Day 8: Hiking My Camino de Santiago

July 27, 2018

One of the valued members of the Fellowship is leaving tomorrow. All of us will miss Tanja but it was nice that she walked part of it with her friend Astrid. And that meant that the other members of the Fellowship stayed behind last night at Logrono.

Unfortunately, taking a day off at this point did not fit my schedule so I walked from Logrono to Nájera.

I connected with Karl from Germany, Michael from Ireland, Igor from Poland, and Christin from Germany and walked part of the way with them. Believe it or not, Christin is an 18-year old walking the Camino by herself. She said she was trying to find herself but she seemed quite focused on her career plans. I can only imagine how much she will grow from this experience.

I actually met my first American on the trail today. Zac just graduated from Marquette University and grew up in Houston. I had a nice meal tonight with Zac.

I spent the most time on today’s walk with Vicente from Madrid. And I also reconnected with Rada from Italy. I forgot to mention that when I met Rada and Sylvia yesterday we stopped on a grassy knoll. Sylvia commented that this had four things every Pilgrim cherishes—shade, breeze, water, and a bench. I wholeheartedly agreed.

The interesting part of today’s hike was that Vicente and I both missed an arrow which means we probably walked over two miles more than other Pilgrims. However, in our defense this been the most frustrating days in terms of seeing arrows or signs of the Camino pointing us in the right direction. Up to today, I would say there were plenty of markers and painted yellow arrows on the trail. Today there were far fewer. I am not sure what lesson there is in this, but there probably is a lesson.

As a result of my mistake, I walked 22.16 miles door-to-door. And that is why I am including this photo. You can see a yellow arrow. These yellow arrows normally are on sign posts and other markers. This yellow arrow was on the base where this pilgrim monument was posted outside of Ventosa.

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See additional photos from July 27th below:

1) Pilgrim statues

2) Artistry in action

3) Crosses in the fence

Pantano de la Grajera

5) Pilgrims on the trail

6) Another church

7) Pilgrim statue and arrow

8) The village of Ventosa

9) Pilgrim statue with arrow

10) The village of Nájera

11) A wooden sculpture

12) Caves in Nájera

13) A street in Nájera

14) A church steeple in Nájera

Brief descriptions of the photos:

1. Here is a black and white image of two modern-day pilgrims on the trail leaving Logrono.

2. An artist had laid out this canvas and asked me to walk in the paint and across the canvas. My shoe prints will eventually be displayed somewhere.

3. Here you can see that someone (probably pilgrims) have placed sticks in the fence to create crosses. This was done over a fairly great distance.

4. Here is a view of the village of Pantano de la Grajera.

5. On the trail with three pilgrims--18-year old Christin from Germany, Karl from Germany, and Michael from Ireland.

6. Here is the church in Pantano de la Grajera.

7. Here is a yellow arrow under a statue of a pilgrim with a lot of rocks.

8. Here is an image of the village of Ventosa.

9. Here was another statue of a pilgrim with a yellow arrow. This was the day where I missed a yellow arrow and walked a few miles longer than necessary.

10. I am entering Nájera in this photo. It was interesting to me that this was a very narrow village with a shallow river on one side and the cliffs on the other side.

11. Here is a wooden sculpture of a pilgrim in Nájera.

12. Here are the caves of Nájera. They weren't open to viewing.

13. Here is a street in Nájera.

14. Here is a view of a church steeple in Nájera.