Day 10

Estella to Los Arcos - 22.5 kms
20 April 2019

Today's walk was a steady uphill for almost the first half of it, then of course it was downhill. Not far from Estella is the Fuente del Vino near Irache - the wine fountain - from which pilgrims can revive themselves thanks to the local winery. Nearby is an old Benedictine Monastery. The monastery served pilgrims since the 10th century. It closed in 1985 due to lack of novitiate.
We walked on through holm oaks which were so different to ours - they looked quite stunted. Most of our walk was through kilometre after kilometre of cropping land interspersed with vineyards and olive groves. Today has been our most sunny day, quite a bit hotter than we've had till now.  Meeting people is one of the best things about the Camino. So far we've walked with or spent time talking to Kirk and Holly from Sacramento, US; Eddie from Korea, Jane from Nelson, NZ; Linda from the Netherlands; two men who simply became Kansas City and Wyoming; and young Mario from Porto, Portugal who invited us to look him up when we're there. Not far from Los Arcos we came across a shady place to sit and rest and while there we started talking to a French couple, they were amazed that we had come all the way from New Zealand to walk the Camino. They thought they had come a long way yet Spain is their neighbour. Others we have met so far were from Hungry, Germany, Alaska, Denmark, Brazil and of course Spanish and while we were in the Plaza tonight in Los Arcos eating dinner we met a young couple New Zealand - from Christchurch - Liam and Ella. They were lovely to talk to.

Jeff sampling the wine at Fuente del Vino

The old Benedictine monastery

The path through holm oaks

On the way to Azqueta

Walking into Azqueta...

...where we had breakfast. We seem to graze all day.

While at Azqueta we met Eddie again - we sat with him and his wife at the communal meal we had at Roncesvalles.

Between Azqueta and Villamayor de Monjardin which was at the top of our climb today.

We met up with Eddie again at Villamayor de Monjardin and this time his wife asked Jeff for a photo so I took a quick snap too.

San Andrés Church at Villamayor de Monjardin.

The church was locked but we appreciated the quiet of the church grounds and sat there for a while.

Leaving Villamayor de Monjardin

A few snaps of our walk after Villamayor

This is Pappy's house for today. All it needs is a bit of tidying up but that shouldn't be too hard for Pappy should it girls as he's clever at fixing things isn't he. And he'll be kept busy looking after the grapes.

Half way between Villamayor de Monjardin and Los Arcos we came across Edward's mobile cafe which we thoroughly appreciated. It gave us a very welcome break.

The countryside as we got closer to Los Arcos

We were amazed at how severely pruned these old grapes were.

Walking into Los Arcos

Plaza de Santa Maria in Los Arcos

A Los Arcos street