Last night I attended mass and got a blessing from the priest. It was a really nice experience and I enjoyed just sitting and spending time with God in his House. The population of Estella is just over 2,500 people so a small village but this church was magnificent and in my opinion you would have a difficult time not believing that you’re not in a major city in Europe.
On my hike today, I passed a public wine fountain that was installed in 1891 as a gesture of hospitality and continuing the ancient monastic tradition of offering food and drink to pilgrims. The wine comes from a local winery named Bodegas Irache. There have been several moments where I have taken pause with the awesomeness of humanity, the journey I am on, the scenery, and in this case the tradition of the Camino.
With 6 fresh hours of sleep under my belt, I hiked nearly 14 miles with 1,200ft gained in elevation under 4 hours. My body is holding up well and some of the annoyances I experience is just temporary pain in my knees and hips but to be expected since I am well over a 100 miles in the past week. Today was a short day so I have lots of time to recover before a bit of a longer trek for tomorrow.
Love Ryan
Leave a Reply