22nd April 2024 Puente la Reina to Estella

There was no breakfast provided today so we thought we would do our own thing and stop and have something to eat and a coffee at Mañeru, about 5km down the track. Bags packed, banana eaten and electrolyte powder added to our drink bottles we headed out the door.

Down the main street dodging street sweepers and people out with blower vacs down the lanes that the street sweeper was too large for.  Everything is very clean and I loved the old doors with their unique embellishments including templar crosses and cut outs of pilgrims.

We headed over the bridge in Puente la Reina along with quite a few other pilgrims and started off and through the canola fields which were quite fragrant and exceptionally beautiful against the vibrant, deep green of the wheat (?) crop.  There were quite a few tractors on the pathways so we dodged them too.

Mañeru is a pretty little town with a very well-preserved medieval street-scape.  They are very proud of their town and their heritage.  It was quite cold so we tried to find a place in the sun to have our drinks – café americano for Steve and I opted for a hot chocolate – mucho caliente!  We needed a hot drink to warm us up a bit and ended up putting on an extra jacket while we had a bit of time out.

The track up to Mañeru had a lot of uphill and my old asthma kicked in so it had been a gentle pace into town and when we finished our drinks and started off again we found a pharmacy and managed to get some Ventolin which helped pretty quickly.

We left Mañeru and headed towards Cirauqui, a beautiful town draped over the top of a hill with the oldest sections right on top.  The small streets are very quaint and it is hard to see how even a medium sized car would fit here – even the Yaris we saw looked huge against the background and the size of the laneways.  Somehow by following the signs we managed to get to the edge of town on the other side without seeing some of the old churches which was disappointing, but we had a way to go and Steve was having a few issues with his left foot so back-tracking was not really an option.  I had seen them all last time so I was ok with that.

Once we left Cirauqui we headed down a Roman road in remarkable condition before getting to a small bridge also from the Roman era.  The track varied in the ups and downs but generally it was quite tiring.  More and more vines and olive trees were now part of the landscape which was beautiful and we suddenly came upon a donativo (manned by volunteers who have all sorts of food and drinks for a donation) below a gorgeous seating area under some olive trees.  It was so lovely we decided to stop for about 30 minutes to enjoy the sun and the wonderful music that was being played.

Magnificent mountain ranges remained in our view most of today and it looks like it might be the area of Aizkorri-Aratz National Park but I am not sure – might have to do some more research.

Refreshed we headed off again – this time to Lorca where we stopped at a small café for some tortillas patatas for lunch before heading off again.  Steve stopped to try to correct his left foot pain and this seemed to help him and the rest of the day went pretty smoothly.

On to Villatuerta where we stopped at the local sports centre for a drink and to use their bathrooms.  We decided to just keep going until we got to the ruins of the Ermita de San Miguel, a small detour of about 200m – this is a beautiful old building from the 10th or 11th Century and there is virtually nothing in the church with the exception of the nave where there is an alter of sorts below a large wooden cross where people have left all manner of notes, prayers and blessings.  Even though there are no pews or other adornments, this church is a special one for me.  I had been there before and was glad to return.

It was on again – this time to Estella where we checked in to our hostel La Hosteria de Curtidores where we put our things into the room and headed out to walk into town to find a supermarket to grab something to heat up in the kitchen at the hostel but, like I found last time, most things are closed at that time of the day.  We managed to find a small fruitaria and grabbed bananas for the morning and also bought a small bar of chocolate each as a reserve when the energy levels drop!

As we couldn’t find anything more than that open, we realised we would need to eat in town before heading back to the hostel.  Of course, most things were closed but we managed to find one place and we ended up having a hamburger each as the paella and the risotto were not being offered tonight!  They were delicious and the place was warm which made the air temperature outside the restaurant especially cold when we exited and made a quick dash the 750m of so back to our room.

Showers done, blog up to date – I think it is time for bed!