Section 2 begins - Pamplona to Estella

April 8- Pamplona to Puente de la Reina (Queen’s Bridge). Beautiful weather! Husband had to leave today to close out his house in Saudi and start retirement- was sad to see him go. The rape seed is in bloom and lovely walking Total walked today: 15.6 miles at just under 3 mph. Weather - sunny and 70 degrees. The view from the alto de perdon was amazing and I had lunch there. I had an option to go to Eunate to see a church , but that would have added 2 miles, a hill, and it was closed for lunch, so I gave it a miss.

April 9 - Puente la Reina to Estella. Beautiful weather. 150 meter (multiply by 3 for feet) uphill through the forest at the start and undulating thereafter. There was a group of 10 high school age children hiking together and they were a bit terrifying - a big group without a lot of feel for those outside their space and talking all the time. Thankfully they would take lots of breaks and I could walk past and get away. The most beautiful parts of the day were the vineyards - now in Rioja wine country - the beautiful medieval town of Lorca, the the Church of St. Michael, the view from my hotel window which looks right onto the church and eating next to the River Ega. There are the remains of Roman roads leaving the town and it’s too picturesque for words. I missed the opportunity to rest under the olive trees, as the indicator on the map was incorrect, so I finally had a break in Villatuerta at mile 10. Total walk length for the day: 13.7 miles with 1,200 feet elevation gain. Average speed 3 mph. Arrived at the lovely hotel El Chapital by about 2:30pm. Dinner was at a wonderful place called Casa Carmen and ate with Steve and Mike (Australians). I finally got some white asparagus, which was almost the most expensive thing on the menu. Since tomorrow is a rest day for me, I won’t see them again during my journey - a pity.

April 10 - Rest day in Estella. Weather has started to turn and was overcast much of the day, which made it also cooler. Even though a rest day, I walked over 5 miles to see the sites of this medieval town. There are 5 or 6 extra nights taken during my journey at certain places of “cultural significance” to allow time to look through the town and to give my body a bit of a rest. High points: The winery and free wine fountain at Bodega Irache. While there I also took in the Iratxe Monastery, built from the 900s, and the wine museum. I have to say that the 1.8Euro glass of wine I had at the museum far surpassed the free glass from the wine fountain. The only downside is that this was 1.5 miles out of town along the same way I will be hiking tomorrow. I really felt the alcohol and had to walk back to the hotel for a short rest before heading to see the Basilica Del Puy and another church I never did find. I could have easily skipped the modern Basilica except for the view of the city offered by the height - it was quite a hike up to it. Dinner was awful- had some potatoes and a salad. The potatoes were drowned in mayo and the salad was drowned in dressing. Had to scape it all off and was just unpalatable 🫣😵‍💫

Section 2 to be continued….