Day 8 Najera to Viloria de Rioja

Woke up at 3 in the morning and my left foot had a heartbeat all of its own,wearing my boots yesterday,I was in agony on the ball of my left trotter,every time I put my foot down , so I made a concious decision that I would ditch my hi tech boots that cost £169 with top grade  leather gore tex lining lovely soft leather uppers and with soles that would grip any surface and help you climb any mountain.

For these that cost £20 had no grip and little refinement.

It worked little pain and I made progress with out worrying about my left trotter.

Anyway on with today we awoke at 0645 as we wanted an early start,sadly Jeremy's back was playing up ,so we took our time getting ready and got on the road at about 0745 after a somewhat hasty breakfast , I had a glass of orange juice and a pastry within seconds I knew it was a mistake as terrible indigestion made its presence felt

We climbed out of Najare to be greeted again by row after row of vines as far as the eye could see.

The dog moment came within seconds of leaving.

Back to the vines they went on and on and on and on and on and still on and on and on.

    

When they stopped going on and on and on and I hardly noticed I was so immune to them.Then vegetables and wheat took over and they went on and on and on.

At last a break from all things green we saw Azofra  in the distance with a church as alway towering over the village.

Could not resist this when we saw this big mirror.

The going under foot changed.

We climbed about 600 feet and came across a golf club at Rioja Alta.

Was beginning to wish I had bought my clubs!!!

Shortly afterwards we arrived at Cireuna for a much need drink and to sort our trotters out,I looked at mine all covered in bits of plaster and goodness knows what.I was beginning to turn into a proper pilgrim

Jeremy went to the bar to get the beers in and for some reason best known to himself decided to take his trousers off, he then trod on his own bad foot,suppressed a yell  and came back with the beers looking like he was in agony.I bit my lip!!!

When we left the heavens opened and it was wet weather gear on again.

Up we climbed,it was a great shame a lot of the views were obscured by clouds because the views as far as you could see were stunning,as they have been since we arrived in this beautiful country, the country side was looking more like The South Downs, as always beautiful wild flowers were along side The Camino.

Santo Domingo came into site as we descended .

Sorry I just cannot help myself.

What a stunning water tap for pilgrims.

We found our Paradore which is lovely to put it mildly.

We left our rucksacks at the Paradore got a taxi to Viloria de Rioja which is some 9 miles further on down The Camino and walked back to The Paradore. We came across four villages which as always were stunning with big churches and streets with no one on them!!!

Little chap would not stop following me,my fault I should not have given him a cuddle

The walking got very tough for the last five miles and our feet were beginning to really hurt.

There were beautiful flowers in fields along side us.

After what  seemed an eternity we crossed the river Rio Oja which was dry which surprised us with all the bad weather we have had.

At last our lovely Parador came into sight, we had been walking for 8 hrs 30 minutes and we needed to have a beer and get our boots off .

There is a big Spanish wedding going on at the moment in the Parador we might crash it after we have eaten and show them how the Brits have a good time!!!

Today has been a long day, Jeremy as I mentioned had recurring back problems ,then his ankle started to play up this afternoon,my feet felt better then my left  calf started to hurt as well as my right knee.We are learning to manage and live with constant pain,you get one thing sorted and another blister or ache pops up,we are not alone that is for sure, we saw one chap this morning plodding west he could barely walk,nothing was going to stop him I suspect,I hope we are as lucky.

Stats for today

24 miles walked.

Time walking 8hrs 30 mins

Average speed  2.8 mph.

151 miles covered 

329 miles to go to Santiago

31/05/2014

Update.Just got back to find wedding over by 2300 I thought the Spanish liked to party ,we are bitterly disappointed to put it mildly.

I have been asked for more photos of dogs by Martin,dear readers if you would like any more photos of church's vines wheat or anything else you might think of let Jeremy and myself know.