Walked today: 6.7 mi Camino2023: 93.1 mi
Our walk this morning was almost totally surrounded by vineyards. Other than the relatively short, rocky ascent to Alto de San Anton, the walk was not a challenge for us.
According to legend, the large open field between Nájera and the nearby village of Alesón is the location where the French knight, Roldán and the Syrian giant (9ft tall, 440 lbs) Ferragut did battle to decide whether the Christians or the Moors would rule this part of Spain. It also allowed the French army under Charlemagne to move on to Santiago. Roland prevailed by stabbing the giant in belly button, his legendary weak spot, and went on to become known as the best warrior of Christianity.
We stopped for breakfast on the way into Nájera about 9:30 and texted the apartment we had reserved and were told we could not check-in before noon.
When making our reservations back in April, most of the previous places we had stayed in Nájera were all booked. None of them were that appealing anyway, so we opted for an apartment instead. It turns out that this morning we were eating breakfast only two blocks from the apartment.
To make use of our wait time, we scouted out the immediate area, searching for a grocery store. We found one and did a walk through, planning our lunch, dinner and snack requirements for the day, anticipating that the apartment would have a fully equipped kitchen.
We finally were admitted to the apartment at noon and after a quick inspection of kitchen equipment and any other supplies available, Jim walked to the nearby supermarket with our shopping list. He was also equipped with his prized purchase from Biarritz, over 2 weeks ago, a heavy duty shopping bag.
The shopping bag has already served us well so far on Camino2023, whenever we made purchases that were too awkward to carry in hands or arms, or pockets, like wine, bottled water, multiple small items for snacks, etc.
Jim returned shortly with a full shopping bag and we were all set with fixings for lunch, dinner and a snack sandwich for the walk tomorrow.
The rest of the day was spent napping and cooking and eating.
Tomorrow will be a long walk, so we’ll get to sleep early.
Jimandi 