5th Stage; Estella - Los Arcos

Saturday, July 25, 2026 – 6th day

Estella – Los Arcos

21.00 km

I think this has been the first night we slept through without waking up 🙃. The mattress on Thorqui's bed is new and custom-made, amazing, but sometimes when you're too tired you can't fall asleep, or at least that happens to me 🙍‍♀️. 

Yesterday we decided to leave when we woke up without setting alarms, because when leaving from home we don't depend on a taxi to take us to the start. We needed it later to bring us back.

The fact is that we left the campsite at 6:40 heading to Los Arcos with a lovely cool breeze 😅 because the temperatures have dropped enough to enjoy the Camino with much more enthusiasm.

Leaving Estella, you come across Ayegui where the Monastery of Iratxe is located, which used to be dependent on it, although nowadays it has become a residential area with modern developments and many services aimed at the Jacobean Route. Next to the monastery grounds is the “wine fountain” that offers the precious liquid to pilgrims or, failing that, water 😉, all managed by Bodegas Irache. At the time we passed by, neither one nor the other was available 😢 so we continued on.

The monastery is actually a complex of buildings with a huge fusion of styles given its antiquity (11th century). It once functioned as a hospital for pilgrims and today it is a cultural and heritage space open to tourism in general.

There are two Jacobean routes to reach Los Arcos, we chose the one that goes to the west because although it is a bit longer, it is, according to the indications, somewhat less wild and has more towns along the way.

Overall, it turned out to be an easy path with hardly any steep slopes, and we didn't come across many people; I think we are too early and the paths don't start to get lively until 9:00, but T is an early riser and once he gets going, there's no getting him back into bed 🤭.

Los Arcos is a small village, but its church of Santa María has one of the most impressive interiors of the entire Camino due to the decoration of its walls, the abundance of Rococo and Baroque altarpieces, and for having one of the most spectacular organs in Navarre. I tell you all this because we read it since we again crossed a deserted village that was just starting to wake up as we walked through its streets. We also didn't have much time to enjoy the village because Concha, the taxi driver who was taking us back, had a wedding and picked us up super quickly; we couldn't even have a pincho of tortilla in the only bar that was open.

By 11:30 we were already showered and finishing packing up the campsite to move Thorqui to the next point… Logroño, the capital of La Rioja. Having arrived so early and less tired than usual, we were encouraged to go out for a walk around the city and took the opportunity to eat out, something we haven't done since we started our trip. A plate of grilled mushrooms and, of course, bacalao a la riojana for me and for T a duck salad and a ribeye, sitting on a terrace by the banks of the Ebro. 

We enjoyed it so much that on the way back home we took an amazing nap, with the thunder of the storm that broke out in the background and covered with the duvet… 😄.

A very calm late evening. The campsite is at the entrance of Logroño, next to the river, and it is small and quiet, just how we like it. Tonight we are not going to have dinner and again we are going to go to bed early because, although today has been a bit more bearable, we still ache all over 😅.

Good night… I’ll keep you updated 😘