Today we left Los Arcos and headed towards Logroño
The Hostal Suetxe, while very comfortable was interesting – although advertising a restaurant and bar, dinner was in a house around the corner and breakfast in a nearby cafe. Amusing but it all worked very well.
Los Arcos has a long history, but in the 11th century the town known today as Los Arcos was formed. Sancho Garcés IV of Navarra from Peñalén repopulated it after the battle of Valdegón. In this 1067 battle, the War of the Three Sanchos (from Castile, Navarre and Aragon), Navarre and Aragonese were on one side, the Castilians on the other and defeated. The grateful king then gave orders to repopulate the town.
The walk started off pretty cold but soon warmed up as we meandered across paths and roads, viewing alternating fields of vines and wheat and some large mountains in the distance. We could see the town of Sansol in the distance for some time on its hill in the middle of flats fields.
Of course, to get through Sansol there was a climb up through the town and then down the other side, where we headed further down to Torres Del Rio – which had a lung busting climb up into the town – where there was a quirky little church (and the obligatory pilgrim passport stamp).
Then, unannounced in the route description, as we walked towards Bargota, there was a long steep incline that caused a few palpitations and must have been hellish for a lot of the older walkers. There were still plenty of vines to see as well as a tiled mural on what seemed like a small private chapel and a majestic vulture keeping a watchful eye on us.
Downhill all the way (well mostly!) into Viana where we looked for ice cream but had to settle for a muffin instead. We had a look inside the church of Santa María de la Asunción which was built between 1250 and 1312. The scale and spectacle of all the churches is absolutely stunning and this is no exception. César Borgia died during a treacherous ambush, in Viana, on March 12, 1507. Three men of Luis de Beaumont, Count of Lerín, prepared an ambush and killed him. The Count of Lerín, like a good gentleman, mourned him and allowed the corpse to be buried in the Church of Santa María.
The heat was now approaching late 20’s and we were glad of an early start we we made the final few kilometres into Rioja country and finally into Logroño. There were noticeably less fields of wheat and significantly more vines!
Tomorrow promises to be even hotter.
