Los Arcos to Viana

We stopped today at a little shy of 20 kilos after walking 5 hour 20 minutes which is our best time yet. We were on the road by 6:50 am and it was still dark out and the air was heavy with the smell of rain, but we were again spared any actual rainfall. The total ascent today was 300 meters.
By the first stop to have coffee in Sansol we had completed 1 uphill and travelled 7 kms. In Torres del Rio we found a small grocery store to buy some food supplies: tuna fish, bread, apples and cheese. Torres has a 12th century church linked to the Knights Templar and the octagonal church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. We were passing by too early in the morning to request a private viewing, which is possible for a small donativo. About 80% of today's trail was on natural paths and dirt tracks through open arable farmland. Passed olive groves, vineyards, and sheep grazing in a field. Lots of rolling hills along with the 2 steeper climbs.

We have checked into Albergue Andres Munoz , which was originally a monastery , now converted to a pilgrim hostel. We are in a room of 18 in triple level bunks. David gets bottom bunk, Leslie the next up, and a young German girl the privilege of climbing to the top! Age priority!

The Aubergue has a quiet garden with views over the valley to Logrono. It is next door to the ruins of the Church of San Pedro which are lovely. Apparently in the 15th century Viana was a major pilgrim stop and it's architectural heritage is still largely intact which makes it a delightful stop over.

Last night we met a Canadian couple , Errol and Elaine (E2) who we had coffee with en route and they have snagged a great room in a private pension for 24€. How they ended up there sounds similar to how we got our townhouse last night. We will try looking for that kind of accommodation tomorrow night in Navarette.

Standing in line ahead of us at the Albergue were 2 American girls from Oregon who had started 2 days ago biking the Camino. The bikes they had gotten were so bad that they had called the bike company and told them to come get the bikes. Now they were trying to figure out how to get replacement bikes. Because they had only bike panniers, they could not change easily to walking the Camino. They had 10 days to bike the Camino from Pamplona.

We had the pilgrim meal at a picturesque place called "La Taberna". They chill the red wine here. We bought a few food items for our walk tomorrow which will be about 20 kilos. The tourist office here had a map with the location of the post office marked where we are hoping to pick up our self addressed care package.