The rain in spain
Trip Start
Jun 28, 2007
1
7
21
Trip End
Aug 2007
Belorado, Spain
Monday, July 9, 2007
After complaining about that terrible hot day and night in Navarette we pilgrims were granted a reprieve as the next day dawned cloudy and, not long after sunrise, we were blessed, as it were, by a breeze. Walking under cloudy skies is fantastic but it never looks as good in the photos.
Welllllll let's see now...it's been a while. Ahh right Navarette. So, sporting some big, shiny new moquito bites I strolled off into the cloudy dawn in search of more little yellow arrows to follow. Being in the province of Rioja the farmland hereabouts is all vineyard, long great streaming fields of grapevines. The arrows led me through Ventosa and Najera where rumours of a free swimming pool tempted many a pilgrim off the true path for a soak. I carried on to Azofra (22km) where another set of rumours had mentioned a foot pool at the albergue there. It was thankfully true and I spent an entire afternoon doing nothing but chatting and soaking my poor tired feet. Bliss. That evening I went out with a bunch of pilgrims for a pilgrim menu at a local bar. This is when you pay between 6 and 10 euros for three courses and wine. The quality and quantity varies enormously and so it's always a bit of a gamble. My luck was still holding and dinner was fantastic, huge portions for hungry pilgrims and 'flan' for dessert, so good it almost competes with my panacottas back home in Italy! That night there was a fabulous thunder storm and the first rain I've really seen here. Very spectacular; dinner and a show.
The next day (Sunday) the little yellow arrows led me through endless, golden wheat fields lined with wild flowers. It was a day of long empty stretches and one new, empty town called Ciruena. It has been built around a golf course. There was a swimming pool, shops and carparks and dozens of new apartment buildings and houses. But no residents at all! Quite spooky, in a '28 days later' kind of way. In Santo Domigo de la Calzada I stopped for a long coffee break before the final stretch to Granon (21km). The albergue there is in the back of the church, very basic with mattresses on the floor. You pay by donation and dinner and breakfast are included. Everyone pitches in to help make dinner and then we all sit down to eat together, all 45 of us in this case. There were so many pilgrims that later arrivals had to sleep on a high balcony area at the back of the church itself!!
Today I walked a paltry 17km before a sign for an albergue in Belorado with a swimming pool and garden caught my eye. I´m here now on my 'rest' day taking it easy and getting my washing done.
