Day 8 Monday May 9th – Rest Day
Logroño – Navarrette
8 miles
We were very disappointed to discover that the pension we booked for the night had no rooms with a bath. However, e did enjoy a lie in this morning, until 9:30.
We went out at around 4:30 yesterday afternoon to find something to eat, but the restaurants seemed to be closing down between the afternoon trade and the evening trade. We eventually found a restaurant with a menu at €12.
The meal was nice, with a bottle of wine thrown in. Just after we left the restaurant, we met our old Canadian pal, Dana, who was going to ear and asked us to join him, which we did.
However, Dana decided to opt for wine rather than food, and we had a few beers with him. We were joined by Ann Marie from San Francisco. Dana insisted on picking up the tab for all of us, at the end of the evening. Most generous of him, and now we must find a way of reciprocating.
We needed the lie-in this morning, because between beer and wine we both had quite a hangover.
My socks hadn’t dried by morning so I decided to try out my sandals for walking. They were great, well cushioned, and didn’t rub on my blister. The only problem was they tended to pick up stones on the gritty sections of path.
The swelling around the insect bite on my shin has mostly receded, but the wound, itself, is rather nasty looking.
We got under way by 10:20. We stopped for café con leche at a lovely lakeside restaurant outside Logroño after a little over an hour. Another hour took us to the hillside town of Navarette.
Who was standing in the main street when we arrived? None other than Dana. We booked ourselves into the Municipal hostel. It’s clean and bright, has a kitchen and washing facilities, but it has the slowest of showers.
We met our old pal Tony, from Chelmsford, in the town and had a nice time swapping experiences. When we first met Tony, at 1450 metres in the Pyrenees on our very first day, he was kitted out in jeans. In Zubiri he bought hiking pants and cut the legs off his jeans. Now, he looks like a traditional pilgrim, walking stick and all. Lovely lad.
We had the €10 pilgrim menu tonight in the restaurant beside our albergue.
Vegetable soup Rioja style
Egg rasher and chips Rioja style.
Tomorrow we plan to walk to Cirueña, about 18 miles.
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Avoid Ciruena. A dead, soulless place. Keep going to Santo Domingo.
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We might be dead and soulless ourselves by the time we reach it. If our legs will take us we’ll make for Santo Domingo, so, John. Thanks for the advice. All going well with you?
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Those rashers and eggs look nice. Now the Dana you meet was that Dana (Prounced Day-na) we “meet” earlier in your blog?
Hope alls going well!
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Yeah, it’s the same Dana. Heather told me to stop saying ‘pronounced as…’ every time. Hope you and all the lads are in good form. We’re doing grand. Wicklow well buried and forgotten.
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Thanks very much. All is going very well. The legs are still working, so far. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you whenever this never-ending walk ends. :-). Love to all.
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