I tend to walk a lot on rest days. But it’s still a form of relaxing since I don’t have 20 pounds on my back and my feet are happy to be in flip flops all day.

I’m currently taking refuge from a major storm in a bar across the plaza from the cathedral. A severe storm warning was in effect for 3pm. Well it’s finally here at 4:15pm. Lightning, thunder and heavy rain and strong wind gusts. Even saw some umbrellas from a nearby cafe blow over completely and crash into the tables.

I figured staying at this bar where I could watch the storm through the windows would be more fun than heading back to my hotel room with windows that look across to the apartments in the attached building.

I started the day off wandering around geocaching on my way to find breakfast at the grocery store. Geocaching is one of my favorite ways to explore a new place since it takes you off the beaten path.

After wandering around a bit I did some planning back at the hotel with my Camino guidebook. I may be trying to make a bold goal over the next few days and turning about 7 days of walking into 5 or 6. Since it’s the Meseta, it’ll be pretty flat between here and León. While the Meseta has its charms, it also has some fairly boring sections of walking. So doing some longer days to get through that section a bit quicker could be more enjoyable. This will all depend on my body and also clearly the weather. I expected hot and dry conditions for a lot of this Camino and the storms do make things more challenging.

Even though lots of pilgrims meals come with spaghetti bolognese as the starter option, it’s usually not that great. I decided to go to an Italian restaurant in Burgos today to get some good spaghetti. It definitely hit the spot. Good carbo loading for tomorrow’s 30km+ walk.

Back to the grind super early tomorrow!

22.5 km – 13.9 miles

6:40am to 12:45pm walking time

200 meters – 656 feet elevation gain

It was another headlamp start to the day. The days are getting shorter quickly and even more so when the moon and stars are covered by clouds. I don’t love walking in the dark, especially alone, but I also know I need to leave early so I can make good time to the next town each day.

Someday maybe I’ll take the time to discover this UNESCO site where they discovered bone fragments of early humans from 800,000 years ago, but twice now I’ve just walked past this sign and continued on.

Once it started to get light out, I headed up the only hill of the day into the fog. It was very eerie, especially because at this point I had seen no pilgrims in front of or behind me. I had thoughts of being the girl in a horror movie that makes a bad decision to leave the group. 😂 But at the same time, it was beautiful.

Today was another day where the weather report indicated that I should have decent weather for the walk. Many of us pilgrims have decided that we can’t trust the weather apps or radar on our phones.

I had to dart under the eave between two buildings and I stayed there for 20 minutes waiting out some pretty major downpours. Yes, I have rain gear that I could have put on and walked through it, but knowing that I had a hotel for the next two nights in Burgos and was in no rush, I figured I could wait it out so I wouldn’t be miserable for the rest of the walk. Several others were doing the same around the corner or the building.

Once I saw the sun shining through the rain I figured the worst was over and I took back off on the way. Saw a hint of a rainbow just past the pilgrims in front of me. You can kind of see it in the photo below.

I’m taking a rest day tomorrow, so will get to explore Burgos along with getting to sleep in and not carry 20 pounds on my back for the day. Burgos is a fun city to explore so I’m looking forward to that. I learned over the past couple days that I’m missing out on two different geocaching friends (from Seattle and Australia) being in Burgos – one left this morning and another arrives after I’ll leave on Sunday. Would have loved if the timing could have worked out to meet up with both of those friends. Also reminds you what a small world this can be.

For lunch I found a Pilgrim’s Craft Beer Pilsner – couldn’t pass up a Camino beer!

27.8 km – 17.2 miles

6:10am to 1:45pm walking time

500 meters – 1640 feet elevation gain

I left early knowing that I wanted to get a longer day in. I had also heard about thunderstorms and rain for later in the day so I hoped I could miss that by leaving extra early. It was very dark once I left the city limits, so I needed my headlamp for the first 45 minutes or so of the walk. It was cloudy and I could tell there was a low haze. I thought this could potentially turn into mist even though the weather said it would be clear in the morning.

Turns out the thunderstorms started at 7am. First there was some pouring rain that started quickly enough that I got fairly drenched before I could get my rain gear out of my bag. I waited under a partial eve of a farm building and a gal from the Netherlands joined me there. Then the lightning showed up. We waited it out a few minutes and when it seemed like the lighting wasn’t getting closer, we headed back out.

After my first break the Dutch gal moved on and then the Annabel from New Zealand caught up with me. We walked a good chunk of the day together. I left her in the last town and headed on for my last few kilometers.

Today was definitely more scenic than yesterday. The mist after the rain made the mountains cool to walk through both temperature wise and for an enchanting forest. There were more hills than the last several days but my body is getting much more used to them. I also didn’t have the pain in my feet the last couple kilometers today that I had on the two recent longer days. Definitely nice to feel more in the groove of things.

I ended the last kilometers talking basketball with an Italian guy. Now I’m settled into my albergue in Agés and I headed a door down to one of the cafes for the menu of the day. It’s a typical 3 course meal with a choice of starters, main dish and dessert. The lady working here doesn’t speak English and I don’t know quite enough Spanish to fully understand what I ordered. But I did know I ordered soup and then chicken for the main dish and cake for dessert. It was a fantastic meal.

All that for 16 euros. After this I need to hang my laundry in some sunshine and just hope that it doesn’t start to storm again. On to Burgos tomorrow where I’ll take a rest day on Saturday.

22.4 km – 13.9 miles

6:45am to 12:15 pm walking time

300 meters – 984 feet elevation gain

I got started a few minutes later than I wanted today knowing that it would be a hot day today. But the walk went quick enough that I arrived to town shortly after noon. Even too early to check into my albergue.

It was probably the most boring walk so far. Only a couple nice views along the way and then mostly looking out across brown and yellow farm fields, with a highway off to one side of the path.

I didn’t take as many pictures today. I also definitely felt a wave of loneliness during the walk today. I’ve met several nice people along the way, but social time with folks has been limited to come by. Just haven’t found a Camino family yet, so I’ve been eating a lot of meals and spending most days alone. Can’t help but have that bring on some PTSD from Covid days where I couldn’t spend much social time with people. Hoping that doesn’t last the whole way. I did at least enjoy lunch today with the gal who is next to me in the albergue.

Despite the French Way having the most infrastructure of the Camino paths, it does seem like covid times has played a role in how many cafes and bars are open along the way. Some towns that I think previously had places to stop are very sleepy. It seems like there are more boarded up windows and more for sale signs. I’m also finding the line to wait to get something in the cafes or bars that are open means your break ends up being longer than intended. Today I only stopped twice and generally I like to take 3-4 breaks during a walk.

I’m staying in an albergue tonight that doesn’t have bunk beds! It’s a room of only 8 people too and I see windows that open and fans! It is a climb up to the third floor to get there though.

Tomorrow will be a tougher day with more hills than the way has had in the past few days. It’s also potentially going to rain tomorrow. The area needs the rain, but this peregrina isn’t too excited about walking in the rain.

On a positive note, I got to meet little Cody in Belorado today…

21.3 km – 13.2 miles

6:40am to 12:45pm walking time

300 meters – 984 feet elevation gain

I’m sitting at a bar in a small plaza just off the main drag of the Camino to write today’s blog. This is a nice spot since all pilgrims will be walking by here if they haven’t already. There are albergues both directions from here and it’s not far from the main cathedral here.

This has been the easiest day of the Camino yet. A relatively short distance and only a few small sections of elevation gain. The weather was warm toward the end, but bearable. There were more places to take a break and get a beverage today as well. Had I not stopped as much as I did, as well as stopped to find a geocache, I would have gotten into Santo Domingo closer to noon.

I walked part of the day with Kara from New Mexico and Ruben from Barcelona. It’s been fun getting to know them along the way. I also walked a bit with a couple ladies that had recently started walking together from Montana and New Zealand. The Montana lady swims in the big Long Bridge Swim in my hometown every year. The lady from New Zealand was excited to hear that I studied abroad down there and had seen a fair bit of the country.

I decided to splurge on a hotel again tonight. I actually got a great night’s sleep in my albergue last night – especially after I negotiated to not have the window fully closed in my albergue room. The operator of the albergue came around to all the rooms and closed the windows around 9:45pm. The guys in the next room tried to get her to keep theirs open but she said “mucho frio” so they just accepted that it would get too cold as she said. When she got to my room, I told her “mucho caliente.” She replied with “mucho frio” again and I said “no no, mucho caliente.” She left the window partially open. 😃 Fresh air and not sleeping in a sauna for the win! I’m not sure how the albergue hosts don’t seem to understand that many bodies in a room make it very hot and very stuffy. Oh well.

Back to my hotel. I’m staying at the Parador. As fellow pilgrims know, the Parador hotels on the Camino are quite fancy and unique older hotels. The one next to the cathedral in Santiago, being the famous one on the Camino, has cost about $300-400 a night when I’ve looked. Since that could be another flight somewhere for me, I’ve never stayed there. But the one in Santo Domingo was surprisingly very affordable for tonight so I decided this was my chance. The bathtub alone made it worth it.

Santo Domingo is another one of my favorites along the Camino. Glad it was a shorter day so my legs don’t mind the walking I’ll be doing around the town.

Found the post walk beverages, now just need to find the food.

28.9 km – 18 miles

6:00am to 1:00pm walking time

300 meters – 984 feet elevation gain

I started earlier than normal again today since today’s distance was going to be even longer than yesterday and the weather looked like it would be hot and sunny. Quickly after leaving the old town part of Logroño I met a couple from the US walking and we chatted until the sun started to rise. The cloud cover and wind kept things really cool – even cold if you stopped. So that was a welcome surprise.

Shortly after leaving town we followed a nice path leading up to a reservoir. You can tell this is where plenty of locals hang out for picnics and other things. after that it was vineyard after vineyard until reaching Nàjera. It’s beautiful, but you can only take so many pictures of vineyards, so I don’t have a ton or pictures today.

There was only one place to stop all day since I didn’t take the optional longer route through another town. Knowing that, I grabbed food and an Aquarius for the road. My Canadian friend Ian joined me as I left town and we had some good conversation through wine country.

What you can’t see well in my images is the beautiful mountains off in the distance. Didn’t seem to matter what direction you looked, there were beautiful rocky mountains.

There was a bit of kitten saga today on the Camino. There was a mama cat and two kittens – though the little black one pictured above didn’t seem like it belonged to the rest of the family and it very much wanted to go with the humans walking by. It didn’t seem fully unhealthy but it seemed like it needed help the way it kept following and meowing at every person. I later saw it ended up following some people and that another gal picked it up. I’ve now overheard in my albergue that she got it to a vet. There are lots of stray cats and it’s probably best to leave them alone, but this little one was persistent and hopefully the vet will be able to find it a home.

I’m in a nice albergue tonight with only 3 others in my room. Hopefully it’s not as hot as the albergue from two nights ago.

Now to go wander around the town and scout out what I’ll be having for dinner.

Update: adding some pics from wandering around Nàjera…

27.8 km – 17.3 miles

6:00am – 12:45 walking time

984 feet – 300 meters elevation gain

Today was probably the quickest long day I’ve had on the Camino. I was shocked when I had already walked 20km before 11am. But the walking was easy going hill wise and the temperature was finally very comfortable. That said, my feet still felt like they were going to fall off the last kilometer into the city.

Since I started walking at 6am, it was pitch black aside from the moon, the stars and the glow of cities and towns off in the distance. I brought my headlamp knowing I’d probably have to use it more on this Camino than on past ones since the days will only get shorter. I don’t love walking in the dark, since it means you miss seeing the countryside, but for the long days like today, it makes sense to leave early. Tomorrow will be no exception being that it’s another 28km day.

My first stop today was in a town I had kind of hoped to walk to yesterday, Torres del Rio, but it was far too hot to go past Los Arcos. It was a cute hillside town that I had stayed in last time. There seemed to be thousands of swallows swarming constantly around that town. A neat site to see. After that stop, Tom from Germany walked a ways with me and then Sistine from France. Having the company for some of the walk made it more interesting and made the time pass by faster. There’s a regular group of various pilgrims I see often now and join at breaks. It’s always so easy to meet new people here.

I’m still in the heart of wine country. In fact, if you’ve had a La Rioja region wine, that’s where I’m at.

I found Torreznos on the menu when walking around Logroño after settling into my hotel. I couldn’t help but have some more pork deliciousness. 🥓

When I ordered, I asked for some agua to go with my beer and snack. The bartender asked if I wanted a small one and I said “grande.” He seemed confused that one person would want so much water. Guessing he didn’t walk 28km to get here today. 😉

21.5 km – 13.4 miles

6:45am to 12:30pm walking time

1213 feet – 370 meters elevation gain

Some days are just not your days on the Camino. There wasn’t anything in particularly bad for my day today, but just the cumulation of not getting enough sleep night after night after night made the day tougher than it needed to be. It being warm even when you start walking in the dark, to the point where you have sweat dripping down your face by 7am. Also just not having anyone to talk to day after day while walking. Sure, I’ve met people, but other than a couple short bits, I’ve walked each day alone. You see people and get the nice greeting, but then they pass you or you pass them.

I’m standing, not sitting at the main albergue in town because there aren’t many places to sit as it’s tiny and packed full. Sweat is dripping left and right by doing absolutely nothing. Bugs are continuously landing on me. Sitting at a bar would be even hotter and still likely have flies. There’s no reprieve from the heat, because I guess AC would be too much to ask.

I’m definitely in the middle of wine country now. It is beautiful walking through the vineyards alongside the diverse Spanish landscape. The walking today wasn’t particularly hard – but when your body is completely exhausted, even the easy days feel hard. Luckily some clouds blocked the heat of the sun for a lot of the walk and it only got really miserable on the last push into Los Arcos.

I did join up with a fellow American, a Canadian and a guy from Spain for lunch when I arrived. I made a happy mistake of ordering a tortilla bocadillo with Serrano jamon y queso instead of just a bocadillo with jamon y queso. Turns out the egg made the sandwich extra tasty.

Tomorrow will be the longest day yet of 28+ kilometers. Luckily the temperature is supposed to drop quite a bit so hopefully that will help boost my energy for the walk. I’ll arrive at one of the towns I really enjoyed the last time I walked the Frances, Logroño.

21.9 km / 13.6 miles

6:30am to 12:30pm walking time

1500 feet elevation gain

I’m writing today’s blog from a 50’s style US diner listening to Whitney Houston and waiting for a hamburguesa. I was craving a hamburger yesterday but didn’t find a restaurant open so I settled for frozen pizza that I made at my albergue. I asked a guy working at the supermercado where might be open with a hamburger and he directed me to the town square of Estella. During siesta you can be really limited in the places open to eat. Usually the bigger cities will have some restaurants open in the tourist parts of town.

Anyway today was a quicker day, with only a couple bigger climbs of the day. It also amazingly stayed pretty cool with overcast skies. I definitely appreciated that over the heat of yesterday. I know the worst of the heat is still likely to come for me. But I’ll take every cool day for walking I can get.

For the walking today, I passed over Roman and medieval bridges as well as more modern bridges. Walked through wine country, and saw more kitty cats. There were more cute towns, with big churches.

I took my usual breaks for Coke Zero, Aquarius and a banana. I continue to see lots of familiar faces but didn’t chat too much with anyone until I made it to Estella.

When I arrived in Estella, just before crossing the bridge to where my hostel is, I noticed some familiar faces so I joined them. It was the Irish guys and Canadian guy I got to know over beers with a couple nights ago, Ian, Eugene and Gerry. I joined them again for beers and for some of the best fried bacon I’ve ever had (pictured above and below). Where can I find this in the US?!

I am sad that the two from Ireland will be headed out for other travel after tonight, but it’s been fun getting to know them.

Estella is a cute town and a new one for me to stay in as I only passed through last time. I have a hostel with slightly more private accommodations than most, so I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep tonight (I didn’t last night).

More burgers should have fried eggs on them. 😃

It looks like it’ll be hot tomorrow, so I’ll probably try for another early start. Starting to feel into the routine of things on the Camino again.

23.8 km – 14.8 miles

6:45am to 1:30pm walking time

1843 feet / 561 meters elevation gain

It was definitely hard to get up to my alarm this morning. Having a hotel room where I could really sleep well was very nice and much needed. But my body could have used some more rest. Oh well, there was walking to be done.

I did get a slightly later start than I wanted, but it was still nice and cool for leaving this morning. I knew there would be a decent size climb so I had hoped to get to it as early as I could to avoid the worst heat. Lots of great views through the farm fields along the way.

My legs are starting to get over the soreness from day one’s climb. I usually find about 4-7 days into my Camino walks, that I’m finally feeling like my body has accepted the torture and will maybe even start embracing it. Despite that, your feet still feel like they will fall off after about 12-13 miles no matter what.

Throughout the day I kept seeing Camino people I’m starting to know. Though I walked most of the day by myself, it was fun to catch up with folks I’ve met since day one. I did walk a few minutes with a couple guys from Ireland that I had sat down to have beers with a couple nights ago. I’ve noticed several people I’ve met aren’t able to walk the full Camino due to timing so there will be a handful of these folks that I stop seeing over the next few days.

It’s now siesta time in Puente la Reina so I found I had to go to one of the few restaurants to find change for doing my laundry, which meant buying a beer to go. Even the albergue host leaves for siesta here so I had to get resourceful!

It’s hot out but I’m hungry and need to find something to eat at one of the few open places. But with only one washer and dryer here, I need to stick close for when my clothes are done.