OH, THE PAIN

YOU WILL NEVER KNOW YOUR LIMITS UNTIL YOU PUSH YOURSELF PAST THEM

Day 6 Logroño to Soteś. 11.2 miles

Left my little apartment just as it was getting light.  When looking for coffee in the early AM, finding it is sometime iffy.  But because of previous early morning starts, I knew of just the place.  And sure enough it was open with the same bar-man as my previous visits.  Anyway, got my Cafe con Leche, orange juice, and Chocolate Napoleon.  The place was near empty, so I pulled up a chair to enjoy my coffee.  Within minutes, a bus load of French tourists came in and the place was overflowing.  Nothing against French tourists, but I took cue and beat feet outa there.

When leaving Logroño, the first mile or so is on busy thoroughfares and sometimes the yellow arrows are elusive.  But the City of Logroño has their own design for a yellow arrow in to form of a metal plaque imbedded in the sidewalks, so keep looking down and you’ll do fine.  The next couple of miles are through a large city park surrounded by high rise apartments which give way to a larger rural park.  So once leaving the busy streets the walk becomes very pleasant, on good pathways through some nice scenery.  There is a sometimes open cafe in the rural park, but not this time. 

Navarrete becomes the first place to stop and take a break.  Navarrete is a hilltop village, so one must go up to find a cafe.  A must see is the the church who’s construction started in1553 and finished in the 17th century.  The baroque altarpiece is gold and quite beautiful.  Difficult to see in the low lite of the church, but put your 1€ in the little box and the lights come on. It’s worth the euro.

I am currently in another hilltop village for the nite. Soteś, used to be on the Camino, but it was bypassed for some reason.  Perhaps it’s because it’s a steep climb. I stayed here in 2018 and as far as I know, I was the only pilgrim.  Tonight there is another pilgrim staying in the same Casa Rural and earlier in the day I spoke to a pilgrim from Taiwan who said he was heading for Soteś.  My lodging tonight includes dinner and breakfast in the morning.

Dinner was pretty typical for pilgrims, 4 courses, salad, soup, chicken with fries, yogurt for desert.  Of course a bottle of good La Rioja red wine.  Also staying here is Raul Antonio and his dog Cookie.  He speaks no English so we converse using Google Translate on our phones.  We had an enjoyable meal.

Day 7. Soteś to Azofra. 11.7 miles

After a simple breakfast of toast and coffee it was out the door before sunrise, and the sunrise didn’t disappoint.  Another 40 degree morning with a breeze to make it seem colder.  Mostly easy walking on dirt farm roads, not too much pavement, with just a few assents.  The most notable as I leave Nájera, a fair sized city a little over the halfway point of the day.  A stop for the pilgrims 2nd breakfast of Coffee con Leche and a croissant and time to take of the socks and sandal to let the feet rest.

Speaking of feet.  My three blisters on my right foot are on my three biggest toes.  One is under a toe nail and looks quite angry.  The toe nail is a goner, but surprisingly not too painful when wearing my new toe socks and sandals.  I can walk comfortably for most of the day.  My only pain is coming from the front of my left thigh, which I can’t figure out.  It comes and goes when ever it wants to let me know that it is still part of my body.  Stabbing pain at times and then no pain for miles.  Ibuprofen is the only remedy for now.

I arrive in Azofra around 1:30 and check into my pension, a place I have stayed before.  Nice room with a shared bathroom, just across the plaza from the bar.  It is at the bar where you check in to your room and where dinner will be served.  And the dinner turned out to be just Ok.  Most of the Pilgrim fixed price meals are pretty basic.  Salad or soup, meat and fries, and a packaged ice cream bar.  It does include wine and for 13€ it not a bad deal.  It’s just that it’s like every other pilgrim meal.

Day 8 Azofra to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. 9.5 miles

Out the door at 7 with a quick stop at the bar for coffee, juice and toast.  More of the same as far as the scenery goes.  Green fields as far as the eye can see, walking on dirt farm roads and through one town.  The town of Cirueña was built just before the 2008 downturn and is now basically a ghost town with new buildings.  Most of the homes and apartments are vacant, and the streets eerily empty.

Still having blister issues and today the knife in my thigh lasted most of the day.  So, I asked the blisters and the knife in my thigh what they thought we should do?  It was agreed that tomorrow we all will take the bus or a taxi to the next stop.  And then I’ll be have a service take my backpack forward each day until the blisters and the thigh quite down.

Because I deserve it, tonight I am staying the the Paradores Hotel. Paradores are a government owned chain and many of their hotels are in historic buildings as is the one I’m in. Set in a converted 12th-century pilgrims hospital featuring Gothic stone arches and beamed ceilings, this refined hotel is opposite Cathedral Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

I am sitting in the lobby of the Parador Hotel  in Santo Domingo de la Calzada on a very comfortable leather couch, so I thought this would be a good time to tell a Camino story.

As legend has it, many years ago, a young German man, Hugonell, was walking to Santiago with his parents.  I suppose his parents where with him because he needed a chaperone.  But anyway, while in Santo Domingo, they stayed with a farmer and his family.  As many farmer stories go, the farmer had a daughter.  Now the daughter, most likely looking to leave the farm, tried to seduce unsuspecting Hugo but as a pious pilgrim he refused her.  That turned out to be a big mistake on poor Hugo's part.  The young girl became so angry that her amorous intentions were repulsed, that she hid some silver in his pack.  After he left, she called the authorities and accused the boy of the theft.  Upon finding the silver in his pack, he was promptly found guilty and hanged.  There was swift justice back then, not like today.  As was the custom, the body of the accused was left to hang in the town square as a deterrent to others.

His parents, though grief-stricken, continued on with their pilgrimage to Santiago.  It was common back in the day, that after reaching Santiago, pilgrims would turn around and head back home.  So on their return journey they stopped again in Santo Domingo to pay a visit to their son who was still hanging there.  Much to their surprise he was still alive, if you can believe it.  Hugo's folks figured it was a miracle and that Santo Domingo had held him up so he wouldn't die.

So off they went to see the magistrate and ask him to cut poor Hugo down, as he was obviously innocent.  The judge, who had just sat down to a hearty chicken dinner exclaimed, "Why, he is no more alive than this roasted chicken I'm about to eat."  At this, the cooked chicken stood up on his plate, miraculously brought back to life feathers and all and crowed.  So Hugo was saved to live another day.

To this day, in the church in Santo Domingo there is a chicken, who is said to be a direct descendent on the resurrected fowl in the story.  For a few euros you can go and pay a visit to said chicken, or like me, I’ve seen chickens before and opted of some vino tino in the bar.