A Day in the Sun - Day 8 (April 21)

Today has been our most challenging thus far. Not physically, we actually walked 17.9 miles, but mentally. Most of the path was in the open with little protection from the sun so we grew weary of that. Plus we seem to have lost contact with many of the pilgrims we started with on our journey.

Virtually every village here has a cathedral, many quite magnificent. It made us wonder who commissioned them to be built. Was it the Roman church or the leader of Spain at the time? Something we will definitely have to research when we get home. Made me wish I had spent a little time on the history of Spain before our journey.

We stopped at a church in Torres Del Rios, Iglesia Del Santo Sepulcro, that was built in 12th century. It was a much more modest church than many of the others we have seen. We appreciated it's simplicity, seeming more akin with the spirit of the camino.

Withered Hands

There were not as many flowers in this section as we saw previously but we did stumble upon some very small dainty orchids. Don't know that I have ever seen orchids in the wild before so that was pretty cool. The scenery was mostly vineyards, olive groves and wheat fields. Little or no yellow canola fields that lit up the hillsides on previous days. Some of the vineyards had such old grape vines that had been pruned so low to the ground that they took on the appearance of old withered hands reaching up out of the earth.

It was on the way down from this hill that I nearly had a castastrophe. The shoelace on my right foot decided to attach itself to the top open loop on my left boot which was not terribly conducive to moving forward. Luckily my trusty trekking poles saved me from certain disaster, easing my fall to a gentle displacement to the ground. I have decided that trekking poles are a necessity on the camino. Not only did they rise to the occasion in this instance but they are continually helping me climb my way to the top of hills and bracing my declines from them. At the top of the one hill of the day, there were stone monuments created by the many pilgrims that had passed before us. They left behind what might be taken as bad habits they were trying to rid themselves of on the journey, a pack of cigarettes most notable.

Discarded Habits

We had quite a philosophical discussion today about evolution, one that was precipitated when we came upon a number of pill bugs on the road. Suddenly we were asking how these little guys that are also so prevalent in our part of the world are here. Did they walk from one location to the other (that would be quite the undertaking) or were they transported via dirt that was attached to some plants that were carried by some unsuspecting traveler. And where did they originate - there or here or someplace else entirely.

Our original plan was to end our day's travels in Viana but it was only 1:00 when we arrived there. Since we were still feeling physically strong, we decided we would walk the additional five miles to Logrono which made this the longest day of our journey thus far. And it means we have walked a total of 105 miles in eight days - not too bad for a couple of old people.

While we were washing clothes, a lady came up to us and asked if I was Jackie. She turned out to be Paula, a friend of my sister who lives in Battleground. Her and her husband Chris started the camino about the same time as us and we thought our paths might cross and so they did. There is just so much magic on the camino!

Logrono is known to have great tapas (pinchots) so we went on search for them. After wandering around, I decided to ask the next person I saw if they could speak English. Yes, all my efforts to learn Spanish have pretty much failed me. I actually told one lady that I couldn't read something because I wasn't wearing my boligrafos (pens) rather than my gafas (glasses). Anyway, a delightful young man who had been an exchange student for a year in Michigan helped not only direct our path, but gave us pointers on the correct etiquette of tapas bars.

There was a woman at the albergue with a terrible cold (or worse) which provided us with quite some concern as we were in the same bunk space as her. Paula and Chris shared our concern so we went in search of another room in the albergue with an open space and found one. So like thieves in the night, we moved all our things to this new space.

Buen Camino

Tomorrow, if we continue to follow the stages in our Bierley guide book, is another long day. We may decide we are not quite up to that. We will see.

Lesson for the day: Make sure your boot laces are tucked in. Not very philosophical, I know, but practical.

 

 

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