Day 7

​Estella to Los Arcos

Remember how I said in yesterday’s post that it was going to rain today? This is what we woke up to:

​I had my alarm wake me up at 5:00 am, but I heard pouring rain and saw flashes of light followed by thunder. I decided to change my alarm to wake us up at 6:00 am. Conditions weren’t any better. 

​Jim and I contemplated a course of action. If we walked in the rain there were some risks: 1) We could be hit by lightening; 2) Walking in wet shoes could cause blisters which would impact upcoming legs of the Camino; and 3) We could slip and injure ourselves. As we had a hotel reservation in Los Arcos, we had to get there somehow. One option was to take an alternate mode of transportation, like Uber. This bummed Jim out as it felt like cheating, although, I countered that we were mitigating risks that could impact the trip. Ubers aren’t available in this part of Spain, so we decided we would take a bus. It would be 1.85 EUR each and take 18 minutes. I repeat: it would take 18 minutes. 

We walked to the bus station and bought our tickets. Jim decided he would go to the Orange store, to discuss getting a SIM card for Spain. While he was gone, the rain stopped and the skies revealed breaks in the clouds with patches of blue sky. I looked at the local weather radar, and it was pretty clear in the surrounding area. I called Jim and said, “If you want to hike, return now!” And at 10:25 AM, off we went - hoping that because we were on a pilgrimage, the skies would remain clear.

Jim uses his phone and an app called Gia to help guide us along the Camino. About 45 minutes into the hike, he said, “We just need to go over this ridge and connect with the trail.” Greg looked around and pointed at the sign in front of him that said the Camino was right here - we only need to veer to the right. As you might expect from a married couple, there was a bit of a debate. He let me have my way and off we went. One of the famous stops along the Camino is the Monastery Irache which has a wine fountain. It’s kind of like a water fountain, but with wine. Greg’s selected path was bypassing the wine fountain. Jim was right once again! Damn.

We backtracked a bit and made it to the monastery. Because we got a late start, there were no pilgrims around to ask where the wine fountain was. Jim went into a little chapel: No. Greg went down a hill toward a parking lot: No. There was a small museum on the grounds and we went in to ask for help. As an example of my skills communicating in the Spanish language, I asked, “Donde esta el vino fountain.” Basically, the answer was, “Around the back.” It was cool to see it, but the wine was meh. What do you expect? It’s a free wine that comes out of a spigot.

We made it to Los Arcos with just a 10 minute episode of light rain. Our prayers had been answered and we were spared thunderstorms. This leg of the Camino was 14.8 miles (because of Greg’s decision to decide a route for us, it added about a mile), had a 1,729 foot elevation gain, and took us four hours and 40 minutes. Remember - the bus would have taken 18 minutes. Ugh.

Tomorrow we head toward Logrono.

​Total Camino Miles to Date: 86.6