Day 9 - Lagrono to Najera

It was a long way out of Logrono through the city.  Not that interesting but well marked.

As we headed into the country, the walk skirted the Parque de la Grajero.  The park contains a large artificial lake, with the river full of four person meal size cat fish.  There were also ducks and geese, a very pleasant walk.

The walk then joined a paved linear park, much like the bike paths in Ottawa.  Full of joggers, people heading to work, perigrinos and people out for a vigorous morning walk.  We  made the aquaintance of an older gentleman along the way who was walking at our pace and we followed him to the end of the formal city path.  He had no English skills at all but   he insisted we follow him and not the Way. He kept on explaining  in Spanish why we should go his way even though we caught only one word out of twenty. It was an act of faith to follow him but he did leave us on the Camino in the end and we avoided getting soaked by some lawn sprinklers.

The walk today was long but mercifully gentle, a climb of 300 meters, but spread out over 20km with no points of really steep climb.

We continued to walk through woods, olive groves and vineyards.  An interesting point to mention was that in some fields they plant a rose at the end of the row.  It seems that whatever fungus affects grapes hits the roses first, so that way they know when to spray, rather than spraying every week.

At the end of the park a young peregrina that we had seen over the last few days was about to fly by when Lynn entered into a conversation with her. This was fortunate because it turned out today was her last day on the camino. She is returning to finish up university and then heading to Cameroon to work with an NGO. She will be working with pygmy woman, trying to better their lives, especially trying to prevent them from getting pregnant at 12 years old. She doesn't seem to have rose colored glasses about the work, and at least it involves preserving their culture. We mentioned her fast pace we had noticed on previous days and she said she enjoyed being totally exhausted. After that she said she was going to wait for her friends to catch up and we didn't see again.

Going up a slight hill we then passed a young lady that had passed us early in the day leaving Logrono. She was from Pamplona and is walking to Santiago, for her first time, alone. We basically walked together to Navarette but communication was very difficult.

The walk into Navarette was probably notable for one reason.  We passed a company the turned tree refuse into wood shreds.  They blew up against the company fence and people had picked the longer pieces and threaded them through the fence in the form of a cross. There was a km or more of crosses.

We passed the ruins of a perigrino hospital from the 13th century near Navarette.

We then entered Navarette and stopped at a cafe for a cafe con leche, with the girl from Pamplona.  The cafe con leche has rather become a favourite.  Before leaving, the girl asked if we would like to visit the 16th century Church of The Assumption, and we followed her there.  Everyone of these churches is stunning inside and the same thought must run through the mind of everyone, what happens to them when there is no one to take care of them. Part of that church is attributed to Rembrant, and it is so beautiful it brings tears to your eyes.

From Navarrete, a steady but not steep climb to Ventosa.  The towns along the Camino all have the same trait, you see them from kilometres away, but they never come closer.  Lunch at Ventosa. Today we performed an experiment and took our boots and socks off at lunch. I think it was very helpful.

A km or so more and we reached the Alto de Son Anton.  The view of the valley was magnificent, including our destination that seemed so far away.

We met Genovia from Genova Italy who walked with us most of the way to Najera.  She said she missed her children and dog, but was  planning to go all the way to Santiago.

Further along we met a limping walker from Cyprus.  He had shin splints on one foot and with 5km to go, was in distress.  We wished we could offer a tensor bandage but it was in our luggage.  We could only offer advice and words of encouragement.

Najera and our hotel. While we were checking in, Jack showed up in the lobby.  He and George checked one albergue, which was full, looked at a second, and decided on trying a hotel.  A few of our compatriots seem to be finding the albergues less than suitable.

Summary - a long walk but easier than yesterday and we were less weary on arrival.  We figure our feet are getting the message that this is not a one or two day walk, but a continuum.  We are getting fitter. We continue to be amazed by the local people and their concern for the perigrinos.  We also are meeting more and more perigrinos limping along due to some injury, and perigrinos opting to take a taxi to their next destination.

Distance today : 31km
Distance total : 199.5km