Camino Pilgrim

Viana is visible on the horizon. That was the last place in the Navarra region. For today and tomorrow I am travelling through La Rioja. There are vineyards everywhere here. Grapes seem to be almost ready too.

I started hiking at sunrise today. I felt a little slow at first and also a Portuguese pilgrim passed me with quite some speed. An hour later, I caught up with him once he started taking breaks. Also, today there was a food truck in the middle of a longer stretch. Locals are really helping out + capitalizing on opportunities.

Viana is a very pretty small town, with lots of old architecture to look at. All I did there was to get nail clippers which I couldn’t carry in hand luggage. I took a small break, let my feet get some air and then continued, since my legs still felt quite fresh.

Logroño is already a big city. It has a mix of medieval old-town and very modern-looking urban areas. What I really enjoyed was that public access to water was in every park and even on the outskirts of the city. Locals were even friendlier than I am used to. Normally, city people do not care about pilgrims or greet them, but people here were different. More warmer like townfolk or village people.

The main challenge of the day is a 12,2km stretch to reach Navarette. It did have some shade in the beginning, but overall you are baking in the midday sun like a hot potato. Still not used to the heat, but getting better. Maybe in a week or so, heat near 30 degrees will not slow down my hiking speed. For the next 7 days it is all around 30, so its good that I do not carry popcorn in my backpack (I did get some Chrorizo meat before leaving Navarra).

Navarette is a beautiful small town. Circular in shape and built on a hill like many others around here. With the relatively flat landscape, I could see the 20km+ distance to where I was going every time there was an uphill of sorts.

Even having hiked a lot on hard surfaces and near highways did not bring the mood down. Life is good and your feet feel practically fresh, so a long journey ahead is still possible. Tomorrow will already be 200km from the start.