I left Estella at 07:45 and walked along the lit streets of Estella and Ayegui. I came to the Irache Winery as the sun was coming up. They have a wine fountain along the trail for pilgrims, so I tried some of their wine. It was not bad, definately better than the tinto I had on Day 6. About thirty minutes later, an English guy named Mark caught up with me. We ended up walking together and talking. It made the miles pass quicker. He decided to quit his job in his mid-forties in 2012, then travel with the money he got from selling his house. He had walked every single Camino route to Santiago, and some of the routes multiple times. Despite being a vagabond for six years, he had spent all of the time in Spain with the exception of a single trip to Peru. We walked up to Azqueta and Villamayor de Monjardin. Mark wanted a coffee, but all of the cafes were still closed.
We finally walked into Los Arcos before 13:00. We stopped to get lunch at a bar called Cerveceria Buen Camino. I had an orange juice and an overpriced plate of spaghetti. While eating lunch, the Italian guy, Alesandro, came in to get coffee. He seemed surprised I was there and asked me what time I left Estella.
I continued on walking with Mark until we got to Sansol and Torres del Rio, which are two towns on hills, but on the opposite sides of a stream. Torres del Rio had the only open albergue for miles. Mark called it a day in Torres del Rio as he had walked from Pamplona to Estella the previous day. I swapped out my socks and took a water break at a picnic table in town. I then walked on by myself through dry, hilly terrain to Viana. During this stretch, I started seeing more vineyards and olive groves.
