We enjoyed today’s walk out of Logroño. We were prepared for an unscenic, industrial slog out of the city, but instead, much of the walk was through a beautiful park around a lake.
There were a few unscenic moments, but we were so grateful for wide, paved trails, that we didn’t mind.
We only walked as far as Navarrete today (13 kilometers) and we enjoyed having a second easy day of walking in a row. Our muscles are still recovering from our tough walk into Viana, so it was nice to take it easy.
We reached Navarrete by about noon, and we found a cafe with some sandwiches for lunch. As we were eating, a marching band strolled up to the cafe and began to play outside.
We like the pace of life here. Even the small towns are lively, with people gathering in the squares. While the afternoon siesta often makes it hard to find food and services, we appreciate a culture that universally seems to value rest.
After lunch, we found a playground on our way to the hotel. Addie found a climber, and I listened to her announce “I’m brave” as she climbed the rungs.
We found our hotel just outside of town in the middle of a vineyard and quickly realized we’d accidentally booked a room at a hotel/winery. We felt underdressed in our Camino clothes, and more than slightly embarrassed to walk up with a mud-caked stroller. To their credit, nobody gasped in horror.
We booked an hour timeslot for the jacuzzi and took both girls “swimming” (it was warm, but not hot). At home, we go swimming almost daily, and both girls were beyond happy to be back in the pool.
Our only real struggle for the day was trying to find dinner. Our hotel had no restaurants, and we didn’t want to walk back into town to the nearest restaurants, 1.5 kilometers away… especially when we heard that they started serving dinner at 9:30. We wanted to be asleep by 8! We ordered charcuterie, the only option at the wine bar, and snacked on the few things we’d picked up at a store along the way. The dinner left a lot to be desired, but the 2 euro glasses of wine were phenomenal.
that sound like a really nice day as you said. Someone needs to start a food drop business for hungry pilgrims. Like the taxis take the pilgrims. Only bring food too, ha, ha.
This update is what I hoped to read. Yesterday you alluded to the unimpressive walk you anticipated out of Logrono. We thoroughly enjoyed it-a bit of cosmopolitan scenery, the only lake we encountered along the way. We spent a couple of hours in Navarette, liked it a lot. As for your booking ‘mistake’……. we had many serendipitous, unplanned situations arise on our Camino. We quickly began to attribute them to intervention of “the Camino Gods”. I think they intervened to provide you with a nice accommodation break in a nice hotel…..with swimming! (We didn’t think too deeply about the Camino Gods. Just a cool label we came up with to explain unexpected good things we encountered.) We love the way your daughter is just rolling with her new encounters ( although we realistically realize she certain must have her ‘moments’ What would a Camino be without themLOL?) You are instilling amazing values in her, much respect to you on that .
Thanks for taking the time to put these posts together. I love reading about the ups and downs of your adventure – both literal and figurative – and I really appreciate the quality of your writing style and the photographs.
I walked this same route in 2019, and it’s lovely to read about this route from your perspective!
Thank you! It has been a fun way to document our trip