The Camino
leave the old center of Logroño by the Puerta
del Revellín...
The
Camino leaves the old town of Logroño by the old gate Puerta del Revellín.
We leave the Hostal Sebastian at twenty past six a.m.. Leaving Logroño
turns into a long tiresome task. After a monotonous long while and once we
cross the city, we arrive at a new track that goes through the Parque de la
Grajera. Some small rabbits scamper up and down amongst the bushes.
Before
we know realise it, the pilgrims are in Navarrete. What happiness, there is actually
a place to have breakfast! Paca and I chat to a grandfather that did his
military service with two people from Guadalajara… An anonymous priest,
fat as a house, listens to a walker, Miguel the Sevillian, droning on about
not having lost weight on account of his walking. The old and quiet priest
says solemnly: "My son, you should take into account that you put on
weight not because you eat a lot, but because you don’t sin at all".
Miguel is not very satisfied with his explanation. I tell him that another
very fat priest told me the same in my land. We agree that the phrase is
perhaps doctrine of the Church.
In
Navarrete, Miguel the Sevillian convinces a poor woman to remain at the
pilgrims’ hostel. We came across the woman the day before. She is 65 years
old. She says that one of her sons has been cured from cancer and she
promised her pilgrimage to Santiago for this reason. She is carrying a
knapsack on her back and two plastic bags in her hands. In the plastic bags
there is an offering for the Saint. Her feet are covered in blisters.
Fortunately the woman decides to remain in Navarrete recovering from her
wounds. When will she arrive at Santiago ?
The
things are like this when we head for Najera. You do not need to walk on the
road, there are new and old tracks until you arrive at Najera.
"Pilgrim,
at Najera, behave as if you were from Najera." (Peregrino, en Najera,
najerino.), says a welcome graffito on a white wall when you arrive at this
town.
We
are in Najera at ten to one p.m. Felipe, the person in charge of the
pilgrims’ hostel, stamps our credentials and welcomes us. We tell him that
we are going to Hostal Hispano because we have enough money, so we prefer to
have more privacy and leave room for other pilgrims poorer than ourselves. Felipe
says that it is a good idea and he boasts, with all the justice of the world,
that the Najera pilgrims’ hostel is free.
After
washing ourselves in our room in the Hostal Hispano, we change our clothes
and go to have a drink before eating. We have an excellent lunch at Hotel
San Fernando’s restaurant. There for 1300 pesetas for the day menu, we
receive a good meal and equally good service. We do not forget the siesta,
our legs and feet hurt because of the almost 30 Kms of this stage.
In
the evening I write a little bit, then we visit the monastery which is in
the downtown, them some drinks and finally we have dinner in the same place
we had lunch. The success is guaranteed. We tell the waiter we are pilgrims
during the dinner. He does not believe us.
During
the evening we come across one of the Sevillian guys, Jose Pablo. He is
hysterical. He says he is ill with diarrhoea and that he has problems with
tendons in his legs, he also says that he went to see a doctor. We think
that he is very nervous. We tell him not to be such a hypochondriac.
Do
people go crazy on the route or, simply, are we all beginning to go a little
bit potty?
Stage
7  Stage 8 |