Overnight - Hostal Hispano
A new distance record loomed today, at 28.9 kilometres. Happily, the run of mild weather was forecast to continue and the pathway elevation looked similarly benign.
The stroll out of Logrono was very pleasant, but much of the rest of the day was a bit of a grind. No real hills and just mainly wide, gravelly paths stretching on and on. The clouds broke during the morning, but a cool breeze continued throughout so I didn't raise much of a sweat.
I took a couple of short breaks at some restful picnic spots off the track, and once through the outskirts of Najera, which seemed to go forever, I found my pre-booked hotel very quickly.
Earlier in the day, in Navarrete, I passed a German dorm-mate from back in Zubiri who was nursing a foot swathed in bandages. It involved lots of blood and he was undecided about his immediate future out there. A really nice guy, but a fellow dorm-mate of ours that night, a German girl, described his snoring to me (after he'd left that morning) as the worst she'd ever heard! Somehow, I just slept through it.
After arriving in Najera, I went looking for a bar to watch the Mont Ventoux stage of Le Tour and have something to eat. However, it seems the siesta is particularly closely observed in this town and the whole place was dead. When I returned and described my plight (in a shrug-of-the-shoulders sort of way), the hotel receptionist took pity on me and offered to make a big salad with a pot of tea to consume in front of the hotel’s big screen where the race was showing. What a place! (It actually turned out to be an extraordinary finish to the race with Froome and Richie Porte crashing into a camera-bike toward the truncated summit of ‘the giant of Provence’.)
A quiet stroll around the maze-like streets of the old part of this town by the river finished the evening.
Weather - Perfect again
Health - A couple of twinges in the right leg below the knee, similar to the pain a few days back, but not long-lasting. The left heel and outside of the right foot are also playing up a little toward the end of these longer stages.
Food - White chocolate bar; 1/2 baguette; Gel, Apples x2; Big salad with bread roll + pot of tea; Cream roll and Cream bun; Small bag mixed jubes
Expenses - Accommodation - 36.50; Food/Drink - 13.70; Camino fridge magnet from a local Najera tourist office - 2.50 Total - 52.70
Walking time - 6 hours, 15 minutes (start 6:55am, arrive at accommodation 1:10pm)
Brierley distance - 28.9km (total 191.8km)
Daily Steps - 44,307
Total Camino steps - 322,259
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