June 3: Quick on our Feet

As we walked into La Puenta de la Reine yesterday evening, we saw our first stork, perched up on the tower of the Hotel de Mairie. We think of storks as a key totem of a spring camino, together with poppy-fields. Both have suddenly appeared since Monday. We are experiencing these days differently: mostly because we are not exhausted! With “match fitness” for the first time comes more attentiveness to our surroundings, because we are feeling much less physical stress. We walked up behind Sophie today – the new West Point graduate we met at the start of day 1. We stopped for a quick hello and she turned to the woman she was walking with and said “these are the pair I told you about – they left me in the dust”. We demurred (she’s carrying a full pack), but it was also true.

We get odd moments of familiarity (“I remember this…”), particularly so today, as we crossed over several old bridges (Five in all – Roman and Medieval, three of which no longer even have rivers running under them). But, also, there are “familiar surprises” – sense memories that are not really connected to a place: huge yellow swathes of Spanish broom; Six-spot Burnets on orchids and meadow clary; fragrant carpets of thyme along precipitous, ankle-unfriendly rocky paths that are dusty and prone to slipping away under you.

For the first time, we were not staying at Hotel Jacobo (a slightly-out-of-town dormitory/auberge/hotel complex with tiered accommodation and feeding to suit any budget. We were in Hotel El Cerco, in the centre of the old town, all small calles and stone houses. It is a “1 star” hostel with wooden staircases and tiled flooring, quiet and cool. We loved it.

Sean appeared as we were checking in. We met him at Akerreta and had breakfast with him there. He was up for a drink, so we wandered down to the Calle Major together and shared a couple of rounds before he headed off for “pintxos” (local small plates) and we wandered off to forage a picnic.

We stopped for “robot coffee” (or, “coffee ex machina”) from the bakery in the little cobbled square half-way up Ciraqui, before you get funnelled through the pilgrim’s arch and climb steeply to the summit of the village, where you see the two competing signs: “bar” to the right, “camino” to the left (which we always joke is the eternal pilgrim dilemma). It feels very special – a coveted privilege - to know these tucked away things.

We are in Estella this evening, way out of town in the Hotel Yerri: up the road from the Bull Ring. We stayed here last time so we knew we were heading for robot laundry and Radler on tap. Both have been appropriately ticked off. We even had a sneaky kebab (mine with falafel) to satiate Carey’s need for “not duck”, which hankering has not yet fully abated, after almost thirty days of duck-related sustenance throughout Gascony and into St Jean.

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Inspired by our 2024 Camino Francais, Karen has a periodic podcast called "I sent you a bloody boat", personal thoughts on faith by a person who believes in thinking. Also, known as "The Reluctant Christian". You can listen to it on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts at: