24-05-2018
Walk 30.0 km, 6 hours 37 minutes
Ascent: 360 meters
Descend: 240 meters
Kilometers to be traveled: 602.1
The day I walked in, deflowered, my new shoes arrived. We are going to work with it like a cold turkey, after we have first made sure that everything is neatly stored away in the backpack. Stowing away is a bit easier than in the beginning of my camino. I’m starting to get handy. I am also very satisfied with the fact that I use those 3 storage covers. Just always make sure that the contents of the covers are in order, then I can search and find almost blindly. Our dormitory is busy. The Koreans are in the majority here. Everything is very neat and orderly. And keep smiling and bowing.
In the large kitchen it is also very busy. I take some small chocolate croissant with a cup of coffee from the machine. A few more dry cookies and only 1 cup of coffee, and finally a packet of gravy. The shoes are still comfortable, but yes I have not walked 100 meters with them. The time has come for the dawn to arrive, so forward, down the stairs and through the front door, or is it now the back door, outside. And pull the door back into the lock so that nobody can enter.
It has rained, the street is wet, but it looks beautiful, so with those street lamps in this narrow street, worth taking a picture. The road will run through Logroño and I will come across some characteristic things. We come across various water sources, which are more or less below the street, you have to go down a set of stairs.
We pass the big game of goose, worth a photo with my old shoes in the foreground. You also regularly walk over a pilgrim stone with the yellow arrow, worth another photo with my old shoe (towards the east) and my new shoes, pointing towards the west.
A single church that we pass and then, looking back, tattooed the old man’s mural with stamps on his bare body. Suske and Wiske are also not missing on the route, although they will not present it, but it is a picture of 2 random walkers on the camino. My old photos are regularly photographed.
If I have to cross the city line and have to go under a tunnel, it has been good. I leave my old shoes here, they look great. I no longer drag them with me. Also not to show them in the Netherlands at the store where I bought them and might receive a small fee for the hole in the sole. They didn’t understand what I was doing here in northern Spain.
Our path passes for a while along a busy road but luckily it turns off again. I pass by “Imagen Nuestra Senora de la Virgen del Rocio”, a statue of Mary by a lake. The road runs a bit along the lake and later along the busy road. It also goes a bit uphill again. A large bull stands on a hill, very flat and full of rust. Reminds me of the bull of….
The path continues and so does our way. I pass by the remains of an old Hospital de San Juan de Acre. Once built for the early pilgrims who were on their way to Santiago. You find this kind of remains more often, I don’t think it is strange, because how long have pilgrims been walking to Santiago?
In Navarrette it is time to drink a cafe con leche grande and eat something, you must not forget to feed the inner man. Here I also find the 3 Dutchmen from Torres del Rio. They warn me about my new shoes, I have to regularly check if I don’t develop blisters. Until now I have not hurt a cent, I tell them.
And then you unexpectedly walk on a road called Camino de Santiago, coincidentally… .. There are beautiful poles along the road, sponsored by the European Union. But also old stone piles of one hundred or more years old, with the shell and cross.
When I put on Ventosa, no that’s not a piece of clothing but a village, I think it’s time to eat lunch. In a restaurant I order a large Radler and tortilla. This tastes delicious. Today’s walk is also very satisfying so far, I am mainly on my own on my way, walk at my own pace, at a fairly fast pace, because of the walk-in of my shoes of course.
After Ventosa comes the Alvia vineyard on the route and according to the signs along the side I just have to take a photo and put it on Facebook… not so. The characteristic feature of this region is the red soil. This would give the wine their specific taste. You also see more vineyards here than arable land. It is slightly sloping and sometimes you have a beautiful view. You try to follow the path you walk all the way to the horizon, to get an impression of where you need to go and how heavy it can be.
The place where I will spend the night is Najera, here is also a monastery with the “La Virgen Peregrina”. Just walk into the shop and buy a rosary. Then further into the town. There should be a municipal inn somewhere. I am alone, but not again, there are enough pilgrims here. It is also early, by the way. It takes a while before I see an alberge. I walk inside and the landlord speaks to me. I did not make a reservation, but there is still a common room with 8 beds where I can get a bed for € 20.00… .. No thank you, I just keep walking.
Eventually I arrive at the municipal alberge that is still closed, while there are already about 20 pilgrims outside. Domenique is already there and is enjoying lunch from his backpack. A little later Valeria arrives and a little later Oliver and Victor. The club is back together. Oliver and Victor saw me earlier in the day as a madman, I would have kept up a huge pace, but I don’t think so. After all, I walk on new shoes.
At 2 o’clock the door of the alberge opens and the volunteers are ready to inform us and to register for a bed and overnight stay. We neatly make a long line and wait patiently until it is our turn. It’s not going very fast, but we’re not in a hurry either. It’s a donativo again.
After registering a volunteer will take you further to the dormitory and on the way he will explain what you can find in the inn: kitchenette, bathroom with 2 toilets and showers for the gentlemen and then the dormitory. 4 rows of wooden bunk beds with red mattresses and pillowcases. There are 96, that is, beds. The beds are also linked 4 by 4 and there is only 50 (or less) centimeters between the couples.
Oh well, this is also the camino. Quickly a message home and perform the usual actions. It is a traffic jam at the shower, at the sink for the laundry and at the clothesline … .. As long as it stays dry. Outside I see a flock of birds with large wings running in circles on the thermal.
Around 6 o’clock we go out for a drink, have a drink, but it is raining too, so put on a raincoat and hope it won’t rain harder. We meet some acquaintances on a terrace, under a shelter and also take a seat. Does anyone know where we can eat and what time?
If the hunger still comes, we go with a group of 10 on the road to a restaurant. It takes about 30 minutes before we find something where we can all sit down together at 1 table. There is again an extensive choice from a daily menu, so it will taste good again.
After dinner a short trip back to the alberge where it is pretty quiet, many a Korean are already asleep. But other pilgrims, even those who were previously complaining about the facilities of this alberge. But if you’re tired, or don’t want to spend a lot of money for an overnight stay, you can’t complain either.
I have not written at all yet how my new shoes went. With 1 word: PRIMA. They walk wonderfully, not a penny of pain and certainly no blister. I have easy feet or those shoes seem tailor-made for me. Immediately traveled 30 kilometers on these new shoes, you won’t hear me complain. It must be because of the good socks of the Xenos that it is without blisters.
It’s time to catch a little owl …… ..
Accommodation: Albergue Municipal
