21.9 km / 13.6 miles

6:30am to 12:30pm walking time

1500 feet elevation gain

I’m writing today’s blog from a 50’s style US diner listening to Whitney Houston and waiting for a hamburguesa. I was craving a hamburger yesterday but didn’t find a restaurant open so I settled for frozen pizza that I made at my albergue. I asked a guy working at the supermercado where might be open with a hamburger and he directed me to the town square of Estella. During siesta you can be really limited in the places open to eat. Usually the bigger cities will have some restaurants open in the tourist parts of town.

Anyway today was a quicker day, with only a couple bigger climbs of the day. It also amazingly stayed pretty cool with overcast skies. I definitely appreciated that over the heat of yesterday. I know the worst of the heat is still likely to come for me. But I’ll take every cool day for walking I can get.

For the walking today, I passed over Roman and medieval bridges as well as more modern bridges. Walked through wine country, and saw more kitty cats. There were more cute towns, with big churches.

I took my usual breaks for Coke Zero, Aquarius and a banana. I continue to see lots of familiar faces but didn’t chat too much with anyone until I made it to Estella.

When I arrived in Estella, just before crossing the bridge to where my hostel is, I noticed some familiar faces so I joined them. It was the Irish guys and Canadian guy I got to know over beers with a couple nights ago, Ian, Eugene and Gerry. I joined them again for beers and for some of the best fried bacon I’ve ever had (pictured above and below). Where can I find this in the US?!

I am sad that the two from Ireland will be headed out for other travel after tonight, but it’s been fun getting to know them.

Estella is a cute town and a new one for me to stay in as I only passed through last time. I have a hostel with slightly more private accommodations than most, so I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep tonight (I didn’t last night).

More burgers should have fried eggs on them. 😃

It looks like it’ll be hot tomorrow, so I’ll probably try for another early start. Starting to feel into the routine of things on the Camino again.