Camino Frances | Day 9

Logroño to Nájera, 29 km

Brace yourselves the dreaded Meseta is ahead of me. I left the Albergue eating a banana before the sun came out on a seven-degree Celsius morning. Did I mention that it rained? That’s right, my first rainy day and once it started, it didn’t stop. It took me an hour of walking through suburbia just to get out of the city on a 30 km day.  

It was at Navarrete that I had breakfast with other pilgrims at the first bar on the first street in town. With a full belly, I took a moment to visit the church of Santa Maria where I got a stamp and left my mark, first Cuban on a map. By the way, the lighting system stole a Euro from me, just saying. I walked by the ruins of San Juan de Acre, an ancient Pilgrim’s Hospital on the way out of town.

It was time to walk on muddy terrain by more vineyards on my way to Ventosa. Not as many farm life as in days past but I did see two rabbits and a black cat. El Camino today has trailed the highway and cars are in my peripheral vision at all times. I made it to town at 11:40 and decided to buy a sandwich. I was still full of the breakfast I had but this is the last town before Nájera, and I would much rather take something for the road.

I walked by a vineyard advertising the distance on a sign as 593 km to Santiago.

I walked by both a chozo and an old-timer selling beverages and religious memorabilia out of his truck.

It was almost 1:00 pm when I decided to have my lunch just as I was getting close to town. I had some water from a well and met Francisco from Brazil at a wooden bridge.  We walked together all the way to the Municipal Albergue.

I’ve noticed more vending machines catering to pilgrims starting to pop up in the rural towns.

I made it to the first donativo Albergue under lite rain at 2:40 pm, and to my surprise, there was a line or queue outside waiting to get it at 3:00 pm. The Albergue is just one massive open room with over 90 beds. I got a bottom bunk bed and used my clothes to create a barrier, shielding myself from view, a little privacy goes a long way.

I was in luck as they had a washer and a dryer. It took two spins to get them dry, all in all, four euros to dry one set of clothes. It is better to buddy up with other pilgrims to bring the cost down.

I had a full, three-course, pilgrim meal at a bar and headed back to the Albergue. The temperature started to drop, and I decided to get some rest.