23rd April 2024 Estella to Los Arcos
- amanda1264
- Apr 25, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 29, 2024
While getting ready to go Steve happened to look out the window and swore he saw a dark coloured otter swimming in the river outside. Our room overlooked the river and it was a lovely place to sit and just watch the water run by. I didn’t see it but kept my eyes open, but it turned out I was looking at the wrong end of the waterfalls as Steve saw it again.
We headed out fully rugged up with all our wet weather gear as it was going to be cold and wet all day. I don’t mind the cold days but constant rain has a habit of wearing you down.
Following the path away from the heart of the city we came across a petrol station that had a coffee bar inside so we sat and had one to start the day as there didn’t appear to be any others along our route. They also had protein bars so we had one each for breakfast with our coffee and added another two to our packs for later.
A relatively short walk away was the small settlement of Ayegui with the blacksmith’s shop where I bought my Camino shell necklace six years ago. It was a lovely time to reminisce and the fire going helped immensely as it was so cold – only about 2 degrees but with the wind chill it would have had to be a “feels like” temperature of about -2 degrees. Even the young blacksmith said it is a bitterly cold day today. His top half is warm as it is close to the fire but he said his legs were freezing.
Not much further along as Bodegas Irache and the famous wine fountain. It always irks me that some people actually fill or half fill their water bottles with this wine when it clearly states it is a nip to fortify you and to please consider all those who come after you as there is only a fixed amount added to the fountain each day. Steve and I, by tradition, used our Camino shells to have a taste and many people nearby didn’t know about the tradition and they then did the same. This vineyard has existed since about the 12th Century with its history closely linked to the nearby Monastery (there since 958). Bodegas Irache has existed in the current form for about 150 years.

After this special and memorable place the Camino divides and we made the decision to take the pathway to the right. Pretty much the same distance each way but we preferred the option with more towns.
The weather was terrible – still cold and wet but the wind started blowing even more strongly and we had a head wind which would last us all day, making it a day we looked forward to ending. I think we saw our shadows about three times all day! With Los Arcos as our destination, it was going to have a great ending and we just put one foot in front of another and braced against the wind and continued on our way. We found a café at Villamayor de Monjarin and escaped the weather for a short time and had a hot drink to warm us up. We ran into Pia (from Melbourne but originally from Switzerland) there and had a chat before braving the elements once again and headed outside.
We don’t mind the hills too much now but every now and then you just have to count fifty steps and take a break and we seemed to do it quite a few times yesterday. The two different ways to Los Arcos rejoined just before Los Arcos. This is a wonderful town that holds lots of memories for me – good and bad! The bad - wearing all my clothes (including my jacket) to be and stripping the other bed in my room of all its linens as it was freezing and there were no extra blankets. The good – the magnificent, jaw-dropping beauty of the Iglesia de Santa Maria.
The church was closed so we headed to our accommodation, and it ended up being in the same place as last time! I think there must be new owners as it had changed, and my phone tried automatically to connect to the internet but said I had the wrong password. We were given our choice of rooms on the second floor (there always seems to be stairs at the end of the day) so we chose a room looking out to the street and took off our wet weather gear (dripping) and turned up the heating to almost sauna levels so they, my pack (waterproof liner but the outside is not waterproof) and the other clothes (wet by perspiration) would dry.
After downing about 500mL of electrolyte solution each we realised the rain had stopped so we were thrilled. The owner had also told us where we could get a good pilgrims meal and that the church would open at 1915H. Off we headed and found the bar/restaurant recommended but the restaurant didn’t open until 1830H so we had about 1.5 hours to enjoy before then. We saw lots of people we had met previously so it was nice to catch up with them and hear about their Camino experiences.
The restaurant staff let us know at 1815H to come in and the service was terrific – food selected and our first course was on the table within 5 minutes along with a basket of the delicious Spanish bread and containers of olive oil and red wine vinegar. My ensalata mixta was delicious and Steve really enjoyed his macaroni. Not long after our next course appeared – beef stew for me – tender but no vegetables that I was really looking for. Protein is fine but I suppose I had just had a plate of salad! Steve was quite impressed with the lean pork served with a deliciously sweet pimiento. Dessert was a small bowl of cold creamed rice that really hit the spot. I would have preferred it to have been hot as it was such a cold night, but it was quite delicious with its sprinkling of fresh nutmeg.
We headed towards the church and, once again, it was jaw-dropping to me. We headed upstairs to view the choir area with the ancient song book written in symbols large enough for all the choir to read. The incredible work on the backs of the chairs astounded me once again and there was not a square centimetre there, or in the church, that wasn’t decorated in some way. We just stayed up there enjoying the serenity and taking it all in when the priest came down and went into the confessional booth and a pre-recorded service of Hail Mary’s started playing.

The acoustics in the church are phenomenal so it was very touching. The church was filling up with locals and pilgrims and it was very humbling to be seated in front of a very devout local and listen to the emotion in her words as she said her devotions.
For information – the church was built in various stages between the 12th and 18th centuries and is therefore a mixture of styles. The outside alone is a mixture of late Romanesque, Baroque, Plateresque and Rococo while the interior has Rococo and Baroque alters and a Gothic statue of the Virgin with a late Gothic cloister attached.
Suitably humbled and amazed we headed back to our accommodation to get some sleep.

It turned out that two female travellers from somewhere in Eastern Europe who spoke no English had taken a room on the same floor as us so we then had to share the “shared bathroom” – the trouble was they didn’t seem to realise it was shared and spent the next hour or so with the door locked. We ended up going downstairs to use the bathroom there for cleaning teeth etc as we were over waiting. Normally in a shared bathroom situation you get out of there as quickly as you can as others also need to use it so we were a little surprised. Anyway we headed to bed in a nice warm room. All our clothing was dry so we turned down the heat and opened the window to cool the room down. After a while of editing photos etc and when the room was at our preferred sleeping temperature we shut the window and went to bed. Another good day under our belt – off to Viana tomorrow.
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