Villatuerta to Villamayor de Monjardin, 13 kms

Something New On Camino!

It’s always interesting how some days on Camino I wake up and rather than jump up I lie there thinking, “do I have to?”. Fortunately I’ve only experienced a handful of these days while on the road, but darned if today wasn’t one of them. I never quite know when these will happen. However, after thinking a moment about the coming weather change I decided that if I was going to have a zero day it would be on a rainy day. So on my feet, a light breakfast and out the door. Once again on a virtual camino. Tell that to my feet!

Today the plan was to walk to Villamayor. In 2013 Ken and Marianne stayed there while we and Neil and Sarah, walking separately, sailed right on past. Destination, Los Arcos (The Arches).

The approaches to Estella. Lots of other pilgrims on the road in 2013 on a very hot 27 degree day. Not so many pilgrims a month later in 2018, but still a warm day at around 19.

One of the more special fonts on the Camino Frances. The water both times was ice cold and so refreshing on a hot day!

Entering Estella aka the 'Toledo of the North',  a very nice town. We stayed here in 2018.

Strangely quiet streets. Not sure why?







The central Plaza Mayor. In 2013 there were lots of families and we watched all the kids riding bikes and smaller wheeled toys.

In 2013 it was so hot in Estella! My bandana was out as was Annemarie's painful foot.

The Plaza Mayor. Every major town and city has one.

The usual friendly face! Always lots of small dogs on balconies in Spain. We’ve seen some cute ones!



Looking back towards Estella. Such a beautiful late October morning!

In 2013 we stayed here. A great camp ground, and we had to walk out to find a place for dinner and wifi so that I could post the blog. We have made it kind of a 'thing' to stay in a campground on each camino, and at truck stops whenever the opportunity presents. Always simple, clean and often with a good kitchen. I remember Annemarie being so upset when there was no wine left in the free wine dispenser (see above). She was looking forward to taking the free wine to the campground! Being Annemarie she even went inside to ask why it was empty: ) Last crossing I watched a some filled whole bottles in the morning. No wonder it was empty by the end of the day.

Ever closer to the Castillo de Monjardin. In 2013 there was a waining moon as we walked that morning.

Just before Villamayor is the Fuente de Moros which is cistern that is thought to date back to Moorish times when the area the Camino Frances passes through was under their control. At that time pilgrims travelled along the north coast on what has come to be called the Camino del Norte which we crossed much of last year. A very beautiful route and much different from the Frances.

The above photo was shot on October 22, 2018 while the next photo was taken September 21, 2013. Hence the brighter greens in 2013. The interesting thing is that my eye picked out an almost identical place to take these two photos, something I've already noticed while writing the last couple of posts. I'll be curious to see how much this trend repeats as we walk our virtual camino.

A distant view of Villamayor. Those that have walked the Frances, can you see what's wrong with this photo?

Almost in!

As mentioned earlier, Ken and Marianne stayed here and had an interesting experience in the albergue. Here is an excerpt from Ken's journal;

Saw beautiful horses. Weather cool and overcast until after lunch; as soon as the sun came out it got quit hot. Marianne suffers in the heat so we get most of our kms in before noon. What else? Quiet walking, feet crunching gravel in unison. On the road before 7:30. Albergue last night: food great; rooms cramped, because medieval building. They gave out Gospels of John and an invitation to “meditation” that was really [going to be] a church service. Went to watch the sun go down instead. Great breakfast this morning with rye bread/barley--kept us going until noon. Also coffee with hot milk! Nice people, sweet that they care about our eternal souls, but the last thing we need is more shit to carry. We tossed ours at lunch.

Interestingly I wrote an entry in my walking map book before leaving home in 2013 that the albergue had a reputation as being too controlling, part of the reason we walked on to Los Arcos. Had we stopped there, we would have likely met Ken and Marianne sooner, but we might not have formed a solid connection with Neil and Sarah which happened that afternoon. Funny how things workout, right?

I also noted Ken's comment about the coffee. I'm guessing that he hadn't yet picked up the local name for this...cafe con leche! One of the morning drugs for most on the camino, though personally I don't get this: )

Perhaps these are the horses that Ken referenced. I took this photo that same day. Ken? 

So the new experience that happened today while on Camino was that after we completed our 17 kms we returned home to find a phone message indicating that our lawn mower was ready for pick-up. It had been in getting tuned up. So after our usual post camino showers and lunch we went down to get the mower and I then mowed the whole lawn which had grown considerably during the past 3 weeks. I've never done that while on camino, so definitely a first for this peregrino!! Actually, the only reason I go walking off shore is to avoid things like lawn mowing, lol.

Buen Camino!