Camino : Cirauqui to Los Arcos

I met several people yesterday who were very easy to get along with. Sergio from Ireland and Stephan from Finland decided to walk early with me in the morning and attempt a 36 km to the next destination named Los Arcos. After a while, Sergio backed out, but since he was very tall, I knew he would catch up even though he may start late.

I had told Stephan that I would start around 5:15 AM. I woke up at 4AM and was leaving by 5AM and was very surprised that Stephan was ready and waiting for me outside.

The area we were in was full of stone buildings and the GPS was not accurately showing the location. After going around in circles, we discovered a small path which was quite steep, but luckily had a set of stairs on one side. Stephan started walking on the stairs and I was walking on the sloping area. And Splat! I took a nasty tumble. My apple watch chimed in 'it seems like you took a fall' and provided two options "I fell but I am OK' and second "I need help" with a button to dial emergency. This feature was something I did not know about but was glad it is there. I got a big gash on the left hand and small scratch on the elbow. However, it could have been worse.

The town's decorations for Easter looked very surreal from afar in the pitch-dark surroundings.

Walking for an hour, I was at Lorca and the town had many old buildings with their coat of arms on some of them. It was a good time to stop and have some coffee.

Continuing further, the Camino went through large swathes of agricultural land and the western Pyrennes could be seen in the distance. Early spring meant all the trees were sprouting new leaves.

Wildflowers were everywhere. It was not supposed to rain but there were clouds engulfing the tops of mountains.

Coming to a bigger town Estella, I passed the Santo Sepulcro, which was quite distinguished looking church originating in the 12th century.

Most of the towns on the Camino have a central cobblestoned street usually named Mayor and has houses, bars, restaurants, pharmacies on each side, The route is well marked, and a yellow arrow is what Camino Frances pilgrims look for. The Municipal Albergue is quite inexpensive and is present in most of the stops of the Camino.

The church of San Pedro was the next twelfth century church I passed by. It stood several flights of stairs high and looked very beautiful, but I did not have extra energy to go explore it and kept going on the designated route.

About 11 miles away from the day's hike start was the town of Irache and its spectacular vineyards.

Reaching closer to the main building, I discovered the Wine Fountain. Pilgrims are encouraged to fill their water bottles here. The faucet on the left dispenses wine. I tried some and it was delicious.

The next part of the walk had a fork, a choice of a shorter but steeper section or a longer gentler one. The steeper one went through the forest and that is the one I chose.

The forested path did not disappoint. It was dense, winding, steep and beautiful. Wildflowers were plentiful. There was a clearing where many huge tractors were stored and some of them were being transported. Each tractor wheel was probably twice my height.

The interesting part of the walk is that you come across people with so many nationalities, ages and backgrounds and they are all willing to converse if you show willingness to engage. I met a family of four Irish people with the parents and two grown sons walking a five-day section of the Camino and we conversed for about an hour.

Because of the recent rains, the path was very muddy in a section leading to a small town named Luquin.

The Camino had many types and colors of flowers constantly making the trail very pleasant. These red poppies were especially eye-catching.

Almost nine hours after starting the hike, destination for the day, Los Arcos was close by. After making a turn from near the mountains in the picture above, I arrived at the Albergue Abuela, which offered 15 euros for a bed, 10 for a nice homemade meal and 4 for washing and drying my clothes. It was a good ending to day four on the Camino. With 88 miles complete, I was doing two miles more on average compared to the original plan and that was encouraging.