Grace, the pokey, bougie peregrina

As we’ve hinted before, my blisters have been giving me trouble. I’ve long known that walking at a fast pace and walking in high temperatures makes me more prone to blisters. Doing both for several days and over lots of kilometers took their toll. Most of the blisters are healing well and should be resolved soon, but I’ve got a particularly painful one between the first two toes that’s being exacerbated by the fact that the bandages from *other* blisters were making this blister worse.

I took the bus into Logroño yesterday. I thought I’d have some time to reflect and journal in Logroño while I waited for Chris to arrive, but the bus trip to the sporting goods store for better shoes and socks took a lot longer than expected. Chris and I finished our respective journeys into Logroño at about the same time.

I walked the first 10-12km with Chris this morning into a lovely town called Navarette where we had breakfast and our first coffee of the day. Afterwards, we explored the the gorgeous Iglesia de Santa María de la Asunción together before Chris walked onto our stop for the night, a town called Nájara.

At first, I’d thought that I would walk around and explore Navarette. It’s a super charming and friendly little village that’s extraordinarily proud of its pottery workshops.

But after I parted ways with Chris — and confirmed the location of my bus stop with the tourists office — I realized that what I really wanted was to sit back down at the cafe nestled next to the church and catch up with my journal and posting.

We spent the four days between Pamplona and Viana literally racing against the heat of the day and I’ve noticed that the pace has been taking a toll on my mood and mental state as well as on my body. I’m hoping that today’s more restful pace will help me get back on track — especially now that the weather is cooling down.Read more