Logroño to Nájera

April 25, 2016 Monday

The long walk from Logroño to Nájera    Walking Day #8

Today was a very long day of walking in terms of distance, 28 kilometers from Logrono to Nájera in the La Rioja area of northern Spain. This is the wine country, and the vineyards were around us all day.

We started walking from Logroño, a busy city of over 150,000 population. We will be walking to a much smaller city of Nájera, population 7000.

The walk out of the city was on a long park where we encountered many locals out walking, running, and cycling. I am walking for part of the day with Maria, a yoga instructor from Dana Point, California. Maria worked in marketing for the Whole Foods company for over 15 years and is taking time away from work to travel, complete her yoga teacher training, and do other things that have been on hold. Maria is walking slower than my usual pace, but I wanted to start slowly today to ensure that my right knee problem does not return.

I have been meeting very interesting people on the Camino, and because we all share the suffering of the long walks with the uphills, downhills, rocks, etc., we all become almost instant friends, bonding over the trials of the journey. More people than I expected are having problems, mostly with their feet. I am grateful that I only have had one blister, and my right lower Achilles tendon is often sore, but only superficial pain compared to others.

Soon we were by a lake or maybe it is a reservoir for the city. It was a nice contrast to the buildings of the city and the large expansive vistas we have been seeing.

And soon we were back into the farmlands, here they are vineyards. These vineyards go on and on and on, just like the seemingly never ending uphill the first day from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles.

We stopped for a lunch break at a little town of Navarette (population 2200), and then proceeded onwards, into the vineyards surrounding the town.

We soon came upon this sign saying "A Santiago 592 km." If true (and why would it not be true?), then we have walked just over 200 kilometers. When we started, there were over 800 kilometers from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela. So 200 kilometers equals about 125 miles, or about 1/4 of the way to Santiago. There is much walking to be done, but this is a nice milestone.

And all along the way into Nájera were more vineyards. Almost all of the walk today was on dirt/gravel roads (farming roads), with only a few very short sections on asphalt or on city streets.

And in Nájera, I found my hotel, the Duquese Nájera Hotel. After a long, long walk, I got a shower, changed clothes, left my laundry for the hotel to do (for 6 Euros), and went to a local bar/cafe to have a Coca-Cola and write in my journal. I did not get much writing done, as people I knew from past days of walking kept coming in to the same bar/cafe -- Nikki from Colorado, Paul from New Zealand, Hanz from Germany, and others.

Dinner was to be at 7:30, and when I went into the restaurant, I was invited to join Holly from England (the British Airways Airbus A380 pilot) and her friends Claire the opera singer from Paris and Leslie from Chicago. Dinner was fun - a typical 3-course pilgrim's menu: starter (I had a green salad), main course (I had pork loin with french fries...everything here comes with french fries), and desert (all of us had the chocolate torte). They shared a bottle of local wine, and I had sparkling water. A great meal and great fun.

It was a long day of walking, but because it was cool, the day was good for walking. Everyone was tired, and hungry as was evident from the many empty plates returning to the kitchen.

Next: Second long walking day in a row, walking to Santa Domingo de la Calzada