Camino Frances day 5: Lorca to Los Arcos (29,8km)

A group of 4 ninjas woke up at 5am today and we were ready in 30 minutes for nighttime hiking.

The stars were visible even from inside the village. Outside the village, we went across large plains with a meteor shower happening right above. It was such a magical journey. However, finding all the route markers was surely more difficult in moonlight.

Entering the city of Estella was interesting since we started so early. The 7am hikers had just started to walk with us. Right after Estella there is Irache village with the famous wine fountain!

Personally, I did the first 18km in the morning without any breaks and just one sip of water. The going was already so good from all the preparation and hiking.

Just at the last village before finishing for today, I took a ten-minute break for breakfast, drank water and cooled down. Afterwards, 11km of Dante’s Inferno was waiting. It really gets hot in the plains without any shade. Even worse was that until the last kilometer, the end point wasn’t visible either. With every passing kilometer my feet became slower and slower. Eating some smoked garlic sausage raised my spirit and brought in enough energy to push to the finish line. Only two hikers throughout the day were able to pass me and over a hundred of them were left in the dust.

I arrived at the alberge just at 12 when they opened. Just after me, Veronika and Jasmine also arrived. All within ten minutes after the place opened for new pilgrims. To put a cherry on top of the cake, all of our group of around 9 people made it to the same place again.

Later today we will have a nice big group dinner at one of the local restaurants in Los Arcos and then tomorrow, most probably Matt Eppers will be hiking ahead since he needs to be a little faster than the rest of the group to catch his plane in time.

This means the last night together for the group in its current formation and the start of something new. Tomorrow will be the end of the Navarre region and the start of La Rioja.

Hopefully, I will get used to the heat soon, because for now I need to continue hiking at night to spare myself from the blazing Siesta.

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