A group of us from our albergue decided to go into town for an evening meal together. However as is usual everybody had different budgets and ideas of what they wanted to eat. So after walking round and round the square for about forty-five minutes perusing the various options we eventually settled on a small bar with a reasonably priced 'Peregrinos menu'. The bar owner had an extensive selection of plates on the menu which he proceeded to read out to us; Unfortunately he only knew one word of English which he emphasised very loudly between each spoken item, so the one sided conversation went something like this:
"Blah blah blah OR! blah blah blah OR! blah blah blah OR! blah blah blah OR! blah blah blah"
We were a disparate bunch of peregrinos from all over the world, luckily two of our crowd could speak fluent Spanish so we were able to make our choices of starters, mains and desserts without to much difficulty. Myself and a Lithuanian girl chose a local delicacy of white Asparagus for our starters. When it arrived it was floating in brine and was served with a dollop of mayonnaise. It had no taste and the texture was cold and slimy. The girl turned her nose up at it but me being a typically stoic (insert stupid here) Brit ate it without complaint. The rest of the meal was okay and the beer and wine was good.
The following morning I was woken by Pablo (name changed to protect the innocent and prevent me from being sued for possible libel or slander) from Texas, returning to his bunk to collect his water bottle and stick that he had forgotten when he left an hour earlier. This was to become a recurring theme over the next few weeks, I'm surprised that he didn't finish his pilgrimage naked.
It was a sunny morning as I walked out of Estella alone, I was feeling tired and my boots and pack felt like they weighed a ton. On the outskirts of the town is the 'Bodegas Irache' with it's famous wine fountain which the owners generously provided to fortify pilgrims. When I arrived there was a large crowd of peregrinos crowded around the fountain which is another one of the iconic sites along the camino (That's the fountain, not the crowds of peregrinos). So I took my place in line ready to partake of the free wine, even though the sun wasn't quite over the yardarm. I really needed fortifying this morning, but I was to be sorely disappointed as there was no free flowing wine. The 'Fuente del Vino' was dry, it was lucky that Mrs C wasn't here as there could have been a very serious Diplomatic incident indeed.
We were a very sad bunch of peregrinos as we set off walking again, it was hot, we were all sober and we had to walk up a steep hill alongside of a main road. Things soon changed though as I met another of the Camino Angels in the guise of an old man who was walking his dog. He pointed out an alternative route away from the main road which led me along a footpath through a beautifully shaded forest of oak and pine. I walked the last few kilometres to Los Arcos in open country amongst bright red poppies accompanied by the smell of wild thyme and the constant sound of cuckoos in the background. It turned out to be another glorious day after all.
I booked into a small private albergue close to the main square with Henry (again name changed to protect the innocent etc) another Texan who I met on day one outside of St Jean. The owner said that he was very particular about who he admitted as he didn't want to upset the neighbours; He couldn't have been that particular though because he let me in. There was an elderly American couple in our dormitory, so I introduced myself, they replied in the usual fashion "You're from Australia aren't you"? That is the third time that I've been told that I'm from Oz and it's only day six. I think that I need a large cold beer!
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