We
have a very nice stay in Najera, where the tracks of the Camino are good.
The pilgrims’ hostel is suitable and the town has plenty of kind thoughts
for the pilgrims. A «Good Camino» (Buen Camino), written on a wall sees
the pilgrims off, when they leave this friendly town.
The Camino
leaves Nájera and its narrow streets...
We
leave at half past six in the morning. Before leaving, thinking that we
probably cannot have breakfast at Azofra (the only one village to cross),
Paca and I have breakfast in our room at the Hostal Hispano: a carton of
milk and some pastries.
...dawn breaks and the sunlight
progressively erupts...
We
arrive at Azofra all alone, going through vineyards while dawn breaks and
the sunlight progressively erupts. Miracle! A bar in Azofra is open and the
known pilgrims’ group gathers there. I won’t say no to breakfast second
time round!
Today
some people are to leave the group. Some of them will only arrive at Santo
Domingo de la Calzada (because they have run out of days), others (two
Sevillian marathoners) want to continue to Belorado. The marathoners are
Jose Pablo y Juan Antonio. Good luck to all of them!
The
stage was easy, we are stamping our credentials at quarter to eleven a.m. at the Santo
Domingo pilgrims’ hostel. The woman in charge is nice and loving. We chat
with a girl who has spent two days with her feet totally dressed because she
has a lot of infected blisters. She is to spend at least another three days
at the hostel.
Paca
and I go for a room to Hostal del Rio. We find this hostal in the guidebooks
of the route, but you should never go here. Hostal del Rio is the most
squalid place we have found on the Camino: dirty, with a foul smell, ragged
sheets and, in addition, Paca got a splinter of glass in her foot when she
was walking into our room. Cold water in all taps.
Whose
great idea was it to put this hostal in the Pais-Aguilar guidebook? And as
it never rains but pours, we both got blisters in this easy and short stage
(Why? Who knows!). However, all the mates that are at the pilgrims’ hostel,
are very happy and tell us that this pilgrims’ hostel is a very good one
and that we should have remained there with them.
We
have lunch and dinner at the same place (Restaurant Los Caballeros) and we
regain our strength. A good restaurant, I promise it.
In
spite of these drawbacks Paca and I have a very nice time. In the evening we
have a glass of wine with some of our companions, the pilgrims that left
with us from Roncesvalles. They are eight of us, apart from Paca and me:
Miguel and Salo, a boy (Miguel friend’s son) and the Five Alpines. They
tell us that Julian, the pilgrim from Plencia, has left. We say good-bye to
him in the morning. Julian was dead tired on his first pilgrimage day. He
arrived at Zubiri totally exhausted. We met him when we were arriving at
this village and he could walk no more. Julian remained at Zubiri pilgrims’
hostel. Good luck to you, Julian!
Stage
8  Stage 9 |