Camino Day 6: Torres Del Rio to Navarrete

 Note to self: in future if a group of overtly Catholic fellow diners ask you why you are doing the Camino, think of a better answer than ‘it was a lazy choice - I didn’t need to plan anything more than the travel to the start.’  Oops.  Apart form that, dinner passed of fairly uneventfully.  A pilgrim’s meal generally seems to consist of three course, bread, wine and bottled water for a very reasonable price.  I met up with Eva from Sweden again yesterday and we both agreed that we’d rather have one decent course (in my case it would have been a bigger serving of the mixed salads) than three tiny courses - although we’d skip the pudding altogether.  So far they have been grim.  Last night a fluorescent pink Angel Delight style ‘thing’ was on offer!

We had massive thunderstorms again overnight - which meant that the temperature in the dorm was a little cooler, so sleep was easier to come by!  I woke at 4am though, and could not get back to sleep, so stealthily got dressed and packed and left the Albergue at around 4.30am.  The head torch that refused to work yesterday decided to work today - which was just as well.  

It was a difficult day today.  As of the end of today I am no longer employed.  I knew it was coming - the whole reason I am here is because we all knew exactly when the school would close - but for some reason,  with time to think, it really hit home today.  I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing colleagues in various workplaces, but there was something very special about the staff at Alton School.  I will miss them all so much.  And the students!  The joy of a small school is that you get to know them really well, you get to see them mature and become rounded personalities.  You get to meet their siblings - and teach them too, consequently building relationships with their parents too,  It is such a sad day.  

That’s not to say there weren’t bits of today that were great.  Finding a coffee shop opening up as I got to Viana was a plus!  I was 10k in and getting a tad peckish!  Playing tourist in Legrono and joining Mary from St Louis for breakfast (delicious tortilla filled with jamon, topped with caramelised onions) and buying some antihistamine cream for all the insect bites I acquires this morning were brilliant.  

The walk from Legrono to Navarrete was not the most interesting,  There was a nice bit around a reservoir, but a lot of it was on a straight path through a park or alongside a massive road.  It would have been perfect for a dark, early morning section especially as there was very little shade.  I spent much of the time thinking about students, colleagues and teaching in general.  It is rare to get a couple of hours just to think!

On checking in at my Albergue this lunchtime I was slightly worried that my bag hadn’t arrived. What would I do without clean clothes?  Thankfully it arrived while I was checking in.  

I am yet to meet anyone from the UK.  I’ve met lots of other nationalities including three ladies from Sweden.  There are about eleventy billion Aussies on the Camino, given the population size and distance from here surely one  would expect more UK citizens than Australians? 

Camino Day 5, Estella to Torres del Rio

 Last night I treated myself to a ‘non pilgrim meal’ in the centre of Estella.  I also had evening entertainment of watching a fight.  I was making a (rare) ‘phone call home and Husbando heard the fight before I was aware of it.  By the time I had finished my call the police had turned up, arrested one man and set off in pursuit of the second one.  

After all that excitement I made my way back to my hotel room (oh - the joy of being able to spread out my belongings and just leave them there) via a supermarket to pick up some ice cream.  I had high hopes of a great night’s sleep, so set my alarm for ‘Oh my God - it’s early’ and went to sleep.  I must have needed the sleep as, for the first time ever since I have used my ‘phone as an alarm clock, my alarm did not go off!  I woke up at 5.15am so was automatically behind where I wanted to be.  Getting ready with the lights on is much faster though, so I was out of the door before 6am. 

I think my hotel room power socket must have been haunted as my head torch, which had been on charge all night, refused to work.  Luckily the path was fairly even and I could rely on my ‘phone torch.  This was just as well as my toe was very painful.  I stopped at a pharmacy today - it seems that what I thought was a stubbed toe is actually an insect bite that has been aggravated or - as the pharmacist said ‘enraged’ - by all the walking.  He gave me a bottle of iodine solution to make sure it doesn’t get infected.  

Today’s walk was relatively flat, I stopped at the Irache wine fountain. Who doesn’t want a glass of indifferent red wine at 6.30am?  Not many people around - just me and an Italian lady, we decided that it was too early to call home and tell our friends to log into the webcam, so took photos and went on our way.  

My breakfast stop at Azquetta had the most amazing view.  I could have sat there for ages looking at it!  But alas, I had to move on.  There is a choice of routes on this section - a shorter and a slightly longer one that takes in the town of Villamayor de Monjardin - can you guess which one I took?  I think the extra distance was worth it for the beautiful church and the ‘medieval cistern.’

If the landscape yesterday was beautiful, today’s at least equalled it, vine yards and olive trees, beautiful churches, pretty, sleepy towns.  Spain feels like a relic of the recent past, never more so that when sitting with an ice cold beer listening to 1980s power ballads (they weren’t all bad!) I’ve taken loads of photos - but none of them really do justice to either the towns or the landscapes.  I wish I could draw - I used to be able to but, like most skills, if you don’t use it… I’ve had chats today with Australians, America (just this minute spoken to someone in a 2023 Boston marathon shirt!), Germans, Spaniards, Italians and French people.  I am yet to meet anyone from the United Kingdom.  I mentioned this to someone I was talking to - they hadn’t met any either! Very odd! 

My attempt at not planning too far ahead is going well.  I am booking a bed a day ahead, because not knowing where I am aiming for every day would drive me mad and because I have decided that sending some of my luggage on to the next stop is a bloody good idea.  Leaving early in the morning means I get to my destination early enough to snaffle a bottom bunk, do my laundry and then relax.  My aim is to arrive feeling as though I don’t want to walk anymore today.  So far I have judged it just about right.  I am not sure about tomorrow.  Navarrete is 32km away, the town before, Logroño, is 20Km away.  20km feels too short but 32km is 20 miles…. Ah well, bed is booked so Navarrete it is! 

UPDATE:  Just after posting this, Laurent from Calvados arrived.  He said he had been thinking about me when it was raining yesterday - wondering if, being British, I preferred it to the heat!  We chatted about the Camino, teaching (he is a college professor) and other people we had met along the way before he left to walk another 10km.  His beard has grown - which reminds me of my friend returning from his Camino with a beard last year, and of my son asking if I was going to grow a beard while I was here! (Only if my HRT runs out!)

Camino Day 4: The Gucci Edit.

 Last night, after supper I had an EARLY night.  I was tucked up in bed by 8pm.  Despite an interesting conversation with Laurent, from Calvados, who told me that listening to my accent was like drinking a fine wine. I wasn\t feeling great.  I’d taken something of a battering in the heat and the rough, unstable surface meant that my feet felt as though they were on fire.  I had a little chat with myself.  I’d always planned to book the occasional night in a hotel and I decided that the time had come, so I jumped on line and booked a cheap hotel in Estella.  While I was doing this Judy, from Seattle with whom I had shared a washing machine said ‘If you know where you are staying why don’t you send some of you belongings on?’  Good question!  Why didn’t I?  I’d got my luggage down to 8kg for the 5 week period, but with water and any snacks that came up to at least 9kg - which is over 16% of my weight.  I grabbed my largest dry sack and stuffed as much as I could live without for a day in there, filled in the form in the envelope, shoved 6euros in there too and went to bed. 

I’ve probably only cut the weight by 30% but it has made such a difference!  I was out of the Albergue door at 5.15am with a spring in my step - albeit a timid spring - I stubbed my toe walking around Biarritz and it is a wee bit (excruciatingly) painful - but only when I take the first pace.  It hurts all the time, but as long as I don’t stop and start then I can deal with it!

The route from Uterga to Puente La Reine was so gentle - nice even paths, no tricky ascents and descents - that I found myself questioning why I had stopped at Uterga.  I had to give myself another good talking to and remind myself that I had been in a ‘right state’ when I stopped yesterday afternoon!  I stopped in Puente La Reine for coffee and a croissant as I’d left before the Albergue served breakfast.  A nice place to sit and watch the town start to come to life.  I love walking in the dark, watching the sun rise, hearing people start to get up and go about their day. If feels like a privilege.

I walked on, making good time, enjoying myself!  I chatted with other people for short periods of time, before reverting back to the pace I felt comfortable with and parting company,  The scenery was stunning.  I felt as though I was walking through and impressionist painting. I understand why Van Gogh’s skies were so heavily painted now - because the sky can be heavy, even before it clouded over and we were treated to a thunderstorm and torrential downpour!  I gave thanks for Gortex shoes and waterproofs (much as I hate walking along sounding like an overgrown crisp packet) and ploughed on through the puddles and the paths that had transformed into fast moving streams.  I stopped briefly for freshly squeezed orange juice in Cirauqui (a town that looks like it has just popped out of a painting titled ‘small Spanish hillside town’) A lot of the pilgrims there were discussing getting a bus for this stage as it was ‘so wet!’  I was already wet - and sitting on a bus doesn’t really seem in the spirit of this adventure.

I arrived in Estella at about noon, which gave me time for a shower (real towels, my own bathroom) before heading out to look around this beautiful town.  Most places were closed for siesta - but I got a beer and pinchos.  I’ll wander out later to see if the interesting looking museum is, in fact, interesting and to grab some food.  Odd not to be staying with other people on the Camino.  As I left the hotel the Aussie PhD student was walking up the road to see if he could get a room (he did a similar day to me yesterday and obviously had the same idea about a bit of luxury) but although we discussed maybe grabbing some food later I don’t know if he got a room here, and I’m not 100% sure what his name is!