Wine and Walking

Hi Everyone,
The walk continues... Cizur Menor to Villamayor Monjardin. This has taken three days and is about 52km. I haven´t my guide book with me so i can´t be exact.
The title is inspired by today´s little event just outside of the city of Estella. There is a winery called Bodegas Irache which kindly has a fountain for Pilgrims. Now most of the fountains I pass are of historic significance, often dating back to the 12th or 13th centuries or earlier. They are truly welcome as it means I don´t have to carry too much water. But this fountain was even more welcome as it dispensed red wine to thirsty walkers. And good red wine it was too. I was expecting Chateau Cardboard at its worst but this was really good. Jack and Tash - it was so much fun waving to you and texting as you saw me via internet on real time. What a buzz!. So good to share it with you. The Canadian guy I met there was very taken with the wine as well. We both went back for 2nds, 3rds, and ok 4ths. I only had 6 or so kms to go before the end of the day. I mean, what´s a Barossa girl to do when she finds a fountain gushing red wine in the middle of Spain? He told me his name was Yook. It took me by the third drink to realise it was his French Canadian accent that had confused me. He was actually Luke.
I don´t know if it was the red wine, the longer rest I had had or the Voltaren I´d taken, but walking after that was the first time I´ve walked pain free since I started. Worth trying the combo again tomorrow I think.
What a stunning walk it was too. The path just wound gently through woodlands, the fragrance of which transported me back to the Alhambra and gardens of the General Life in southern Spain back in 1979. Smell is such an evocative sense. The woodlands opened to farmland complete with a herd of sheep with a shepherd tending them. How amazing and such a peaceful and time stopping sight in this day and age.
Today was easy walking compared to the last two. The weather has been perfect walking weather - cool and cloudy. But it has rained at night making the track VERY MUDDY!!!! This makes for tiring walking or mud skiing. It also means all the walkers nearby bond very quickly, with lots of groans and laughter. I think Henry Higgins got wrong - the rain in Spain doesn´t stay mainly on the plain. It´s everywhere. There could be a whole new musical written around ¨the mud in Spain sticks mainly to the boots¨. It adds 2kg per boot! And 10cm per foot.
Each day I see at least one new wildflower to add to my ever growing list. The stunning red poppies and love-in-a-mist appeared 2 days ago, and the path has been lined with wild thyme, fennel and oregano. Today´s new flower was Salvation Jane aka Patterson´s Curse in Aust. The array of colour and scent is glorious. Walking means seeing so much more. I was thrilled to see workers picking - or digging up - the highly prized white aparagus. It is a specialty of this area of Navarra. I ate some last night. I can see what all the fuss is about. It was delicate in flavour, tender and juicy. Just stunning and so different to what we get at home at exhorbitant expense.
And now a little bit about my fellow pilgrims. There is a wonderful sense of community on the Camino, inspired by the attitude of the walkers as much by the local people in the villages through which we pass. It´s a bit like the atmosphere at Womad. How good is that! We are all stripped of our usual personas defined by what work we do, what we drive, where we live. We wear the same clothes every day, no make-up, sleep, eat, shower together. There is a real sense of freedom and acceptance. Except for the terrible snorers. They are one of the challenges of communal sleeping.
Well must away as it´s nearly curfew. Yes we must all be in bed by 10 pm in the refugios. As I stayed in a pensione for a bit of space last night I got to stay up late - 11pm!!! Wake up call in tonight´s refugio is 6am. Ouch.
Cheers for now - Annie

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