Keep Calm and Camino On

So our feet feel about ready to fall off, but we are doing well.  We are apparently becoming a bit famous.  Kepa gets his picture taken 7 to 12 times a day (not exaggerating), and upon arriving at one town an Australian woman came running at us all excited yelling ¨finally I get to see the baby!  I´ve been hearing about him for days!¨.  I find it ironic that we have become this famous, because children on the Camino aren´t actually all that rare, but they are just rare enough that we are the only people in our group (basically you keep re-meeting the same people who are within the range of 20 km before or after you, day after day) so we are a novelty to our group.  We have heard, through the grapevine, that other children are currently on the route.  Apparently there is a four month old two or three weeks ahead of us (that shocked even me).  Also a family of 2 adults and 3 children ranging in ages from 2 to 11, accompanied by 3 donkeys, apparently has finised the Camino Norte and is currently walking back (!!!!) on the Camino Frances.  I think they may already be North of us, but if not then we may pass them.  The Spanish guidebook has an entire section on traveling with children, and none of the people running the places to stay have been the least bit shocked (though many of them have been very, very helpful and tried to help us book reservations a day or two ahead).....and most of the Spaniards are excited to see a baby (see the previous post about the Spanish obsession with babies....which has proven to be even more extreme than we joked about), but not too particularly "phased".  The Americans, Japanese, Brasilians, Aussies, Brits, and others, however, apparently find us to be QUITE the novelty.  I´m sure Kepa is now all over stranger´s Facebook pages now.

The Camino has proven quite tiring on our bodies, especially considering our expectations seeing as we walk 4 miles every day, and have been taking practice walks for up to 16.  Apparently you can´t replecate a mountain nor an uneven Roman road.  That said, in spite of the sore bodies, we are having the time of our lives.   Kepa´s mama thing is continuing (though worst at night when tired), but otherwise he is crazy happy.  In fact that seems to be what shocks the other peregrinos the most.....how happy he seems all of the time.  It makes me want to ask, do you think we would have tried this with a baby who wasn´t so easy going and laid back?  I wouldn´t have, that is for sure!

May 24 Estella to Torres del Rio (29.1 km)

Long, long day.  We took the high road (by choice) and it paid off.  Yes it was more climbing but it cut off a 1.5 km, and it also was a more gentle climb over soft dirt paths under the shade of a forest.  Everyone we know who took the lower route took longer and looked more tired.  After climbing that mountain it was a long descent through a pretty city called Los Arcos, then on to Torres Del Rio......a tiny medieval town on a tall hill above a river.  It´s name means Towers on the River.  The town had 2 hotels and 1 bar, but we had a really good time. Very memorable.

There are public water fountains provided everywhere on the Camino, but just outside
of Estella there is a particularly unique one.....the spout on the right is water indeed, but the
spout on the left is vino tinto, or red wine.  A sign to the right asks you not to fill takeaway bottles
with the wine, so Brittany had to improvise.

A beautiful day coming off the mountain in Monjardin

May 25 Torres Del Rio to Logrono (La Rioja) (20.1 km)

Today we left the Basque region crossing into the great wine region La Rioja (see our post on Places We´´ll Go, Things We´ll See).  Shorter, but our most tiring day yet.  Logrono is beautiful but very sleek and modern.  Logrono,as well as most of Rioja, was pretty well bombed out in the Spanish Civil War. Logronians had the money to rebuild pretty, but still rebuilt.

We saw a rainbow as the sun started to drive away the morning rain.

In Viana we happened to be there for a Basque festival.  Lots of
boys and girls in traditional Navarese dress.  Bands too.  Purty cool!

May 26 Logrono to Najera (29.4 km)

The opening 10 km was around a beautiful lake.  Then 10 killer km across an open wine desert.  But then a beautiful 10 km over a small mountain and descending to the rivertown of Najera (pretty next to the river, dirty otherwise.....whole spanish civil war meets poor area type of thing).  We stopped at a lovely bar for sandwhiches and cerveza before the final 10 km.  After the killer day we broke down and ate pizza in Najera.  We rarely eat inauthentic while in Europe, but after 30 km we NEEDED it :)

This man walked with his self-built pull cart starting from his home in Italy.  He speaks no English
but we saw him and conversed with him most every morning for a week, then he disapeared. He either got out
ahead of us or fell behind us.  Hopefully he didn't have to abandon.  I'm very skeptical of carts for the Camino, but
this was the most practical and best built one we saw.  If any could make it, this could.

Rioja is COVERED with wine regions, in the flats and the mountains alike.

May 27 Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada (21 km---supposedly)

We awoke to drizzle, checked the weather app, and thought we had a chance to chase some sun.  Kepa was well covered (we have a whole thing to cover his pack, plus his rain jacket) but the plan didn´t work out so well for the rest of us.  In the first 6 km the drizzle turned to downpour and all of the adults got drenched even in our raingear.  We took shelter in a cafe in Azofra (pretty, tiny town), drank hot chocolates, ate, warmed up, and then took a taxi to Santo Domingo de la Calzado.  We feel like we were cheating a bit, but we just didn´t want to do anything stupid with a baby.  And I don´t think St. James will blame us for 9 little miles :) :)   Now in Santo Domingo, sun now shining (of course), doing laundry and about to go see the chickens!!!!!

Walking toward Santo Domingo de la Calzada (before the rain)

Kepa finds this all very exhausting

The square in Santo Domingo

On the left you can see the inside of the cathedral,
the live chickens are in the bright area to the left.
Above you see our chocolate chicken.  Yum!