Logrono to Najera

Yesterday’s walk was our longest so far—18 miles—but it started well.

Yesterday, when we checked out of the hotel in Logrono, we asked if we could buy the breakfast buffet—sometimes it’s available only for groups staying at the hotel.

We were really hungry.  We had arrived in Logrono, at just after 4 in the afternoon, the beginning of the Spanish siesta.  Lunch—almuerzo—the biggest meal of the day, is served from 1:30 to 3:30, so we had missed that.  Restaurants would not open for dinner—sena—until at least 8:00 or 8:30.  We would be getting ready for bed and our next day’s hike by then.

When we asked about the breakfast buffet, the hotel receptionist apologetically told us it was 10 euros.  Anne couldn’t get her wallet out fast enough.  Spanish breakfast—desayuno—is usually really skimpy. Usually just coffee and bread or a croissant.  After a couple of hours of walking with only croissants and coffee for breakfast, we are really hungry.  We carry food but we can’t carry enough.  We try to arrive at a good sized town by lunch but we hadn’t been able to do that in Logrono.  When we reached Logrono late in the afternoon, we went to a restaurant next to the hotel but only the bar was open and the food had been sitting out on the bar for several hours.  We went to bed hungry and woke up even hungrier  And the hotel’s breakfast buffet, unlike the usual Spanish desayuno, had scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, and several different kinds of breads and muffins.  We got our 10 euros worth, without having to stuff any food into our backpacks or pockets.

With full stomachs and happy hearts, we hit the Camino and walked out of Logrono.  The walk followed what has become a common pattern in large cities.  We walked out of the old quarter of the city into a business district.  Logrono’s business district has a statue dedicated to the peregrinos:

We then walked through a park that took us to the edge of the city.  Here is Anne’s painting of trees in Logrono’s Park:

At the edge of town, we came across a shrine to Mary:

The path went by vineyards:

And by a small lake with a park:

Beyond the lake and the park, the path climbed to a pass beside a highway:

It then dropped down into a valley and climbed up to the village of Navarette:

Leaving Navarette, we walked beside a road:

And then turned back through vineyards:

There are more shrines and religious statues along this part of the Camino.  Here are two that we saw along today’s walk.

After Navarette, there was only one other village, Ventosa, before we reached our destination for the day, and Anne wanted a pastry.  Ventosa, however, is not on the Camino.  It would add about a mile to walk to Ventosa, and we were not even sure that Ventosa had a panaderia.  Anne spent several minutes at the turnoff to Ventosa, debating whether walking an extra mile was worth the possibility of getting a pastry.  Eventually the chance of eating a pastry won out, and we walked the extra mile to Ventosa.  This is Anne with Ventosa in the background.  Can you tell from the photo whether Ventosa has a panaderia?

At the end of the valley we walked up a steep hill:

And then to our day’s destination, Najera, on the banks of the rio Najerilla: