After our pilgrim breakfast in the hotel, we made tracks in the drizzle and cold, through Puenta la Reina and discovered what a pretty village it is. Very typically Basque, with very narrow streets, the most beautiful old wooden doors, and everything so immaculately clean!

We walked onward and up , what has become almost normal now, a steep winding hill, a stunning Roman bridge and along an old Roman road. The countryside was open with wild flowers along the verges, fields yellow with rape and also vines, almond and olive trees. We’re on the edge of the Rioja region here.

We passed through several small villages, always up a hill to reach them, and had several drink breaks on route and lunch at Lorca in a tiny bar, catering for loads of pilgrims. The pilgrim camaraderie is amazing and we met up with people that we’d passed previously or seen a day ago.

Onward we went, although one of our party had taken a tumble and hurt her wrist and another wasn’t feeling great, so they taxied on to our next stop.

The walk from Lorca was very pleasant through open countryside with great views. We were also fairly close to the busy road, which was noisy, but not as bad as walking into Pamplona!

We could see The town of Estella as we walked along, but it was 6km away and sometimes it seemed like a long walk to get there!

Our Hostel for the night in Estella welcomed us with open arms- literally! She was so welcoming it was unbelievable, nothing was too much trouble, our bags were already in our rooms, she did our washing, dried it, brought it back!