From Navarra to La Rioja

Day 10 took us from Navarra into La Rioja on a 21 km trek that gave us one wistful look back at that Comunidad ...

... and a forced march into the next. In the interest of full disclosure, not all of the Camino is bucolic countryside and mystical medieval castles and churches. There are at times highways to cross and the occasional suburb and drab industrial park to negotiate. Not many, but enough to sometimes challenge the spirit. And distances to challenge the body, if one forgets that this is an adventure rather than a test.

We learned that lesson yesterday and today we are resting in Logroño, reducing our packs, committing ourselves to setting an easier pace. And Logroño is a good place to do just that ...

Through Navarra

We have been on the road for just over a week and are now in Torres del Rio, approaching the western end of Navarra. The highlights have been - the rolling hills of pines and birches that sometimes remind us of parts of the Allegheny mountains, the sights and sounds of birds that make us wish we were being accompanied by Rafael Negret to tell us what their special characteristics are, what their names are in Spanish, Latin and Basque, rolling hills of vineyards, olive groves and wheat fields, miles and miles of path without hardly another soul, thousand year old towns that somehow manage to provide some of the convenient of the twenty first century along with the spiritual of the tenth, meals where wine is served as naturally as water, fellow pilgrims eager to share their personal stories of searching. We have fared fairly well, though Taluz's knees are suffering. So we have decided to take it easier. Some of the random photos along the way are ...

Crossing the bridge into Zubiri

One step at a time ...

One backpack, one bellypack

Bar Alday, Cirauqui, buena caña

Bar Alday, Cirauqui, happy heart

Irache wine fountain, 10AM

Irache wine fountain, 10:05AM

Villamayor de Monjarín

On the road to Los Arcos

Plaza Central, Los Arcos

Torres del Rio, a welcome rest