Up and at em at 6am, was a chilly morning but we knew we had a climb right off the bat. 6 of us at the start. Cresting the mountain we came to the famous wrought iron depictions of the pilgrims facing west and into the wind, with the inscription "where the Way of the wind crosses the Way of the stars" . we reached this landmark just as the sun was climbing above the mountains behind, and what a spectacular scene it was

.yesterday, taking a stroll through the village, I came across a fountain Fuentes Reniega. The story goes, a dying pilgrim arrived and asked another pilgrim who was standing there, who was the devil disguised, to show him some water, the devil agreed but only if this dying pilgrim would renounce god. He refused to do so, then St James appeared and showed the pilgrim where this spring was, he then fed him water from a clam shell..this is where the Clam Shell became the insignia for all pilgrimages. Pilgrims carry shells on their bags, the way signs along the pilgrimage are clam shells as well, it is known that the early pilgrim carried clam shells to use as drinking vessels then anyway.

Drinking from the fountain
Today was a 35 km walk, quite difficult because it was mostly rocky underfoot, and very hot.
Coming into Puente LA Reina, it was really peaceful in the valley, and great views looking towards the village

La Reina is quaint, I had to stop and have a coffee and pastry to rest the feet and fill up the water bladder. People take a lot of pride in their homes, and flowers seem to be everywhere

Leaving LA Reina we crossed the Queens Bridge, built in medieval times by the queen to give safer passage to the pilgrims 500 years ago

The virgin Mary, and a monument to another fallen pilgrim, just before the town of Lorca

And this farmer needs to get more serious about his crops.

Storks in Spain are protected, and apparently its good luck when one nests on your house, really really bad luck if you remove the nest. This guy found a chimney, all I can say is, if that were my factory, and it was in production, we would have boiled eggs up there, or Storks with a smokers cough

We are in the town of Estella, about 14,000 people, for the night. A 800 meter climb tomorrow morning, so early up again.
Pretty place on a river, I just hope it has great restaurants with traditional foods

Tomorrow,expect an early glass of wine,,like at 7am, but I'll explain that to you later