Jimandi

Walked today: 7.9 mi. Camino’26: 65 mi.

The following is a photo story of our walk today from Logroño to Navarrete:

We were able to check in as soon as we arrived at 11:30. After the nearly 8-mile walk without a break, we got breakfast at the bar in the village square, then returned to our room for a a much needed R&R.

By 1:30, we had recovered sufficiently well to head out again to a favorite local restaurant only a few steps from our room. We relaxed somewhat further while savoring some of the local culinary offerings and wine (unlabeled).

On the way back to our room, we noticed the open door at the Iglesia de la Asuncíon. Construction of this church was begun in 1523 and its altar, considered one of the largest in the world, was completed in 1698. So, we went inside.

Known for having one of the most impressive Baroque retablos in Spain, we have been dazzled on previous caminos by visiting this remarkably golden masterpiece and the spiritually moving impact it can have.

Clearly moved by the magnificant display we walked back to our hostal room and retired for the day.

Around 5:00, Linda mentioned that Navarrete was known for its, wine, mushrooms and excellent clay pottery. We have confirmed the wine on multiple occasions and the clay pottery was nice but too heavy, awkward and fragile to take with us. Although Linda had enjoyed the mushrooms on previous visits, Jim could not recall having done so.

So, Jim hurried out while a nearby eatery was still open and sampled the famous mushrooms and was pleasantly surprised.

So, Jim once again retired to our room fully sated on Navarrete specialties and looking back thankfully on another nice day on the Camino Frances.

Walked today: 6.7mi. Camino’26: 57mi.

We left our Viana hostal at 7:35 at a cool 52F and followed the yellow arrows out of the town on a path that snaked its way among literally “garden residences” that appeared to be either primary or secondary.

We eventually cleared the garden area and walked on paved, lightly traveled roads for a mile or so.

The path became dirt again as we began walking through grain fields recently mowed and baled while others were still growing. Vineyards were scattered throughout and became more dominant the longer we walked.

We continued along the camino into Logroño on the way to our hostal. As we neared our destination, we stopped for breakfast at 10:30.

After we got settled into our new temporary home and only partway through our chores, we ventured back out for our main meal, in spite of finishing breakfast only a couple of hours earlier.

After lunch we retreated to our room and resumed chores, including napping, before returning to Plaza del Mercado, near our lunch spot to visit the Iglesia de Santa Maria la Redonda.

At lunch, we discovered the church was opening for visitors at 5:00. In our previous seven caminos we have never had the opportunity to visit it.

We both enjoyed the walk today, in large part, due to the cool temperature and also because our bodies are continuing to adapt to the routine and also, probably, getting stronger.

Walked today: 5.5mi. Camino’26: 50mi.

Just before entering Sansol, we stopped at a small, modern albergue/bar that we had frequented prior to the pandemic. From 2022 through apparently two weeks ago, it has been abandoned. Today we stopped for our routine breakfast. Jim was so excited seeing this oasis (the services in Sansol are nil) open again and congratulating the new owners, that he forgot to take a photo! We did purchase a few extra items though, before walking on, to improve the cash flow of this new camino enterprise.

We walked on past Sansol (pop.112), as usual, to the nearby village of Torres del Río (pop.156).

We stopped for a second breakfast at Hostal/Albergue in Torres del Río to wait for the 11:30 bus to Viana.

We’re skipping the 7 mile section between Torres del Río and Viana. Otherwise we would have to walk more than 12 miles today, which is beyond our self-imposed limit.

We boarded the on-time bus at 11:30 after each paying the 1.50€ fare.

We arrived at Viana 12 minutes later, walked to our Hostal in another 5 minutes and were able to check-in to our room immediately.

After getting settled we had our main meal in the hostal dining room and by 2:00 we were nested in our room, performing our routine chores.

Later in the afternoon, after a short nap, Jim received notification that our grandson, Braden was playing a professional tennis match in Texas. So, we watched him win his singles match, on live, streaming video on Jim’s iphone via the ATP-WTA app. from our hotel room in Spain! Congrats, Braden! Good luck in tomorrow’s match.

After a brief celebration, we resumed our pilgrim roles, with remaining daily chores before retiring for another fun day on Camino2026.

Walked today: 8.1 mi. Camino’26: 45 mi.

Most of today’s walk was through a valley of grain fields and some scattered vineyards and olive orchards and a small field of asparagus near the end.

Although the scenery was beautiful at first, it went on and on, seemingly forever by the time we got within a mile of Los Arcos.

A lack of shade and the monotony of the long, straight paths has always made this section a challenge for us. And for each of our previous caminos, we dragged ourselves the final mile or so to the Los Arcos village square where we collapsed into a terrace chair and ordered breakfast at a nearby bar. Today, our 8th effort was no different.

We had our main meal at our favorite restaurant in Los Arcos, Restaurant MAVI.

Inspite of the difficult walk into Los Arcos, it’s a favorite because of the church, the restaurant and its interesting history.

At the crossroads of two ancient trade routes, Los Arcos was once a Roman City (Curnonium). It’s current name originates from a battle in 914 when three Sanchos ( kings of Navarra, Castilla and Aragon) fought over the town. The Navarran army won with the help of their excellent archers, therefore the coat of arms of the city contains bows (arcos) and arrows.

After a tasty meal, we retired to our room at Hostal Suexte, did daily chores, napped and blogged, until bedtime.

Walked today: 5.2 mi. Camino’26: 37 mi.

The road off to the left on previous caminos was a mere wash, less than a couple of feet wide, steep, with deep gullies from years of erosion. Today, the wash had been widened to farm road width and smoothed out, making the remaining ascent into Villamayor de Monjardin much easier, inspite of the incline.

A trend seems to be developing that efforts have been underway since Camino2025, to upgrade some of the more difficult sections of the Camino Frances, perhaps in preparation for 2027, a Holy Year, when the Camino Frances traffic can double or triple.

In exchange for starting early and walking in the cool early morning air, we arrived at our destination at 10:10 a.m. with a checkin time of 2:00!

So, we messaged our host, advising of early arrival and requested an ASAP checkin in.

In the meantime, we perched outside of a newly opened luxury hotel, Mirador de Deyo, and ordered two Cola Cao’s to claim a table and chairs and to justify our use of the restrooms, as needed, during our wait.

To occupy the time, we got reacquainted with the landmarks of this village with 129 residents.

The Castillo de San Esteban de Deyo was a strategic stronghold during Roman occupation and was held against the Moors by Sancho I, the first king of Navarre, who was buried there in 925AD. We opted out of walking up to the ruins of the Castillo. Even today, it has a dominant place atop Mount Garcia, just behind our apartment,

The 12 century Iglesia de San Andês contains a processional silver cross from the year 1800. It has rately been opened during previous visits but fortunately was open for a hour while we waited for our room,

Our room was ready at 12:30, so we immediately took possession and followed our routines for the afternoon. With a kitchen, and stocked provisions, had ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch and pasta & tuna for dinner. A nice bottle of Castillo Monjardin Crianza wine was enjoyed throughout the day.

The combination of cool early morning air during the walk, improvements in the path and the comfort of Markiola accommodations made for a very enjoyable day on the Camino Frances!

Walked today: 8.0mi. Camino’26: 32mi.

After walking an hour we reached Villatuerta, a favorite stopping place for breakfast.

Leaving Villatuerta we rejoined the dirt path toward Estella. After passing through a small park and some water diverting/locks used for flood control, we continued on a rather boring stretch of dirt road that winds through some chemical factories and other industrial buildings hidden in part by trees and undergrowth.

Just after a hundred yards of walking, a local guy emerged, having climbed from another path feeding into ours from below. He greeted us and although we didn’t understand a word he was saying, his gestures seemed to indicate that the path he had come from was better and encouraged us to take it.

After walking this way previously, 7 times over the past 12 years, we thanked the gentleman, looked at each other, threw caution to the wind and headed down to the path from whence our benefactor had emerged.

Soon after joining the new path, we encountered an occasional jogger, 2 dog walking couples and one cyclist. The tree canopied trail was shaded, unlike the path above. There was also a prevalent, refreshing breeze augmented by the river which became visible to us occasionally as we walked.

After our leisure meal, it was getting close to checkin at our hostel which is on the outskirts of Estella in the direction of tomorrow’s destination.

We normally stay near the San Juan Bautista Plaza but we were unable to reserve a preferred accommodation. So we opted to find a place on the way out of Estella to shorten our walk the following day.

Unfortunately, on our way to the new location, we walked past it, due to the notoriously inaccurate Booking.com directions, and added an extra mile to today’s walking, eventually making our way back to our hostal.

One of the reasons for picking the hostal was its proximity to a Lidl grocery store and a Decathlon sporting goods store… in the event that we might need some unforeseen provisions for Camino2026.

As it turns out… other than bottled water and a few drinks and snacks were all that we needed.

A late checkin, a visit to Lidl and routine chores filled the rest of our day.

Today’s walk (with the exception the miscue searching for our hostal) seemed easier and more enjoyable, than on past Caminos, perhaps due to the discovery of the “river walk”.