Although this is somewhat of a repeat, here is what I remember:
We left Ventosa in the dark. But, the evening before, we took this picture showing the trail heading over the hills in the right of the image.
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| View from to top of the hill at Ventosa |
After our first day on the trail, we felt relatively good. Talking about plans for the next day, we decided that the 16.4km we had hiked from Logroño to Ventosa was not bad.
Our original plan was to hike about 15km to Azofra from Ventosa, but we decided we could probably be ok doing an additional 9km to Cirueña. We used Booking.com to reserve 2 beds at alberque Victoria in Cirueña.
Bright and early we were on the road again. In the dark, there was some concern that we would miss the signs. The signs on the road through town were easy to see, but after 5 minutes walking, we were in the fields. We didn't see any lights from hikers ahead of us (we knew others had left the albergue before us) and we could not see anyone coming behind.
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Leaving Albergue
San Saturnino in Ventosa |
At this point I would have been greatful to have the app called Camino Companion. It can show where you are, and where the trail is on a Google Map satellite view. I did not find out about this app until several weeks into the trip. You can access it at:
http://atlasguides.com/camino-de-santiago/
One of the cool features of the app is that is shows how many miles from where you are to different keypoints on the trail, such as the next fountain, a view point, an albergue, etc.
Having the app would have saved us some anxiety as we were hiking along in the dark, but eventually we saw a headlamp coming behind us and renewed our confidence that we were on the right track. It's interesting how we get used to "community" and when it's absent, we miss it. I first became aware of this phenomena as a child living in Mexico City. When we went for a picnic in the mountains surrounding the city, we would look for a peaceful secluded spot. My mother pointed out that we were the anomaly. Most other families out for a picnic would choose a spot within view of another group. This leads to introspection on "group think" and the wisdom of "following the crowd".
To see what the terrain looks like, I really like Google Maps. In fact, since we hiked this first section in the dark, we could not really tell what it looked like - until just now when I checked it out in Google. In the image at the top of this blog page, you can see that the Camino goes up into the hills. When we crested that hill, the huge valley beyond was mostly dark. We paused for a moment to see the lights of the towns and villages spread all over that valley. So, here is the link to where our morning picture was taken:
In Ventosa
Approaching the town of Najera, we passed the
Poyo de Roldan, site of a tremendous fight (according to legend) that took place in the 700's. Roldan, the nephew of Charlamagne defeated the 9' Syrian giant Faragut after 2 days of one-on-one combat.
The walk into Najera took us through the industrial part of town, so we were not as charmed with it as we were when we left. Nevertheless, that's the real Spain and that's what we wanted when we chose to skip the tour buses and get to know Spain on foot. After passing the factories, we entered the residential section (read: apartment buildings), we passed a school on the first day of classes and stopped at the first open bar for breakfast.
Old town Najera is build between the river Najerilla and red clay cliffs of the bluffs west of town. In fact we could see where rooms had been carved out of the cliffs with windows opening on the town. The next time we pass through there, I think I would like to stay in Najera and see it in more detail.
The Camino passes in front of a monastery just before it leaves town through a break in the bluffs. This was a much more pleasant transition than the entrance to town. The climb was steep, and we could see mountain bike trails going further up into the hills, but we focused on the road ahead. We had a long ways to go.
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| Looking back at Najera |
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| Looking forward, away from Najera towards Azofra |
From Najera, we had 5.7km to go before lunch at Azofra, and then another 9.2km uphill to Cirueña.
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| Screen shot from Gronze.com, the most useful tool for planning your Camino |
We were fortunate that the weather was only hot, and not extremely hot. A little more cloud cover would have been appreciated, but the heat is easier to tolerate than rain with wind. So no complaints about the weather.
After passing through vineyards and potato fields, we came within site of Azofra.
The cool sounding name has Moorish roots referencing vassals. In 1168 a hospital for pilgrims was built here. There was also a cemetary specific for pilgrims. Fortunately we did not need the services of either of these, having been served quite well at
Restaurante Camino de Santiago Bar Sevilla where we had lunch under umbrellas adjacent the fountain. Some of the people that I bunked with the night before caught up with us at Azofra. They were taking an 'easy' day and had made reservations to stay the night in Azofra. Our original plan was also to stay at Azofra. As we were eating, we noticed people showing up, dressed for an event. It turns out that this was the day the procession was held where they brought the image of Mary out of the church and paraded through town. The manager of the restaurant came and moved the tables where we were eating so there would be room for the procession. We waited to see it... and waited... and eventually gave up and hit the road. Just as we were leaving town, we heard the band, but it was too late to go back.
Looking forward from Azofra, the road was long. And it was hard.
The image above shows 2 roads going over the hill in the distance. Ours is the one nearest the center. If I remember right, there was a lonesome tree that provided a little shade along the road, and then several kilometers further on, another group of trees around a shallow pond. That was it for shade. We passed the tree and we almost passed the pond when I thought to myself : "We have reservations at the next albergue. Why over do it?" So, we backtracked a little to get across a ditch that surrounded the field, and walked a short distance through the field to the shade of the trees around the pond. I pulled out the clothes that I had washed the evening before and spread them out on the stubble in the field to make sure the dried completely. We took off our boots and massaged our feet with cream. Eventually a mother-daughter team from Ireland came by and we invited them to join us. They were hurting much more than we were.
Eventually we gathered enough energy to continue our trek. As we neared the top of the hill, looking back we could see on the far horizon, the mountain we had climbed in the dark from Ventosa.
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| View back towards Azofra, Najera, Ventosa and Logroño from the hill approaching Cirueña |
Once the hill was crested, there was a long flat section leading to the town. Some of it was along a golf course (the only one we've seen from the Camino). The green grass on the course was a sharp contrast to the dry fields everywhere else. At this point on our hike we did not realize that a drought was aflicting that whole region.
Cirueña is a very small village - in it's original state - but at some point there was an idea that it would be a great bedroom community for Najera and a lot of modern apartment buildings went up, along with the golf course and a sports club. Unfortunately I think the economic troubles of the past few years interrupted that plan and there are For Sale signs all over these new apartment buildings. Sad.
Our albergue is in a relatively new apartment building, near the edge of the old town. The owner works very hard to accomodate all the guest she can fit. We were the lasts ones to get a bed. Michelle was surprised to see that her bunk mate was Cathy who we walked with coming out of Logroño. She had come earlier in the day by taxi.
Sometime after we had showered and started the laundry, the Irish ladies arrived. They were in bad condition - and there was no room in the inn. The owner called a taxi, and while he was coming, they were able to call and reserve a place in the next town, Santo Domingo.
We had hiked too far. Despite being physically able to do it, the stress on our bodies was not worth it. We should have stayed with our original plan. Fortunately the next day is a shorter hike.
The villages we walked through were not very memorable, sadly. But the vistas made up for that. There are more forest covered hills in this area than we’ve seen since leaving the Pyrenees. We passed some interesting looking caves up on the rocky hillsides. Curtis made up a story that sounded very much like a Louis L’Amour book. It was a fun way to pass the time. 
Once you get away from the highway, the town is relatively nice. I like how people find way to add color and life to the stone walls and cobbled streets.
Once you get away from the highway, the town is relatively nice. I like how people find way to add color and life to the stone walls and cobbled streets.
