day 6 obanos to estella 26km

Seemed to be first awake again and ready to go. Said my farewells to contacts--very brief--see you on the trail---i´m headed for estella--maybe. You cant ever be too sure where you will end up--and we dont discuss where we will stay in estella--if we get there--there are 3 pilgrim places there--and hotels etc. Got going at 730 --a tough little uphill to start the day but not as hilly as previous days---stopped for a breather and had half my cashews after a couple of hours---finally after 4 hours walking (Gerard the Frenchman passed me and later to my surprise so did the Irish lass Katrina. I thought she´d be way ahead of me but she had an extra day in Pamplona) I came across a bar inLorca.They had a special on-- a bread roll and a beer for 3E ($5) so I snapped that up--and they had a free internet so I put yesterdays doings on there--Obanos had no internet--and had another bread roll--egg and potato--very nice. Must have been there for an hour--felt pretty refreshed so pushed on--finally got to Estella just as I caught up with Isabelle--girl from Sweden who is going to Santiago--did St j to Ron in one day. She decided to stay at the Municipal Alberque which we came to first. I had made a note that Joyce Rupp had said it was very crowded and ordinary so had decided to push on to one that was 1.6km further on--with no guarantee that there will be a vacancy-- I would have had to retrace my steps if full---was counting on the fact that it was further so more likely people would stay at the first place (120 beds) than the 2nd (28 beds). My hunch paid off and I got a non-bunk bed--there were only 8 of them and 2 left. Katrina is staying here but I suspect the other contacts are staying at the larger hostel if they made it this far. my longest distance--but I´m also aware I need to average todays kms. And I´m thinking of having a shorter day tomorrow. Backpack has felt uncomfortable for last 2 days--but not as worried about it today