Walking The Way

Sept 18- Today I walked 24km (15 miles) from Navarette to the small village of Azofra.

I started my day at 6am in the chilly morning heading out of the beautiful village of Navarette toward the town of Azofra. Today was partially flat terrain mixed with elevation ascents throughout the day. The sunrise today was incredible with a chill in the air and a light breeze keeping all of the pilgrims walking the Camino cool throughout the day. I really couldn’t have asked for better weather. My feet feel great, and I really feel as though I’m getting in better condition physically every day.

Still in the heart of the the Rioja wine region I was surrounded by vineyards of Tempranillo, Tempranillo Blanco, and Ribera del Duero grapes. This area of Spain reminds me a lot of Napa in the way it looks.

Walking this area today has a great deal of history. During Roman times, this was the road from Italia to Hispania. Some of the most important communication networks used during the Middle Ages took advantage of these roads. And here I am walking in the very paths taken as far back as 900 AD.

Once again, I was walking through beautiful countryside filled with vineyards rich with ripe grapes with my friends from NC. For the second time since starting this walk, I came across music again and this time found a different gentleman singing traditional music of the area. Amazing how these people turn up to support the pilgrims on their journey to Santiago.

One of the most interesting locations today was a city called Nájera. Nájera was the capital city of the kingdom of Navarre until it was conquered by Castile in 1054. The environment and the land looks more like Colorado or Sedona than it does Spain. Such an odd landscape to see in the middle of the wine country.

As I walked into Azofra today, I felt a great deal of appreciation, excitement, and accomplishment. I’ve been on this path now for 13 days and have made it quite far already! My roommate tonight is a man from Italy who speaks no English. So we communicate in a lot of hand signals and Google Translator.

My thoughts: today was another lovely day walking through some incredible countryside. I walked with so many people today and met so many tonight at the pilgrims hostile. I also caught up with a couple of ladies who I met my first day in St Jean Pied de Port. It was good to see them again and share our stories so far on the Camino this evening. This single bond we all share with complete strangers from around the world is really special.