Monday, May 30, Day 8 on the Camino

We trekked about 19 miles today from Los Arcos to Logrono.

It was a typical walk through the same type of terrain of rolling hills as we have been going through the last few days. Even though it was considered fairly level there were still some steep uphill climbs and a total elevation gain of around 1,900′. Looking at the guide book this will be fairly typical for much of the Camino de Santiago.

The scenery is still beautiful and there seems to be a beautiful hundreds of years old church in every village, large or small, and even some on isolated hilltops. Throughout the day you hear the beautiful sound of bells chimming, but there must be a reason for their different times because they do not just ring on the hour.

The morning started out with the usual bussel at the hostel. No one is suppose to get up before 6:00 AM, yet everyone usually has to be out by 8:30. They serve a light breakfast in many for 3-4 euros. There are usually plenty of small cafes and bakeries in the villages that cater to the pilgrims, which we usually look for. The specialty for breakfast, and my quick and easy favorite, is the Spainish omelette cake, basically egg and potato. You eat it like a slice of cake and it travels well wrapped up.

Last night people were planning to leave early because most people are trekking to the main cities that are 13-15 miles apart noted in the guide book, and today’s distance was noted at around 18 miles.

Unfortunately most people, including us, travel these shorter stretches and then end up in the same towns. Therefore there is a little bit of scramble to find lodging, and the later someone arrives the less likely they’ll find good lodging, especially the hostels.

We are not in a hurry, and it’s no race, but I would prefer to go a little further every day so it would get us out of the cycle of the larger groups of pilgrims that are sticking to the distance that are mapped out in the guide books. Monica and Jeniffer are trekking a great distance every day and trekking further distances at this point in their conditioning would probably be difficult. It took me a week and a half to two weeks of trekking to hit a rhythm where I could go the greater distances. Unfortunately Jennifer will probably be hitting that rhythm just as she heads home after two weeks this coming Saturday.

We left today around 7:30 AM and Monica and I reached Logrono around 1:30 this afternoon. This is actually a good time as it allows us to clean up and rest a bit and then look around town. If we had gone another four or five miles further, even just once, it would get us off of the guidebook track.

Also, there are many very nice and more inexpensive hostels in the smaller villages, as they try to attract the pilgrims before the trekkers get to the major and daily destinations noted in the guide books. For now we will just go as far as we can all go together.

We arrived here early enough that I was able to find a nice hostel and get a nice private room. It has two bunk beds and a twin bed, but is only for the three of us and we only had to pay for three. It is on the second floor and has two balconies. It is located on the typical busy main avenue through the old downtown area with all the shops and restaurants. Everything is within a few blocks walking distance and it was fairly crowded this afternoon and will pick up closer to nine as is typical in Spain.

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Najera, which is about 18 miles. Monica has two blisters, and one on her little toe appears infected. Her knee has also been sore for several days, which is caused by the step downhills we encounter daily. Jennifer already had a blister, and developed another painful one today. She limped into town, but she was definitely not the only one because as the day got later the trekkers coming in were walking and limping into town much slower. There were many of them. I have to knock on wood because I know that I am not immune to blisters or foot injuries myself.

Best wishes to all,

Ted