23.7km

Areum and Ji Sung are already eating breakfast when I wake. I tell them to go first because I want to take my time to eat breakfast and get ready.

Samuel and I are last to leave the hostel at 8.30am. He goes to post his extra shoes back home while I carry on. The town is still quiet with some early stirrings, and is beautiful in the morning light. At the river under the bridge that leaves the town, ducks flap their wings across the water.

I follow a quiet path that starts adjacent to a highway, then splits off, goes under it, and joins a river. The shrubbery has frozen dew on it, just like my socks. I’m still coughing a bit, so Halls is my best friend.

Samuel catches up with me as I apply sunscreen and zooms right past me after saying hello. He’s fast.

I have my first sitdown at the entrance to the town of Mañeru and take my second breakfast, finishing up my jamón (cured ham) with a barra de pan (baguette) and eating a tomato the way the Koreans taught me.

The town itself is empty and quiet, and I pass through it quickly. I walk past vineyards while the town of Cirauqui lies ahead. I’m alone today, but my shadow accompanies me right ahead as I walk directly west with the sun behind me.

The day starts to warm up at 7°C, and at 11am as I approach Cirauqui I take off my puffy. The town has slopey maze-like streets. I am craving a café con leche, but nothing is open.

Leaving Cirauqui is as picturesque as entering it. I exit to a cobblestone pathway, and start singing to myself.

After an uphill, I come to a “Zen Garden”. There are lots of benches, a book exchange, and a lot of natural shade from trees. No one else is there. I take a seat and set my bag down to have a meal.

It’s 10°C now and I take off my merino wool sweater as well. The mandarin orange I bought is amazing. I also try some crema de lomo curado con pimientón, some sort of pork pate with paprika. It tastes like otak-otak without fish.

There’s a steep uphill I take before the town of Lorca is revealed. There’s a seat right at the top so I invoke “the rule of the seat” and let my breath even out and stretch.

When I went hiking with my brother, he told me he invented a practice for himself called “the rule of the seat”. When he encounters a bench or sitting spot, he should sit unless he really doesn’t want to. It’s a fun reminder to rest, because you never know when the next seat will be.

All the shops are closed in Lorca too so I leave it quite fast. From walking alongside roads, the path diverts to go past more vineyards. The source of Navarra wine.

After a tunnel, I walk past some wheat, and am greeted by the twittering of birds as they fly out from the stalks, up and about. The road leads to a nonchalant entry to Villatuerta via private bungalows. Villatuerta feels modern but suburban, and is super quiet too.

Feeling hungry after leaving Villatuerta, I stop at benches near a lone church to snack, and realise—torreznos are like the crispy part of a siobak. I then get curious and decide to try get into the church. There’s simply a cross in the wall and a stone altar, and for some reason, a picture of a young girl on it. I don’t stay too long.

I reach Estella, the recommended stop on the Brierley guidebook, but have planned to go further to the neighbouring town, Ayegui, to cover more distance and to join my friends there. Estella is really nice, but quiet too.

As the sun starts to hang low in the sky, I approach Ayegui. It feels like a suburb. I check in to the Albergue Municipal San Cipriano, which doubles up as a sports hall. I say hello to Samuel, Ji Sung, and Areum. The Korean girls from the Pamplona hostel are already there as well.

As of today I have walked more than 100km, which is the longest I’ve done in one hike. Everyday after this will be a new record.

Close to 8pm, we head out to a restaurant we found online. On the way there we are happy to bump into Diego and “Guti” Gutierrez, two Spanish we had met at the Puente la Reina albergue late last night. They are heading to the same restaurant too.

It is the restaurant of a hotel, which is very full, and the staff tell us they are only accepting hotel guests to eat there for now. Diego and Guti say they know another nearby place, although it is more of a bar.

The bar is also full of excitement. A big group is celebrating a child’s birthday. We only manage to get tortilla (potato omellete), patatas bravas (spicy “brave” potatoes) and beers. It’s not a feast but a good way to end the night.