Despite not getting very good sleep, today was a prett decent day. It started off with perfect weather (cool and cloudy).

It was muggy but cool most of the day, which was good because we had two larger hills to climb. I tend to compare all hills to day 1, even though I probably shouldn’t. But doing so means those hills feel like nothing. So the daunting hills of today were actually pretty easy. 

In the middle of the 12km stretch with no villages was an Oasis. It was a roadside art stop with all kinds of interesting art and totem poles. This happened to be a great spot for some selfies. 

Tomorrow everyone on my same Camino schedule reaches Burgos. This is the first major city after Pamplona. It’s a place many will take a rest day. It’s also a jumping off or jumping on point for many. I’m curious how many of my Camino friends and familiar faces I’ll see after I take a rest day in Burgos. I also wonder how many new faces I’ll start to see on the way. 

After a not so great night of sleep in the monastery (uncomfortable old bed, the sound of snoring) we were off to Belorado.

The morning was beautiful and the walk was easy. 

The first break reminded me that someone should make a “Cats of the Camino” book or Instagram account. Maybe this already exists. Probably a third of the towns I’ve been in, I’ve seen random cats hanging out on the street, on rooftops, etc. 

The original plan was to go past Belorado, but the heat settled in early and knowing one of the albergues had a pool, we opted for a shorter day of 23km.  The scenery was beautiful as usual. 

We got to the albergue before it opened and were some of the first in line to get beds. Though we asked for bottom bunks, we were denied and had to take top bunks, in case old people happened to show up. Had we shown up later and they wanted to fill their beds, we would have gotten bottom bunks. The lady said I should do the walk in July when the old people don’t walk if I actually wanted to be comfortable…great advice. So I’ll have to deal with my fear of falling off a top bunk tonight. Then I got yelled at for wearing a t-shirt in the pool. As if many pilgrims pack swimming suits. After that I got to take a cold shower since the guy before me took forever. It’s the most expensive albergue yet. Go figure. So today’s not my favorite day on the Camino, but tomorrow is a new day. 🙂



Feeling pretty good because I successfully ordered myself a glass of wine in Spanish. It turns out that Spanish class I took paid off. The wifi at my albergue isn’t so great so I needed to find a bar or cafe that had wifi to write this. 

Despite some minor knee pain, today was a good day. The sunrise was beautiful as we left Najera. 

We had our first hill out of the village and then it was pretty smooth sailing after that. More beautiful farm fields and more putting one foot in front of the other. 

After a quick stop in the first village, we continued on through more farm fields. It feels like the number of peregrinos (pilgrims) has increased. Some start in Pamplona, some start even later on. Many people can only do portions of the French way and come back to pick up where they left off.

Tonight I will be sleeping in an old albergue in a monastery. Might even take in the Pilgrim’s mass. I figure I should do that at least once on the journey to get the full experience. The quality of the albergue is a little iffy, but at least we know all the other pilgrims in our room. 

Santo Domingo is a nice town (with great pizza!) though I think many pilgrims walked on to the next town. I took a tour of the cathedral and its museum and said hello to the rooster and hen that live inside the cathedral. 

Tomorrow, if we are lucky, we may get to stay at an albergue with a swimming pool! Anything will probably be better than tonight’s sleeping quarters. 🙂

My feet are just about dead. Today was nearly 30km of walking. It was a beautiful day for that kind of walk and there weren’t too many hills. I did switch to my flip flops about 2/3rds the way through to spare my feet. 

We got an early start, partially because we wanted to leave early knowing it was a long day and partly because the loud snorers in our room got up at 5:30. They were just as loud awake as they were asleep. 

The time went by quickly all day so we covered a lot of ground before taking our first break for caffeine. 

It’s always interesting to see what the different cities and villages do to mark the Camino path. Mostly you see a yellow arrow, but in some of the cities they personalize the directions like the plaque in the ground from Navarrete. 

We took the 1km side track to Ventosa and that was worth the extra walking. We were surrounded by grape fields for the different wineries most of the day. If you drink a Spanish wine, there’s a good chance I have or will be walking past the grapes for that wine. 

The final stretch into Najera was long, but we ran into the father and son from the US that were in our albergue on the first night. I think we will all go to dinner together with another housemate from the first night later this evening. 

I’d love to come back to Najera someday when my feet weren’t so tired. It’s a beautiful city with red rocks for a backdrop. 

I’m sitting at the cocina of my albergue and friends and I started reading the comments left by other pilgrims last year on the wall. What do I find? A comment left by MissJenn. She is my friend and sits across from me at work. 🙂

Still feeling great overall! Tomorrow is a shorter day so it should help my feet recover from today. 

I hesitate to write the blog now because it feels like so little has happened. It’s 2pm and I’m already checked into my albergue in Logroño, already showered and thinking about what I will do with my time now. 

Today’s walk, though short (12-13 miles), was a bit more frustrating because the guide showed only a couple hills, but it felt like there were many and some very steep. The scenery was also less exciting, as I can tell from how few pictures I took. 

However once we got into the town of Viana life on the Camino got better. We had snacks and explored the historic city. I found a geocache and then we were on our way. 

It was a pretty easy walk to Logroño after Viana, so the time moved by quickly. We checked into an albergue recommended by another pilgrim and are very happy with it. Our room has been completely redone and everything smells new and clean. It’s a 10 person room and currently I’m the only one not from Germany. This feels like some of my work trips. 🙂 The view from here is great…

I’ll be heading outside to explore soon and tapas are on the menu for dinner tonight! 

Can’t believe I’m already a week into my Camino. Just four more weeks and I’ll be in Santiago. I know there will be a lot of boring days ahead on the Meseta, but so far I’m loving this adventure. 

I’m sitting on the balcony of what seems like a five-star hotel after a creepy night last night in a basement albergue. It’s not a five-star hotel, but the shower here made me feel like a million bucks. I even got to use a full size towel! Heck, I might even take another shower tonight…just because I can! 

I told myself that I could stay in a hotel once a week so I could sleep in a comfortable bed and feel like a normal person. Not that I haven’t stayed in some comfortable albergues, but after last night, I deserved a good night’s rest in my own room. 

Today has been a great day! We started off at 6:30 this morning and took the Camino detour through the Bodega winery. On the walk up to its famous fountain a fox stopped in the road to check us out, then went on his way. Once we arrived at the fountain we quickly emptied our water bottles. At this fountain you have a choice between water or wine. Unfortunately there were only a few drops of wine left. So we had to opt for water. It was before 7am after all. 

On the road to the next villages we headed. We wondered all day if we’d see any friends from our first night. Or our Austrian friend that we keep meeting along the way. Instead of seeing them we saw some beautiful scenery.

We stopped in Los Arcos where many pilgrims would be staying for the night and saw a few familiar faces. Then it was off to the final destination of Torres del Rio. 

The scenery continues to be amazing. Around each hill you see another beautiful sight. One section reminded me of a cross between the Palouse region and southern Idaho. The mountains in the distance today were stunning. There seems to be no end of poppies, thistles, cute villages and interesting bugs along the way.

I’ll be doing the pilgrims dinner tonight where I’ve already decided on the veal steak. Yum! Tomorrow, for the first time in the Camino I will “sleep in” until 6:30! It’s only a short 21km (13 mile) walk tomorrow so that will make it the shortest day yet! 

Sitting in the basement of an old gym in probably the creepiest place I’ve ever had to try to sleep. This is my albergue for tonight. All I can say, is I deserve a night in a hotel soon. There are a total of 5 other people staying here. Two older men, a couple and my new friend Eva. Oh,  6 others if you count the dead spider on my bed. 

Oh well, this will make me stronger right? Now the Italian couple is taking pictures to show their friends and family how creepy the place is. 

Anyway, other than a weird place to sleep, the day was good. Another beautiful morning that led us through cute little villages.

In the first one we visited, I noticed that a bunch of older guys were starting to gather, including one with an accordion. Shortly after they left, an older woman told us in Spanish that they’d be performing down the street at 8. So we walked down to watch them before leaving. The same woman explained to us that they walk around the whole village to wake everyone up. Then they all feast on bacon and eggs. 

The rest of the day was more beautiful countryside and cute villages. 

Tomorrow will be a long day, but I think my body is getting used to the Camino. Still have no blisters or ailments other than my usual knee pain flaring up on occasion. I am finding that switching to my flip flops for the last bit of walking gives my feet the incentive they need to keep going. 

I’m writing this from the terrace of the albergue and there’s a thunderstorm off in the distance. So I may have to head inside soon. 

Even with little sleep last night (insomnia, not loud snorers), the first part of today was perfect. A beautiful walk through rolling farm fields, looking ahead at the mountain we would be crossing. 

The point where we’d cross the top was something I’ve been looking forward to as it’s the location of the Monument of the Pilgrims. If you’ve watched the movie The Way, you would have seen this in one of the scenes. It’s a beautiful monument with amazing views. And a geocache!

While the scenery was still beautiful, the steep downhill caused my bad knee to start aching. Nothing unbearable, just annoying. Then the heat settled in, so my lack of sleep kicked in. One foot in front of the other as my dad’s advice recommends.

The villages we walked through were all cute and quiet. Once we arrived at Puenta la Reina, we planned to get beds at the albergue at the end of town. Though it was advertised as 200 meters away, it was more like a kilometer away, up a steep hill. Frustrated with how far away it was from civilization, we went back and checked in to another albergue in the heart of the city. Here is the view from the 8 person room…

After a shower I tried a local bar/cafe for lunch where I got one of the best frozen pizzas ever. Turns out I could have saved 3.50 euro and picked that same pizza up at the local super mercado. When you’re  tired and hungry, you’re not too picky.  

Still blister free and enjoying this amazing adventure. It’s funny, every town we go to, we seem to already know half the people there. Heck, those people probably slept in the same room as us the night before! So no place really feels like I’m in a foreign country, even though it looks different from home. 

Today has been the easiest day yet – only 14-15 miles, though it’s been tiring in its own way. Though there wasn’t a ton of elevation gain, the warm sun zapped me of most of my energy. I still enjoyed the day though.

We started our day early so that we could make it to Pamplona in decent time. It was the perfect morning for walking. The trail started off following a river and farm fields. Got to see some really cute baby horses that weren’t shy at all. Then we headed through a less exciting, industrial section outside Pamplona.

Though Pamplona was not the final destination, we did spend a couple hours exploring the city. Walking in some of the footsteps of Hemingway. I even stood next to him in one of his favorite watering holes.

I found a geocache outside the arena the bulls run into. After a much needed slice of pizza and a beer, we got on our way to Cizur Menor.

The walk to Cizur Menor was hot, so reaching the albergue was an exciting moment of the day. After day 3 my body is tired, but still going strong. No blisters to report. Hopefully that continues!

Wifi isn’t so great here, so I’m using a desktop computer provided by the albergue to write this. The town has a meat place and a vegetarian place for dinner options according to the host of the albergue, so I’m going to opt for the meat place for dinner tonight. Wish me luck!

Today was an “easy” day. Easy until we saw that last sign that said 2km to our destination. We thought for sure we were almost there. Oh well, all checked in now at a comfortable albergue in Larrasoaña. 

While beautiful, today was not as picturesque as yesterday. I’ll be surprised if any day can beat the beauty of crossing the Pyrenees. 

In the morning we walked on a nice forest  trail, through farm country where we shared the road with horses, since that was their home. We walked through various cute villages and then up through the mountains. 

By early afternoon we crossed the famous holy bridge in to Zubiri. I took my shoes off and soaked them in the river, along with my phone. The phone miraculously still works. In Zubiri we met up with housemates from our first night and had a nice break there for drinks and snacks. 

The popular Brierley guide maps out the days for you if you want to follow it and be done in about 34 days. That guide suggests you stay in Zubiri, but we moved on to a recommended albergue in Larrasoaña. It was worth the extra 5km walk, as now we have a short walk to Pamplona. Since it’s a short walk, I’ll likely do a tour of Pamplona and head on farther tomorrow. I will definitely be stopping at the famous Hemingway bar where his sculpture is before moving on. 

As we were sitting outside the albergue eating dinner, I realized that 8 of the people from our house of 20 the first night all ended up here at the same place. Even though we walk at different paces we are still connected. It makes me appreciate the family style albergue in St. Jean. 

Though tired, my feet are still in good shape and I’m ready for more walking again tomorrow. I like to think that’s because I switched to my flip flops for the last 5km today. 😉

NOTE: I was finally able to upload photos for yesterday’s post, so see below for those.