Day 9 Viana to Navarette, Spain  September 30, 2022

Today was a long day - 22+ km and I’m exhausted.

It was very boring and hard because most of it was on pavement and paving stones. That’s so hard on the legs especially when they are wet and super slippery.  The best thing is I’m in a fantastic albergue called El Cántaro.  I’m visiting with a German man who is very funny.  

I walked with Helle for quite a bit of the morning-

We left Navarre province and entered Rioja.  I am kicking the shit out of this camino - not!

This is a monument remembering 27 neighbours who were murdered in 1936 by the French requisition.  The bottom quote is very good saying those towns that forget need to know that history repeats itself-

We walked through Logroño, population 150,000, crossing the Ebro River.  Bernadette stopped to take a picture and dropped a pole in the river-

I also stopped at the Iglesia de Santiago El Real-

Inside the church-

I plodded on and stopped and had a look at why my little toe was hurting-

Not good but I’ll keep it dry, air it out tonight and wrap it well in the morning.  It’ll be okay.  

More Camino signs-

About the only decent view all day and it’s shitty-

Now in Navarette, after a rest, I went to the Parroquia Santa Maria de La Asunción.  Pretty crazy-

Then we found a restaurant for supper-  Jane from Iowa, Marjanne from the Netherlands, Andreas from Germany, Anita from Germany, Gary from Iowa and Bernadette from Switzerland-

I had delicious pork loin with blue cheese sauce, fried potatoes and cold chilies-

It was soooo good.  Dessert was moilleux au chocolat-

My body is feeling pretty darn good right now.  Come morning, I think I’ll be ready.