We left Cirauqui at around 10 am after breakfast of again eggs and bread. I find that fueling up properly prior to walking helps a lot. We will do about 14 kms today passing Lorca and Villatuerta. This is suppose to be an easy trek. As I am still new to the Camino, I need it to be easy as the first day was very hard.

We had lunch in the town of Lorca of bread, pate and small pizza which we had purchased earlier in Cirauqui. We purchased coffee from a machine as nothing was open in this town. We shared our small pizza with a woman pilgrim from Mexico.

There was a stretch on this trek where we had to go downhill. I still had problem with my left leg. Going uphill is no problem, just going down. I managed slowly with my walking stick. I really mean very slowly. On my way down the hill, I met Tara and Linda from Jacksonville, Florida. Linda also suffered an injury to her knee area. She suggested that I obtain a knee brace from the pharmacy.

Marybel arrived in Estela at 3.30 pm and I arrived an hour half later. I hurt all over. Our beds were on the third floor of the Municipal Albergue. I believe at this stage, the stairs were the hardest climb for the day…lol. Marybel poked me in the butt cheek area and I hurt there too. I laughed as I did not know there are areas of me hurting as I did not feel them until they were touched or in my case, poked.

After I took a most refreshing shower in a unisex shower room, I felt like a new woman. Here is the interesting part of the shower. I obviously was enjoying the shower and made some unbecoming noises. Marybel made a comment that it sounded like I was having sex in the shower….No such luck!! I probably made relief sounds massaging my hurt muscles as I scrubbed myself clean and hard.

We walked the town of Estela and it is like walking Banff with its quaint personality and tiny shops. We visited a couple of pharmacies to see if I can get a knee brace. The second pharmacist said that I did not need one as I did not hurt my knee. He said just to take some anti-inflammatories on a consistent basis over the next few days and I will be fine. He said that if I injured my knee, I would not be able to walk as easily as he had seen me walk into his pharmacy. That is good news.

We found a restaurant near the albergue and enjoyed a most delicious dinner. Spanish Paella, garbazo soup, pan fried chicken with fries and fresh strawberries with fresh cream for dessert. I have to say that Marybel and I have been sharing one order for all of our meals. It is enough as the meals are hearty and can feed two people well. Thank goodness for this. I cannot imagine eating a heavy dinner just before going to sleep. I do not know how the other people are doing it. Oh, I need to mention that we got to take our whole bottle of wine with us as we only finished half. Yes, the menu included a whole bottle of wine and if we had finished this bottle, a new bottle would have been opened for us. The Spanish people love their wine.

I found out this tidbit of information for you guys out there who might do this one day. There is a physio therapist at the Estela Municipal Albergue who treats hurt peregrinos for free. I was tempted to visit him but I did not hurt as much as another peregrino who experienced a shin splint. Thus, I did not want to waste the therapist precious time as he is needed to treat others who really required his services.

This is the first night that the ear plugs came out. The snoring in the dormitory was akin to a quoir (forgive me if I spelled this wrong). In unison, it sounded like a performance. Too bad, the people who performed did not get to experience their talents as they slept soundly. Trust me, a short performance is enough just for the hilarity of the situation. The ear plugs are a must for a good night´s rest.

What an incredible day as well!