Day 7 Logrono to Najera

We got up at 0645  had breakfast then left  the hotel at 0750, the bustling streets of last night  were very quiet.

Getting out of Logrono was not as easy as we were used in other larger towns, the pilgrims signs were few and far between,if you stand and look bewildered someone will always point you in the right direction.

I just followed the washing line.

You never have to go far to find a fountain or tap to fill your water bottle

It took us about 45 minutes to clear Logrono and then we were back into the walking we enjoy.

We soon entered Pargue de la Grajera a really lovely national park and for the first time in my life we saw a beautiful red squirrel.

Sorry we did not have a dog moment so you will have to settle for these .

We came across this fellow selling oranges to walkers ,what a beard!!! 

Once we left the park we climbed for a bit and The Camino ran along side the A12 , it was not the nicest of walking if I am honest,when the going is tough or boring we play endless quiz's to pass the time , I won today but Jeremy really showed me a clean pair of heels  yesterday. we eventually turned away from the motorway and headed towards Navarrete,we could see the church once again towering over the town.

As we entered the town we saw the old remains of pilgrims hospital,the way my feet were feeling I wish it was still open for business!!!

We came upon this sign and we knew we were making a dent in The Camino our hearts lifted for second .

Up into the town we went ,what I find staggering is the size of the church's compared to the size of the small towns they seem completely out of proportion.

We had hoped to find somewhere to eat  but were not successful and as we left the town we found an old monastery and had some of our own food and did  some much needed foot repairs.

We moved on towards Ventosa,poppies and wild flowers are always to be seen along The Camino.

We had gone about another  2 miles when we heard some familiar voices behind us ,it was the American lads we had seen on the first day when the weather had turned it was lovely to see them again,we all shook hands and walked together again for a while,vineyards were stretching as far as the eye could see.

Soon we were on our own again and we continued walking through the endless vineyards until we arrived at Ventosa and we immediately came across a much need watering hole Jeremy got the beers in and off came the boots.

We had just settled down when round the corner came the lads again so we lined the beers up shared food, what amuses me is when you get a lot of pilgrims together you do not talk about the weather or world affairs you just compare blisters and knee problems,a huge blister is almost a battle honour!!

Mark a retired fireman from Manchester showed me his blister it was quite the biggest I have ever seen,I love this culture of if you show me yours I will show you mine.What has impressed me is that everyone has some sort of injury I have seen walkers of all shapes and sizes all nationalities limping west to Santiago and nothing is going to stop them.It is a sight to behold.

Please see some battle honours below they belong to  Garrott and Jeremy.

I gave the blog address to Garrott so all their families in the States could get an idea of The Camino as we are walking  at the same time. So when any of the lads parents read this in America both Jeremy and myself would like to say what a really super bunch of guys they are and  they represent all that is good about America .

Below is Mark, I thought I would show you him instead of his blister.

Time to leave and head towards Najera our final destination we all said goodbye shook hands and we were off.

Below shows you how tough underfoot it can get.

As we meandered through the endless vineyards of Rioja names like Guy Leaning Guy Darby John Sheppard came to mind ,I couldn't put my finger on why !!!!!

At last Najera came into view by this time my feet were killing me and my right knee was telling me all is not well.

As we entered Najera I spotted a bar with a figure in blue sitting outside nursing his feet it was Garrott so we all had a beer or two again.

Time to go and find our hotel and get my boots off ,by this time I was in agony.

I suddenly felt very much at home for some reason.

We are now in our hotel ,we have done our washing sorted out our kit and tended to our feet.We have just realised we have done over a quarter of The Camino so a well deserved glass of RIoja is being taken.

Stats for today.

 Walked 20.50 miles

 Walking time 6.49

 Average speed 3 mph

Distance in total 127.40 miles covered

353 miles to go

Date 30th May 

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