7 Villatuerta to Los Arcos - 16 miles

 A fountain that dispenses not water but free wine? Yes!

We knew that today was going to be a long day so we got a bit of an earlier start than normal. We wandered through a few sleepy towns because it was fairly early and eventually came to the monastery of Irache. This is a former Benedictine monastery that is no longer functioning as such. They had a tradition of offering wine to the pilgrims who would walk by. Fortunately, a winery has continued the tradition since 1991. After passing their vineyards, you come to the Fuente de Vino - the wine fountain. And, yes, it is exactly as it sounds. It is a fountain that dispenses wine. Sure, there is also water, but who would want to have that when there’s free wine available?

According to the sign: “Pilgrim, if you want to get to Santiago with strength and vitality take a sip of this great wine and toast to happiness.”

So now, fortified with this great wine, we hea to Santiago!  But first, we still have over 660 kilometers to go (that’s about 410 miles.) But that means we’ve already gone about 120 kilometers which is about 75 miles!

I’ll leave you with a few landscape pictures from our 16 miles today ending in Los Arcos.

Buen Camino!

We saw a gas station today. Before you get jealous of those prices, don’t forget that’s for one liter, and there are about 4 liters to a gallon. I’ll let you do the math.

6 Muruzabel to Villatuerta - 15.5 miles

 Today we walked. 

I know that doesn’t sound all that exciting, but that pretty much sums up what today was about. 

There was however one fun story that happened. Yesterday, Michelle with whom I’m walking left her hiking polls in a cafe. Realizing this, she went to retrieve them only to find out that someone took them and went ahead quickly to try and find the owner. Michelle then also quickly went ahead but never caught up to the well-intentioned individual. They were gone. 

Fast forward to today. We stopped in Puente la Reina to get some breakfast.  We were sitting next to a nice couple from Belgium and had a little conversation with them. When the woman got up because her taxi to the airport had arrived, Michelle realized that she had her hiking poles.  Her husband was the one trying to find the polls’ owner. It was a bit of “camino magic” I think. 

Other than that, there weren’t a whole lot of exciting things today on the Camino other than we got where we wanted to end up. Along the way we passed through several medieval towns and continued through the countryside. I must admit that I am tired and that my feet and legs are sore. But at the same time, I find that my heart is happy and full of joy. So, I will just leave you with a few pictures from today. 

Oh, one more thing. We have walked over 100 kilometers already. That makes me feel accomplished. 

Buen Camino!