Stage 8 - a very long walk

The walk from Logrono to Najera is a very long one - some 30 km.  After the beautiful sunny afternoon and evening of the day before, today started out cold,misty, drizzly, and then the rain began as we trudged on.  As we left the outskirts of Logrono, the wind picked up making the rain ponchos rustle even more.  About 5kms outside Logrono is a nature park and reservoir.  I am sure that in the sunshine it is beautiful, but today it looked grey and tired. We walked along past the fishermen huddling under their umbrellas, and came to the Cafe del Tio Juarvi - an oasis of dry, with clean facilities.  Time for coffee,but not second breakfast.!  

As we were about to leave, a fellow walker let out an expletive,and was obviously upset.  She couldn't find her phone, and had unpacked everything looking for it.  She had left it in the albergue/pension in Logrono, 5 km back.  Acting as an interpreter, I liaised with the bar owner to call the number to try to locate it.  Then I liaised again to call the albergue to see if it had been found.  Knowing that we still had 25 km to go, I did not want to stop for too long, so as we moved on, I wished her luck and thanked the barman for his help.

In the next town we stopped for second breakfast, and I looked for a shop to buy bread and filling for lunch.  There was nothing on the way, and I didn't to go too far off route. I went back and got the boys, hoping that we would pass by a shop on the way out of the town.  No such luck.  The rain had eased off, and walking was easier, but it was still a long way without food, so we took the detour and went into the next village.  There we found a bar and settled  down for Serrano ham sandwiches, knowing that wee still had just over 11 km to go.  

The walk on to Najera was pleasant enough, through more vineyards , but Najera itself is not a pretty town, and the outer edges, before we got to the old town, were decidedly scruffy.  Also, as it was siesta time everything was shut.  We finally got to the bridge to turn to the albergue ( which was clearly marked) and were accosted by a kid trying to direct us/lead us there and push a certain restaurant.  He tried Spanish, French, German, and English as I tried to ignore him.  The albergue was small and cramped, but the volunteer worker was friendly and we checked in.  I gathered up the wet clothes from yesterday,and today's dirty things and goth them in one forth the washing machine.   The boys went to sleep. 

There were several groups of people we had previously met and because of the location, I decided to find a shop and cook our evening meal ... Big mistake.  The supermarket was at least 1 km back, the kitchen and most of the utensils and plates were monopolized by another family, I was also trying to do  laundry and not fall asleep.  Needless to say, I had a bit of a meltdown.  An unnecessary comment and a false apology pushed me over the edge.  I went to bed early and then kept others awake with my snoring.  Payback can be such a .... at times!