Camino Frances, Day 5

 Out the door at 7:20, I was a slacker this morning. Had a decent nights sleep. I had 3 roommate's. two woman & 1 man. One woman was from Portugal and the other woman from I don’t know because she came in late and proceeded to make enough noise to wake up the entire building😡. The man was from Italy, but I didn’t catch his name. He was in bed asleep by 8pm. Albergue Estrella, a very nice place, I will definitely give them a nice review. They had this Chinese Buddha atmosphere going on, with the big Buddha statue, incense radiating throughout the bottom floor & chanting type of music. No pilgrim dinner, but they did have a pilgrim breakfast for eight euros and I went with that. I was awoke by the clapping of thunder & lightning in the middle of the night followed by a brief rain shower. So the one night I don’t have any snoring to deal with I got thunder🤣🤣, oh well at least it was brief.

Okay, 7:20 am out the door, April 22nd, outside temp about 62. I ate about 1/2 my breakfast and packed the rest for later. I had, according to my Camino app, about 14 miles, with a couple of good climbs. First thing I came across, leaving town, was a beautiful Romanesque four arch stone bridge, over the Arga River, you talk about old stuff, that bad boy is older than old!!! So cool. Walked for about 1 mile until I hit the first hill, after almost 3/4 of a mile I reached to top huffing & puffing, legs burning, heart rate thumping away, i said to myself, I’m getting to old for this crap!!

4.5 miles into my walk, I reached a sequential European small village, Zirauki. Say that 3 times fast, I dare you!!!. The city was located high up on top of the hill, of course with the church perched on the very top of the hill and all the surrounding building just kind of cascaded down all sides from the church. It was really beautiful walking up to the city. As I entered into the city I was looking for a cafe to take a break & go to the restroom. I round this corner and I hear Metallica 🤟🏻blaring from a speaker, Enter Sandman, from this small cafe, with a bunch of pilgrims sitting around drinking there coffee, I am sure, wondering what the hell kind of music is this. I was in heaven🤣🤣,  again the Camino Provides🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻.

It was a good stamp day for my Compostela. Two churches were actually open today so I got stamps from both of them. I got another stamp at a café that I went to and I got a stamp from the place I’m staying tonight. I am trying to get at least three stamps per day. I think I talked about my stamp booklet, if not, I have a booklet that I collect stamps and when I reach Santiago de Compostela I have to show proof that I actually walked the Camino, to get my Compostela, and the stamp booklet shows the stamps, place and date of my journey. I normally get stamps from my lodging, restaurants/bars, churches etc… I guard that booklet as I due my passport. You touch it you die!!!!!

The miles were just clicking off today. It was 12 noon and I was just about to enter  the city of Estrella, my place of stay for the night. I talked to all kinds of people today. Mostly Europeans, a few Americans a couple Australians. We all asked the same questions. Where are you going? Where are you from? Are you doing the whole Camino? When did you start your Camino? How many days are you taking to complete your Camino? and is this your first Camino? I have also had a lot of comments about my Camino tattoo, on my right calf, people are curious because it’s the Camino symbol w/ 2025 under it. They mainly ask what Camino I did. A guy today even took a picture of my tattoo inside a church🤣🤣

I arrived at my Albergue, 12:35, got checked in. I am on the 2nd floor w/ a lovely view of the Ega River. I think the place used to be and old power plant🤔 I am in a 5 dorm room tonight🤞🏻🙏. Basic chores done, old cloths washed, new cloths ready for tomorrow. Connect to the Wi-fi, shower and find out where the closet bar 🍺is. Getting pretty good at this now.

I am going to do a little gear talk everyday. I’ll pick something that I am using everyday. Yesterday I talked about my Altra shoes. I forgot to mention that I am also carrying a pair of Teva sandals, that are my town shoes & just a pair of good old flip flops that I use for the shower and in the room.

It was a good walk today. Lots of things to look at and take pictures of. People are really complying of the heat. I guess it’s a bit hotter than normal around here. I think it may have hit upper high 70’s maybe 80, but I am from Palm Desert, this actually feels normal to me.

Stats—> Puente La Reina to Estrella, Stage 5

Miles- 13.6

Time- 4hrs 55min

Elevation- 1, 437 ft

Temp- 62-78, full sun

Tomorrow I am heading to Los Arcos. 14+ miles

A little side note, I have one full month from today until I finish.

Thanks for reading, until tomorrow, peace out!!!