markings aren't very easy to find early in the morning. We followed the road when we left Ayegui instead of turning left and following the trail past the Monastery. It's an impressive building and there's a wine bodega(Bodega Irache) near it with a fountain of wine for pilgrims. The trail continues through the golden hay fields of Spain and the morning light creates an incredibly golden light on them. Just outside Ayegui is a camp ground where you can pitch your tent for 10 euros. Some smarter pilgrims pitched theirs across the road from it for free.

      We went up, up, up towards Villamayor de Monjardin. We passed through the small town of Azqueta. Most of the town was still asleep. Many of the pilgrims stopped at the local parish to collect a stamp in their credencial. There are many people who collect lots of stamps but in order to do this, you must buy a big book or you will have to buy two or three of the smaller ones. We only used one and only collected stamps at the albergues and major Cathedrals in Burgos, León, and Astorga. We ascended on up to Villamayor and stopped there to have a coffee and a snack. The town doesn't have a whole lot to offer other than over priced breakfast food. There are a couple of albergues there. Leaving Villamayor, we descended back down towards Los Arcos over the next 12 km. The terrain is rocky and beautiful. At times, all we could hear was the crackling of the golden wheat fields. We passed from one to another and occasionally, we passed by vineyards and their nearly ready to be harvested grapes.

     Los Arcos was the recommended stopping point by the office of the Friends of the Camino in Saint Jean. It's 21 km from Estella. We arrived there around 12:15 and felt it was too early to stop. The heat wasn't bad and we wanted to spend Sunday in Logroño. We decided to stop and rest for an hour and a half. We checked out the albergue situation there during our break. There were several private ones for around 8 euros and a municipal one for 5.50 euros. It had wireless internet. There were some decent markets there and it seemed to be a good place to stop. The town wasn't as charming as some of the others and seemed to be dirtier. We stopped at the main square next to the cathedral and watched pilgrims stream through as we rested and ate a sandwich. Most were headed to the municipal albergue just outside the old part of town. Next to it was an interesting museum that had a nice lawn to rest on and old sculptures decorating it.

     We left Los Arcos around 1:45 and headed on to Torres del Río. It was only 8 km from Los Arcos and the nice weather made our walk more enjoyable. The nice thing about walking after 2 o'clock is that you pretty much have the whole camino to yourself. We saw one other person out walking and one guy out hunting in the fields with his dogs. The fields crackled the entire walk. Torres del Río sits across the river from Sansol. Both were on the high points of hills and we had to walk down and cross the river and walk back up into Torres del Río. There wasn't much to the town. There were two private albergues, both charging 7 euros. We chose Casa Mariela. There was a hotel in town with a pool and they charged 10 euros. Cooking was out of the question so we made more sandwiches. There was one small shop in town and it looked like a war storage closet set up with tons of rations. The old couple that run it are most agreeable and have mastered the art of sign language of pointing instead of learning another language. An interesting monument in Torres del Río is the octagonal Templar Church. They charged 1 euro to go in but we poked our head in for a quick gander for free. It's rumored to be stylized just like the one in Jerusalem. The last picture is something that is also quite standard on the Camino de Santiago, the boot rack. Here, most albergues request you leave your dirty, dusty shoes so as to not track all through the rooms and make their cleaning process more difficult.

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