29 April Puente La Reina to Estella

The winds at 2 AM told me that todays walk was not going to be enjoyable. We had our 7 AM breakfast of coffee and bread rolls and started the 1 mile climb to the village of Maneru. The wind was a head wind blowing between 15 and 20 Knots with gust that tried to blow you off the trail. A slow day, the ability to enjoy the valley and mountain views was difficult. The region that we were passing through is the start of the Rijo wine country, numerous grape vines border the Camino. In this region also are Roman ruins from the time of Christ. Bridges, cobble stone paths and some very degraded shelters. The cobble stone paths are very difficult to walk on and can be a cause for foot or ankle injuries.

Today Jerry from Colorado Desire, Bill, Abby and Sister Denise walked with me as we crawled up the trail to Estella. Sister Denise is a Franciscan nun from Ireland. I took the opportunity to tell her about my students at St Mary's and if she had a thought for the day that she would like to share. She smiled and said, I have all ready realized after just six days of being a Pilgrim that "less is better than more". She explained that in todays world to many people fail to realize what a beautiful planet God created and do not do walks or hikes or adventures to discover this gift.

So what I would like the team to do is discuss amongst yourselves what Sister Denise meant when she said "Less is better than more".

The villages that we walked through are small and lived in by farmers and merchants. The one thing that you find is that each has a very large Cathedral in the city square. The stone houses and yards are very well maintained.

Tomorrow we walk to Los Arcos a village with a population of 1,300 people. We are starting to take casualties among the Pilgrims due to blisters, sore backs, sore shoulders, and a few twisted ankles. The weather forecast is for rain, wind and mud... the life of a Pilgrim is not easy.