Day 8 - Logroño to Najera

Today was LONG: 30.7 kilometers. It was mostly uphill, but gently so...nothing as annoying as some of the earlier hills and mountain that I had to tackle. The first town I went through was Navarette, a quiet farming community. Leaving Navarette, I took a break outside of a cemetery just out of town. A local farmer gave me a bunch of grapes to eat. They were amazingly sweet and a welcome treat. The portico on the cemetery was originally on a 13th century pilgrim hospital, St. John of Acre, the ruins of which were on the opposite side of town as I entered Navarette. 13th century...the Americas weren't even discovered by Europeans yet! Walking in the shadow of history like this is an amazing and humbling experience.

It seems that El Camino takes us by the church in each town we go through. They are the highest and most visible point in each town, which means an uphill walk into each town. They have been worthwhile climbs. The churches are beautiful and easily outdate any churches in the United States. If possible, I try to go in, look at the even more amazing sights inside and leave a small donation. Pictures have been hard to come by as the lighting is dim and I dare not use my flash around such valuable things that old.

The other things I noticed today was that the waymarking for El Camino has been much poorer in the state of Rioja versus Navarra where I started. The signs were plentiful and obvious before. Now they are truly subtle: I often find myself looking for signs of other pilgrims: a cairn (too easy), bike tracks, or footprints. The yellow arrows are fewer and far between. Several people got lost today. With 30.7 km today, getting lost was problematic.

On I walk.