A great breakfast again – our accommodation was bit tired but the staff were so friendly and helpful we couldn’t help but leave in good spirits!
Nájera is in a steep valley with Pilbara coloured cliffs to the west – but the soft clay of the Rioja region rather than the rocky hills of the Pilbara. It’s main claim to fame is the Monasterio Santa María de La Real and otherwise is a pretty worn out looking town, as many are starting to be as we move west. Peregrinos seem to be their main business and you can’t help but think that changing some customs (like starting dinner before eight, or eight-thirty as ours is tonight) would help bring more money into the villages.
Nevertheless, today was a great day’s walk, on good paths through vineyards bursting with fruit in the morning and gradually changing through the day to grain and sunflowers as we reach the western edge of the Rioja region. We were also able to make better time due to a combination of Alison’s blisters getting better, much cooler weather in the afternoon and very good roads, although the latter deteriorated as we got closer to Santo Domingo.
We stopped for a coffee in the small village of Azofra and headed towards Cirueña for lunch. Unfortunately the restaurant at the golf club, which welcomes peregrinos, did not start lunch until 1:30pm (by which time most walkers will have long passed!) and the only other place in town, Bar Jacobeo, was closed on Wednesdays. We settled for a break with some nuts and a protein bar to keep us going and reached Santo Domingo by about 2:45pm, in plenty of time for a late salad and a couple of beers!
Our accommodation tonight is in a parador, a very nice hotel set within an old building, in this case an old convent.
22kms of good walking today for a total of 213km and so far and the route is here.
steelewalking 