Stage 3: Logroño to Burgos

Via Najera, Santo Domingo De La Calzada, Belorado and

San Juan De Ortega

120 km

On reaching Logroño it was time for a much-needed rest day. It had been a fairly long walk to our destination that day (28km) and the walking from the previous few days was beginning to catch up with me. I was looking forward to a day of some down-time. Just before entering Logroño we'd left the Navarre region behind us and had entered wine territory - the Rioja region, which lasted almost until the end of the stage just before Burgos. Much of the walking was through acres and acres of vineyards; vines with tiny grapes growing, as far as the eye could see. And red, very red soil due to its high iron content. Here we met with the Ebro, the second longest river in Spain at 930km. In the previous 2 stages of walking we had experienced numerous ascents and descents (some quite steep and challenging) during each day's walk, but from Logroño onwards although there were some inclines these tended to be more gentle and much of the walking was over flatter terrain.

This was the stage when routine kicked in. Days began to start, continue and finish in a similar way. The alarm would go off at 5am and we tried to be up and out of the door to start walking by 6am, in the dark with our head torches on. If you've read previous posts, then you'll be aware that I'm a morning person and like nothing better than to be up and out of the door before anyone else, to enjoy the peace and quiet and to see the sun rise. I'm usually alone in this approach, but not so on the Camino. I couldn't help but feel a slight sense of disappointment and maybe even a little resentment during the first few days when, once on the path first thing, others had beaten me to it and were already ahead of me.

Not only that, they were walking much more quickly than me. I just had to accept that there are others out there who enjoy the early mornings just as much as I do. I love watching sunrises and felt quite privileged each morning watching the day break over the picturesque landscape we were walking through on that day. One thing I did have to remember on a daily basis was to look behind me to see the sun coming up, since we were generally heading West on our day's walk with the sunrises taking place behind us.

We wouldn't eat breakfast, but would start walking straight away. Usually around 2 hours into our walk we'd stop for a hot drink and breakfast, which for me consisted of tea (if it was available) plus a croissant and a bad habit I've got into is also eating a slice of nice spongy Spanish cake that often tastes a bit lemony. We'd head off again and complete our walk (sometimes having a second stop for another hot drink) around early afternoon. We'd find our accommodation and often I would crash straight out after I'd eaten a quick sandwich for lunch and maybe sleep for a couple of hours. Next a shower and then we'd head out to find a shop for two things: lunch for the next day and dinner for that evening, assuming we weren't eating one of the Pilgrim/Peregrino Menus on offer in the town/village or eating the albergue communal dinner on offer. The remainder of the day would involve relaxing: chatting to other pilgrims, looking around our destination for that day, reading, blog-writing and of course the essential clothes-washing. Bed-time was early and always very welcome, around 9/9:30pm. One thing I did learn to do quite quickly was to listen to my body. I generally tried to take a break from walking when I felt I needed one, ate when I was hungry and slept when I needed to once our walk was finished for the day. Apart from the fact I was measuring my walks every day on my watch, I could easily have taken this off as the time of day is almost irrelevant once you're walking.

I've never really done enough exercise or kept fit with any regularity to really feel the physical benefits or notice a real difference. I'm delighted to say that a week or so into walking the Camino I did begin to feel a change. I have never enjoyed walking up-hill. I know this sounds ridiculous given that I live in the mountains but no matter how much I do it, I don't seem to ever enjoy it. That said, I'll always be pleased once I reach a summit with a good view and feel a real sense of achievement once I look back at how far I've walked, but I don't find the process an enjoyable one, having to stop for lots of breaks and always seeming to run out of breathe. However, I suddenly noticed one day that I was just continuing to walk further distances up-hill without feeling the need to stop. Not only that, but I was moving more purposely and with more strength than before. Usually I drag my feet, they feel like lead, and each step is a difficult one. I wouldn't say I was super-speedy and skipping up those inclines, but I did notice a marked difference.

As well as seeing physical changes, I also began to see some changes in the way that I thought. I think I mentioned previously that towards the beginning I kept thinking about Santiago de Compostela as our destination and the number of kilometres we would need to cover in order to get there. These thoughts were overwhelming, and to be honest quite demotivating, so I had to tell myself to only focus on today and to meet the challenge of completing that particular section. As an over-thinker/worrier I have a good friend who once advised me to "stop thinking about the X,Y,Z and focus on the A,B,C". My mantra quickly became: be present, live in the moment and focus on the here and now. One thing I had been advised beforehand is that you need to walk at your own pace and not to feel pressurised to walk any faster. This is quite difficult in the early days, because if you get engaged in a conversation with someone who walks faster than you and you want to continue chatting, it's really hard not to want to keep up with them. However, I had heard too many stories of people who had pushed themselves too much in the early days of walking, only to find they had burnt themselves out and couldn't continue. So, walk at my own pace I did, which sometimes meant walking alone but not often. Since I am very slow when walking up-hill I also kept telling myself "slow and steady wins the race". The Camino isn't a race but it just reinforced that I needed (again) to listen to my own body and walk at a pace that was comfortable and right for me. The Camino is a wonderful balance of walking on your own if you choose to, but if you do want to interact with others there is usually someone around to talk to, even if just for a few moments. Others you meet, you spend the whole day with, including the evening and sharing dinner as they may well be staying in the same albergue in the same village as you that night.

One recommendation I was given before walking was to leave my phone, watch and AirPods at home. Well sorry, but that was never going to happen. I wanted to use my phone to take photos and my watch to measure my distance walking. My AirPods I knew I would definitely use when the going got tough and I needed to distract myself from the physical effort by focusing on some music or listening to a podcast. During all the walking I did in training for the Camino I was almost always listening to something to keep me going, if I was walking alone. However, I noticed very early on (and can still say the same thing 3 weeks into walking) that I have had no desire whatsoever to plug into anything else. There is something about this walk, which is hard to put into words, which completely engages you; whether it's talking to other people or just taking in your surroundings. It felt like I would be 'missing out' or too much would 'pass me by' if I was concentrating on anything other than my immediate environment. This came as a complete revelation to me.

This section of the walk was also characterised by a very dramatic change in the weather, again which I hadn't expected. From walking in temperatures in the higher 20s, it suddenly fell to around highs of 12-14 degrees during the day and leaving early in the morning could be as low as 4-6 degrees. I had contemplated not taking gloves with me but found myself using these first thing in the morning and often well into the day. And the wind! It was extremely windy along stretches, and a chilly wind at that. During this stage I often wore three layers all day as it didn't get warm enough to allow me to shed any of them. That said, it was dry, clear and pretty sunny. We did experience a short rain shower just as we arrived in Logroño but haven't seen any rain since. So, in a way these were good conditions to walk in, albeit a little colder than expected. On stretches where the Camino is quite exposed, with not very much shade/shelter, I was pleased that the days hadn't been too hot and sunny as I suspect that I would have found this much more physically demanding.

Something else I quickly noticed was how much of an assault on the senses walking into a main town or city became. Having had days out in nature only passing through small villages, I found the noise, traffic, people and busyness quite a challenge. Although enjoying our rest days in larger places, a big part of me couldn't wait to get walking again to be out in the peace, quiet and relative tranquility that is the Camino.

The Coronation of King Charles III had pretty much passed us by during our walk, but it was great to see him on the front cover of the Spanish Hello magazine whilst food shopping in a supermarket in Logroño one afternoon.

I did also hear a piece of good news on this stretch of our walk. The film 'The Way' (which initially inspired me to walk) has just been re-released in the US and this autumn filming is due to start on a sequel. Something to look forward to and I hope I find it every bit as engaging (if not more) as the first movie. And the even better news during this stage of the walk . . . . still no blisters!

Logroño:

Logroño to Najera:

Najera to Santo Domingo De La Calzada:

Santo Domingo De La Calzada to Belorado:

Belorado to San Juan De Ortega:

San Juan De Ortega to Burgos: