Estella to Los Arcos, 21.2km, 5.75 hours, Pension Los Arcos, 60€

After doing all the laundry and blog duties in the afternoon, we walked 500m downhill to the nearest bar / restaurant. While there we met a Brazilian pilgrim who had previously lived in Virginia as a US marine. We told him the story of the albergue and he said that rain was expected not only late last night but also today. Uh oh. Just as we finished our meal that included the absolute best burrata salad in the entire world (burrata covered in some marmalade relish, sliced beefy tomatoes, large anchovies, onions and greens – to die for!), we heard thunder. Uh oh again. By the time we got outside, large raindrops were crashing down. The “run” home was too far to arrive anyway other than soaked.

Last evening as we were just arriving to our Pension, two pilgrims stopped us and asked if we were going up to the albergue (hostal) to stay for the night. We said that we were not but they still explained themselves. Apparently, a strong thunderstorm was predicted during the night and the albergue was closed for fear of flooding! Huh? I had wrongly assumed that we were set for a week or two of hot sun but I was very, very wrong.

You would have thought that that little storm prepared us for today. It didn’t. The clouds were so low and heavy when we reached Irache’s famous wine fountain for pilgrims at 7:50am, we didn’t even stop for the ten minutes when the winery would uncork and connect the day’s wine keg. Sometime during the next hour, on the way to Azqueta, the heavens opened up. It was bucketing down. It wasn’t raining gatos y perros, it was raining vacas y burros. In the several bars and under every covered entranceway, masses of pilgrims jammed in for cover from the lightning and driving rain. We did the same and even managed to get some coffee, juice, croissant and banana.

It was still storming when we left to make room for the later drowning pilgrims but that may have been too late. On the hillside climb to Villamayor de Montjardin, the trails had turned into river. A red muddy river often covered much of the trail but also many times, the entire tail was submerged with no option of climbing into the adjacent farmland to get around it. Submerged trails aren’t necessarily bad but the were several places calf-deep (my calf, not a baby cow). That means our boots were full of water and our socks pretended that they were sponges. The last 14km of the walk sounded like squish squash squish squash splash. It’s all good though. At least we weren’t hot and sunburnt.

Before the deluge though, we also had some interesting times in the first 2km up to Ayegui. It seems as though there was a big fiesta in the village the night before and was just starting to wind down as we were walking. We passed by many drunk kids walking back down to Estella. Some just looked tired, others looked like they were still having fun and still others looked menacing. The spookiest (and drunkest) of the bunch appeared to be looking for a fight. One of the girls in his group told him to shut up, then she wished us a Buen Camino. I am in her debt.

If anyone reading this is following us soon, note that the trail out of Villamayor de Montjardin has changed drastically in the past few years. Instead of going through the old town and heading due west to leave the village, you now leave southward to the A-12 highway to a gravel and dirt path (or possibly a water and mud path) that parallels the highway far enough away that the noise isn’t an issue. Leaving Villamayor, the trail isn’t marked that well. If you reach the winery Castillo de Montjardin, you have gone too far. Back up about 100m and look for a sideways facing trail marker. Before leaving the winery though, try your luck getting a free glass. I hope you have better luck with that than us.

We are heading off to dinner now, still dreaming of the burrata salad. I’m sorry we didn’t have any other photos but I am not sure my iPhone is THAT waterproof. I saw someone take a photo of us about to walk through the first deep river. If I find him now, I’ll ask for a copy and post it.

Peace y’all. Goodnight George and Leo.