For once I was away early and was having breakfast by the time D1 and D2 arrived.

By then I had found out that the municipal albergue at the town we intended to stay was full, spoken to an American lady who was getting her backpack transferred and watched another American lady having a meltdown because it was all too much for her.

D1 has been having problems with an ankle so she decided to have her backpack transported, go Camino lite for the day!

We knew there were no villages and some really big hills for the next 12kms, so set off with some trepidation.

The morning was foggy and quite spooky walking through the forest.

 

The weather cleared which meant we could see the hills! There was no happy dancing here, we had to do this hell! Oops, typo there, but hill/ hell, same difference!

Even without her backpack D1 had to stop for a breather, it was hard going.

At 6 km we stopped at the Oasis, a funky little refreshment stop, complete with house dog who won everyone’s hearts.

D2 took off to find accommodation and D1 and I plodded on. D2 called to tell us to be careful of the cows because one had growled at her, but by the time we got there they were strolling home

We hadn’t reached the town before our stop for the night when D2 with happy news so we stopped and celebrated with a beer.

Final stop, time for morcilla, Burgos black pudding

A pilgrim is grateful. D1 is grateful for Jacotrans, the modern day pilgrim version of the donkey!

At an albergue a couple of nights ago I saw this poster. ” A tourist demands, a pilgrim is grateful” I have always remembered it from our last Camino

I am grateful, truly grateful for each day we have on the Camino, for good health and functioning feet and legs, for a bed, for food, for new and old friends.  I’m just saying I’m not sleeping on an exercise mat on the floor. If it was the only place in the world to sleep, I would do it and be grateful. But as long as there is a casa rural with proper beds and our own bathroom, I’m not doing the floor thing. Just saying!

Having made that clear, it meant an early morning so we could make the village past the one with the exercise mat albergue.

 

It was quite a good day, regular coffee stops, lovely scenery and not too many hills.

We did a little happy dance when we found we didn’t have to go up this hill!

W e met laughing Korean lady who always waved enthusiastically and laughed happily when she saw us. It was quite warm for us  and obviously very hot for her, her wave and laugh were not quite so enthusiastic and she was sweating quite profusely. We tried to get her to take her buff and jacket off with no success.

D2 found us a lovely casa rural where we spent a very pleasant afternoon drinking beer in the garden, watching  the pilgrims go by.

A pilgrim is grateful . This pilgrim is grateful she didn’t have to sleep on an exercise mat on the floor.

 

Today was a hard day. The mood on Camino was somber, after days of chatter and laughter many pilgrims seemed to be struggling.

The first section of the day was 9kms mostly uphill, with no coffee!! I remember this section last time when I dragged not only body and backpack, but blisters and half the mud on the track up the hill. This time it was dry and my feet felt ok, but it was still hard. I know I should stop more regularly but there was actually nowhere to stop, apart from sitting your backpack by the side of the road, which when I am tired leads to the possibility that I may not actually get up!

After brunch at the local golf club we headed off to Santo Domingo, a bit easier walk.

 

We stopped for lemon beer at a local bar before heading off to check out the cathedral.

It’s famous because it houses a rooster and hen in honour of a local legend about a family of pilgrims whose son is wrongly accused of a crime and hung. When the grieving parents return from their pilgrimage they find their son still hanging but sill alive. When they consult a local dignitary about how this could happen, he said their son was as dead as the chicken in the meal he was eating. Whereupon the chicken jumped from his plate and bit him on the nose!

The rooster and hen used to be housed in a cage so pilgrims could take a tail feather, but the poor things would be plucked clean these days so they are in a cage up high. Impossible to take a clear photo because of the lighting, but here’s the cage.

The cathedrals of Spain have many statues and paintings of San Roche, featuring a dog and a big wound on his leg. I keep forgetting to look up his story but I’ll let you know.

The walk in the afternoon started off well,

then was mostly uphill and I was finding it quite a challenge. With the village in sight over the top of a particularly long hill I told D1 that I had just told myself to toughen up princess! I was determined to stride into town with my head high, strong step and smile on my face. As I reached the top of the hill and looked at the path which went down, down, down, then up, up,up, before leading into town  I heard floating towards me from D1 up ahead “Toughen up princess”

A pilgrim is grateful. We were grateful to share a beautiful casa rural with a young Korean couple who Liz had met earlier on. They called me Mama and made us soup for tea, gave us orange juice for vitamins and made us apple, banana and jam sandwiches for lunch the next day.

I’m not sure when, but at some stage today we passed 200kms. How amazing is that, it hardly seems any time since left St Jean.

Although my back was feeling much better I decided to send my backpack on. and what a lovely day’s walk it was , mostly!!

A lovely walk 8 km through the vineyards in the morning took us to Ventosa for breakfast where I ordered tostado con aceite tomate which I figured would include slices of tomato. Instead it was a small container of tomato pulp in olive oil, surprisingly yummy although I could have done with more containers.

A couple of kilometres out of the village we stopped at a van for crepes, I asked for azucar con limon on my crepe which amused them greatly.

Before long we were on the outskirts of Najera, apparently!

D1 and I stopped in a bar for a coke where we watched Master Chef – apparently it was the offal and feet challenge, I’d love to have seen what the contestants produced.

A number of pilgrims we had been travelling with over the past few days were staying in Najera, and who knows if we will see them again. it’s the way of the Camino, some pilgrims you are on Buen Camino terms while others you eat, drink and chat with. Zigzag Lyn was staying in Najera, we’ve spent some time with her, hopefully we will catch up in Burgos.

The afternoon was not quite so pleasant, there were some big hills, up and down,

But I loved the plane trails over the vineyards.

On our way into our sleep for the night, Azofra, we passed the Poor Australian lady whose legs and feet were giving her a lot of pain, she was doing the Camino shuffle into the village and I felt so sorry for  her, been there done that!

We enjoyed dinner, then some vino tinto with some Australians, good to hear the Aussie accent and way of speaking!

A pilgrim is grateful – this pilgrim is grateful that she is not the Poor Australian lady this time!