Day 9 - Viana to Navarrete

People wake up really early in hostels for reasons I don’t totally understand. There is always a pilgrim scrounging around at 5am while the rest are trying to savor a few more minutes of sleep. Sure it was necessary when it was over 100°, but the temps haven’t passed 72° in the last few days. I tried to ignore the racket until about 6:30, when I joined the throngs repacking backpacks to head out for the day. I left around 7:15 and began the long trek up into the old part of Viana. The oath out of the town was a lovely dirt trail that stretched on for about 7km u tip the city of Logroño came into view. I distracted myself with an audiobook as I entered the city. Once I arrived I ran into fellow pilgrims from the night before. We explored the cathedral before grabbing second breakfast. It took a long time to exit Logroño, but as we did we walked through lovely óseos, watched kids and dogs play, and had a paved oath for probably 9 of the 12km that separates the two cities. We enjoyed swans in a lake, adorable squirrels, and vineyard upon vineyard stretched out across Spain’s famous La Rioja winemaking region. The hostel was staffed by a wonderful and funny hospitalero, who happily prodded us for ten minutes before checking us in. After a shower and laundry, Betina and I made our way to a cafe to enjoy an afternoon drink. And then another. We visited the cathedral before returning to our bunks for a bit of r&r before dinner. Anthony, the hospitalero, made a delicious vegetarian paella - which we all happily ate. After dinner, it was back to the cathedral for a quick mass accompanied by s pilgrim’s blessing. It’s almost 9:30pm, which means I’m packed up and tucked into my bunk for the absurdly early pilgrim bedtime. More tomorrow as I head for Azofra!Read more