Estella to Los ARCO's,,20km.
 Not a long day, but time to give the feet an easy day. The only problem I'm having is the broken toe, but I can live with that. I have a twinge  in my left knee, have has that for two weeks but its not any worse. Left late this morning, 7 am, which was lucky as I ran into two young Americans who we have crossed paths with a number of times,Matt and Jason.  Matt's knee has started to fail him so he is hobbling along and hopes to get a brace in a town ahead.
                                          A few images of Estella

This monastery was built in the 11th century by Benedictine Monks, was the first pilgrim hospital on the Way, but was abandoned in 1985. It a majestic place, and for the life of me,I can't get my head around the idea of abandoning this place, its so tragic to see it falling into ruin, and the vines are taking it over.

so, back to the " wine isn't just for breakfast anymore" . it was thought back in the old days, that pilgrims would not have the fortitude or strength to reach Santiago without wine, and the monks in this area would feed the pilgrims wine for free. At the Bodegas Irache monastery, the tradition remains, and today at about 7.30am we came across the Fuentes De Vino, "fountain of wine", where red wine still flows free for pilgrims. A bit early for me, but I had my gatorade bottle
I am sipping my take of the free wine as I write this this evening,,not bad.

hiking into a village called Azqueta

 I met an old man  named Pablito De Las Varas, he had a round stone about 2 ft across, that was in his family for about 80 years. It was a pilgrimage relic they had found ,and had the cross of San Tiago on one side, and the Maltese cross on the other side. Was so neat to actually see this,  as i had seen it in a photo when doing my research on the trip,and its a very famous part of the history of the Way. He then presented me with a self made pilgrim stick. I feel so fortunateand honored, and I don't really like hiking with sticks, but today I embraced the challenges as it was given for a reason, and I'm getting used to it

maybe I look like I need the help ,but in the villages, the people have been so kind, and so respect that you would come here to do this pilgrimage in their country. Sometimes my heart feels like it will burst ,as a human, I think we would do well to progress backwards in time.

Today was one of great scenery, vistas across the wheat fields, and looking out towards the Sierra de Urbasa ,and the cliffs.

I am happy, the Way is pointing me forward.