Camino Day 9: Logroño to Nájera

Total Distance: 33.4km
Step Count: 50.5k
Blisters to date: 1
Tortillas to date: 10

Waking up at 4:30am to start walking by 5:00am should’ve been harder today as I barely slept 5 hours but it was so so hot in the albergue that the idea of being outside in the “cool” morning air made it very easy to get up and go! It was like 23 degrees outside 😒

Logroño to Nájera was a 30km day and the World Cup final would start at noon so I was on a mission to get there on time to watch the game. I thought Adam would walk with me but he didn’t get up on time.

The first town along the way was 12.5km away. Now when people talk about the magic of the camino, I’m certain in my case it means walking hours without coffee! 😑

After the coffee stop, an ongoing breeze made the next chunk of km very enjoyable.

I was loving life with the breeze and listening to some music that I didn’t realise when my credit card fell out of my backpack’s side pocket. Eventually, when I finally realised, I started to walk back to look for it. That’s when I ran into Adam who had seen my card in previous days, recognised it and picked it up for me (seriously, how lucky am I?!).

Adam and I walked together for a bit again but when he started to stop at every grapevine to eat grapes, I pushed on. The sun was gruelling and while it wasn’t a race, it was fun making it into town before Jorge who’d already proven to be way faster than me on the trail. Even then, we still only made it to the second half. The game was screening at the town square on a giant screen and everyone was there with their shirts and cheers, a wonderful atmosphere. Great to see Spain win that day!

After the game, Jorge invited Adam and I to catch up with his dad (as his parents have a home in a village nearby where Jorge would stay the night instead of an albergue) and some of the dad’s friends at a local bar. For someone who’d missed interactions in Spanish, all of this was such a joy.

Adam was temporarily stopping his camino later that afternoon so we accompanied him to the bus station and then went to the river for a dip. It was almost 6:00pm and still like 37 degrees!

Jorge’s dad was still waiting for him in town so we parted ways for the day and I went to enjoy a lovely dinner which included “patatas a la Riojana”, a delicacy from the region. I could go on and on for days about how good food and wine are in Spain! 🤤Meer informatie