Today was an adventure!
Marena and I set off from Navarrete at 6.45 and our coffee stop was at Ventosa. so far so good. The cafe was lovely and we saw a lot of familiar faces … some stopping off for a hearty breakfast, but most like us having a pit stop and cafe con leche. Ventosa is slightly off the Camino trail according to my book, but a few years ago they made an alternative route while they were repairing the trail and it’s now the favoured route.
Only we followed an American, Leonardo, who I met yesterday, and we must have missed a marker. We ended up on a track that was heading in the right direction and eventually saw a group of runners who said we were ok.
We made our way to Alesón along dirt tracks across wonderful vineyards and it was amazing. At Alesón Leonardo and Mary (Australian) decided to go down the road (we found out later they picked up the trail after about 500m)
We intrepid explorers (by then a trio as we stuck with Olivier from Belgium) headed for what we thought was Najera as it had a huge church (like a Basilica) but which turned out to be Tricio. Again we resisted following the road back to the Camino trail, and in the Spanish we had between us, got advice from a local man walking his dog, and carried on.
At one point I was singing from the Sound of Music. The clue for the song is in the picture.
We walked a bit more and voilà we were in Nájera-and before noon! Wow!
Nájera was more beautiful than I expected and we stopped briefly by the river to eat the rest of the bread and ham from the day before. And then we were off again.
We arrived in Azofra (a further 6km along) and are staying at the municipal refuge, which is lovely. The rooms are for two people, and they have good basic showers (very hot water), washing facilities etc. And tonight we will eat in a cafe on the square.
When we were being intrepid adventurers I noticed a slight discomfort on my right foot. At Alesón I sat on a bench and inspected it -and there was a small blister just starting. So I whipped out my compeed (newskin) plasters and am hoping that will do the trick. Let’s see!
Eyes Of Faith 
Hope the plasters help and prevent further problems.
Told 6b today what you are up to as we had pilgrimages in our history lesson.
Sounds like so much fun Lorna! I would have loved to hear to sing…it is so beautiful there!
Prayers for a quick healing of your blister dear sister xx
Blisters are a real pain. Be careful putting compeed on an actual blister though as they can cause more problems if the blister bursts. Whatever you do, don’t pull the compeed off and let it come off by itself. You should only really use compeed on hotspots, to help stop blisters forming.
Thanks for sharing the pain.
The blister is a bit bigger … and the heel tender. I’m using the ‘compeed prevent’ elsewhere and it seems to be working. I’m hoping the compeed plaster will contain the blister and it won’t burst. Let’s see!
That refuge with those tiny cabins was wonderful. I am glad you ended up there, too!
It was great
I think I might be following your and Sara’s pilgrim steps right now .. last night was the wonderful church belfry in Grañón and tonight the Franciscan refuge in Tosantos
Who knows where next … perhaps Olmos as I would like to skip Burgos if possible .. let’s see!
I’m loving loving this Reija! Thank you for encouraging me!