Camino Pilgrim

Today the whole group woke up an hour later, at 6, and after eating breakfast, started out around sunrise. In the early morning, we were going with tens of other pilgrims through long and empty fields. I captured the sunrise in the picture with Jasmine hiking in the front.

Once we got to Torres del Rio, the scenery started to change. The roads became curvy going from one hill to another with lots of vineyards. It never got dull before reaching Viana. There the tourist street was packed with pilgrims taking a lunchbreak. There were so many backpacks and bicycles that the street became quite narrow. This is what happens when you start a day in a city from the tourist guidebook for Camino. Personally, I really prefer small villages for resting in the evening and the food is better in them as well.

Continuing towards Logroño, the sun became really hot (up to 32 degrees) and whenever the wind stopped, breathing became difficult. A lot of the last 10km stretch was next to the highway, making it also quite dull.

Reaching the city itself was quite fun. There was a park with a fountain for pilgrims to dip their feet in (at least that is what I did). Just across the bridge, the municipal alberge also had a pool in the courtyard for cooling feet.

Sadly, today the group started shrinking: Brianagh had to stop because one of her knees gave up in the middle of hiking. Xavier (a Valencian guy) finished today as he had planned from the beginning. Matthew, as promised, went one village further than the rest of us. Itsuki (from Japan) and his friend Naoki are planning a shorter trip tomorrow to rest their legs a little. Which means that there are just five of us left on the quest to hike close to 30km per day.

Personally, I started to feel my knee injury from the Tour de Mont Blanc again, which means I have to be careful how much pressure I put on my right leg. Thankfully, I have been wearing a knee brace every day while hiking and will continue to do so. If by tomorrow evening the pressure on the knee turns into pain, then I will have to drop out of the group as well and start to do some shorter hikes.

To ease up my backpack, some changes have been made. Out of two pairs of hiking socks I lost one somewhere. I donated away my only long sleeve shirt because it’s way too hot to finish wearing it. I gave my travel guidebook to Itsuki. Finally, I also need to find someone who needs a tripod for my smartphone since I’m not really using it. There are so many helpful people around to take your photo.
The good news is that I have zero blisters and hope that will last for a while.

Let’s see what my knee says tomorrow. I have a ton of spare days, so there is no problem going slower towards the finish line.