Drama during the night as lots of kids were running amok in the albergue. I got fed up and shouted “Silencio!” before closing the door. Then, this morning, more drama: as I exited the albergue, the door automatically closed behind me, locking me out. I hadn’t brought my shoes, but after a while, another pilgrim inside let me back in. I also couldn’t find my poles but later located them in the bar we had visited the day before.
We got breakfast in the same bar and headed out at 7:40. Cormac was also leaving at the same time.
It was a gradual climb out of Torres del Río. Behind us, broken clouds let shafts of sunlight break through, but ahead, heavy, threatening rain clouds loomed.
We dropped into a narrow valley, meandering down toward the bottom of a large plain, with a ridge of mountains visible in the distance. As we slowly descended, we turned and climbed out of the valley; cresting the hill, we could see Viana (2 km ahead) and, beyond that, Logroño (a further 20 km).
We stopped for food in Viana and even visited the cathedral.
Coming down out of Viana, we found ourselves walking across a very large floodplain as we approached Logroño, dominated by the river Ebro. Entering Logroño we also entered the La Rioja wine region.
All the way we were threatened by rain but we only got spat at.
We were a bit worried about finding accommodation in Logroño because it was a Saturday night and a wine festival was on.
I booked an apartment on Booking.com for five of us — Stephen, Mark, Ron, Franziska, and myself — for €52 each.
We had to wait to check in, so we stopped at a bar. Clearly, Stephen got bored and had a snooze.
The apartment was good: a great shower and loads of room. We did a large communal wash at a laundrette and bought food and drink at the supermarket for dinner. The expensive apartment was offset by cheap food — made even cheaper because Stephen, very generously, bought all the groceries. We ate, drank, and played a game Stephen organised: guessing the musician on his playlist with easy clues.
Tomorrow, Stephen heads to San Sebastián until Wednesday before flying back to Ireland and work. The rest of us continue on the Camino.
I am heading to Nájera, 27 km away, and back to albergues.
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