Viana to Navarrette

Thinking we had a short walking day, we got a late start, leaving albergue Izar at around 8am. We were surprised to find we'd messed up the math somehow as we walked 14.5 miles rather than the 11 miles we'd planned on. Luckily, we found some beautiful parks and motivational artwork in the form of local graffiti to keep us going. We arrived at Navarrette around 2pm and checked into the municipal albergue, with cheaper boarding and communal rooms/ bathrooms. We're both excited to have moved out of the Baswue country and into the kingdom of Rioja, known for it's wine and wealth.

Tom, who listens to Spanish podcasts as walk, is already so conversational in Spanish that other pilgrims ask him how to say things in Spanish and locals compliment him on how well he speaks the language. This has earned him the nickname "polyglot" from me, in return, he has christened me "grass-waterer" for reasons that are self evident and earn me no praise from the locals.Read more