Logrono to Najera

Day 8 (Wednesday 15 May) 625 kilometres to Santiago (I found the distance to go in my guide book Kenn. If I paid as much attention to it as I did to instrument approach charts back when we were crewing together, I'd know a lot more).

The night before last, in Torres del Rio, our waiter showed us our appetizer, entree, and dessert options by holding up a 3-ring binder with large, colour pictures of each. A show of hands at the table as the favoured option was displayed told him what he needed to know. Last night, in Logrono, our plan for a more upscale meal was changed on the fly as we came to understand that the typical Spanish restaurant doesn't open until 20:00. We didn't want to wait that long, so opted to go to the bar/restaurant next door for pre-dinner drinks (on me this time), followed by the pilgrims' menu. Our older waitress had a more entertaining way of presenting our menu options to us: acting out the sounds of the meat in the main course. Oinking for pork, quacking for duck, she was the server and the evening's entertainment, at no additional charge to the fairly standard 10 Euro.

I was asleep by 22:00 and, except for a 2 hour hiatus in the middle of the night, slept quite well until rising at 05:40 . The dorm room was remarkably free of snorers. I started packing by my "miner's headlamp" until the overhead lights came on at 06:00. I stepped outside to do a weather check (low overcast, but not raining, temperature about 7 or 8 Celcius, with a fresh wind from the northwest) before deciding what to wear (shorts, a T-shirt, and my MEC vest). I'm away by 06:40, walking through the darkened town toward Najera, 30 kilometres away. Logrono is a city of 140,000 people, so it takes me an hour to clear the western outskirts. I consider topping up my Euro supply at an ATM, but decide to wait until I get to Najera, in case the machine eats my card while the bank is hours away from opening. Given that the Camino is largely a cash transaction society, losing my ATM card would be a small disaster. I feel raindrops after about 15 minutes, so stop in the lee of a building to put on full rain gear and to pull up the rain cover on my rucksack.

Clearing Logrono, I run into Brian and Cheryl from Indiana, heading back into town. They've found out that the next town (Navarette), is 3 hours away and don't want to travel that far without first eating breakfast. I have an energy bar in my ruck, so elect to press on. The weather has progressed to steady light rain. The trail is mostly pavement or flat stones, with some very hard packed earth. Mark said that he was still a few pounds overweight when he walked by here last year, so the hard earth is entirely his fault.

Getting close to Navarette, I meet Heather. She has a marked Scottish accent, but in fact emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, 30 years ago. She is on her 6th Camino, but, given that she is now 64, tells me that she "may soon have to find a new hobby". We stop for breakfast at a convenient bar/cafe (for me, a wedge of Spanish omelette, a croissant, and 2 cafe con leche). Leaving Navarette, I'm hailed by a farmer who is tending his olive trees. From his gestures, he wants to bum a cigarette. I call back "non fumero" and press on. It's been decades since anyone asked me for a fag.

Later, I overtake Bristol Sam (19 years old), and the lovely Frankreich Sylvia (German, but living in Bordeaux). A few days ago I thought she said that her name was Alice, but it's Sylvia. Lorna Unger is now rolling her eyes and sending me a telepathic message in German: John, no one in Deutschland is named Alice (duh). Sylvia carries on at a fast clip, but Sam and I fall into conversation until we enter the town of Najera. The rain has slowed somewhat, but has been with me, essentially, all day. The new jacket has worked well. I arrive at a private hostel where Calgary Lise had reserved beds for 5 of us the day before. The 5th person in the group is now Victoria Allison, who I first met in the Paris CDG train station a week ago. I had set out alone in the morning ahead of the rest and maintained a fast pace in the rain. I arrive at the hostel at 13:40, exactly 7 hours after I left Logrono. The others show up around 16:00. In the interim, the rain has essentially stopped and I've had time to shower, do my laundry, get some cash from an ATM, and have a mixed salad and a glass of wine at a nearby bar/restaurant.

Tomorrow should be a shorter day: Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada (21 kilometres). Before reaching Logrono the day before, I crossed from the province of Navarre to La Rioja.

 

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