The Way Our Way. May and June 2014: Day Seven - Estella to Los Arcos

Our hotel last night was 1 1/2 km from the camino path so the hotel gave us all a complimentary ride back to the path this morning - which was nice!

Yesterday evening we went for a meal with our Irish friends to a restaurant called Casanova. This was recommended to us by several people as having tradition local food.

When we got there the place was crowded - even though we thought that it had only just opened. It was full of men eating, drinking and watching bull fighting on the TV!

We had a great evening with Stephen and Michelle and eating stewed vegetables followed by stewed meat - it was actually quite tasty if a little 'stewed'.

We have met all sorts of characters so far. One we have named Ramon (said in a Spanish accent). He is Spanish and not called Ramon but disappointingly Daniel. Anyway, whenever you see him he is enthusiastically bouncing along with a big grin on his face usually on his phone trying to book his next gastronomic meal. He has stayed at several of the same hotels as us and we have had a many awkward conversations as he has only a little English and we have even less Spanish. The other day he was staying downstairs in a shared Casa Rural - we knew he was there because we could hear him singing - loudly! So we named him Ramon after the guy in The Way film who sings (you have to see the film).

Stephen and Michelle told us about this guy they had met the first day of their walk called Paolo. They had then met another guy who they mistook for him so they called him Imitation Paolo. He was a crazy fast walker, and was always grinning.

Anyway, when we walked into Casanova yesterday who should be sitting right inside the doorway, right in front of the TV with a big grin on his face and a huge plate of food but Ramon. As we said hi and walked by Stephen and Gary turned to each other at the same time and said "That was Ramon/Imitation Paolo!'. Honestly it was very funny!

So today we saw mountains, and fields, and wild flowers and hills and fields and vineyards. Lots of vineyards. We are nearly in Rioja - wine making country. Less than a kilometre into our walk this morning we reached our first winery and the Fuenta de Vino. Yes a fountain where we could not only fill up our bottles with water but also with free wine. I don't usually drink wine at 8.45 in the morning, but we really had to have a taste - we used the cups our children had given us for Christmas for this.