In preparation for upcoming days that will be longer and hotter, we rose early this morning and began walking just before 7 am. We quickly left Laguardia and after a couple of turns found ourselves on a gravel road that led past one vineyard and then another and then another, on and on until we reached the town of La Puebla de Labarca. After navigating through town, we opted to stay on the more direct highway to get to the next town, instead of following the GPS off to another gravel road. We passed several more vineyards on our way, including some that appeared to grow more than just grapes, and we paused a couple of times to snap some pictures of this beautiful countryside and the grape vines that it has such an abundance of. The highway led us directly into Fuenmayor, and from there we quickly met up with the highway again, following it toward Navarrete. We passed under a major highway and then turned off our road onto a gravel one that wound us around the base of a hill and into Navarrete.
As we entered Navarrete, we joined other pilgrims, all clad with backpacks, walking sticks, and a certain level of exhaustion. We hadn't seen other pilgrims during the past week, so this was a very clear sign that we had reached the point in our route during which we would overlap paths with the Camino Santiago; however, our route will lead us in the opposite direction as these other pilgrims.
Today was pretty efficient, as we covered 17 km and reached our hotel in Navarrete by 10:30 am. Perhaps it was also a lucky day for us - not only did the hotel say we could have our room after waiting only one hour, but also there was a 1 pm mass scheduled at the church! As we waited for our room to be ready, we enjoyed a cafe con leche and a little sunshine, which is pretty awesome when you're not walking and toting a backpack :).
Following a quick shower, we found ourselves in front of the church and standing alongside a group of priests, who were themselves pilgrims on the Camino Santiago and were enjoying some lunch. Never shy, Greg approached them and learned that they are seminarians from the US...in fact, two of them are from Wisconsin! They started their camino in France and will walk almost 500 miles in total to reach Santiago de Compostela. Inside the church, we were truly impressed by the endless amounts of gold that decorate the entire altar area...in a subtle tribute to the church's location, all the pillars are decorated with vines and vines of golden grapes. We enjoyed mass, though Greg certainly understands more than Ruth, and then made our way out to find bocadillos (big sandwiches) and coke lights for lunch.
Lunch led to some rest time, which allowed Greg to tend to an aching neck/shoulder. Fortunately, our hotel bathroom included a bathtub (certainly a treat), so he was able to soak in hot water to best relax tired muscles. We also enjoyed soaking our feet and ankles in much colder water, which was a great remedy for the bit of heat rash we experienced after a morning in sweaty boots.
Before bed we had a small dinner, including a couple of pinchos and a glass of red wine...we had to support La Rioja, wine country, after all.
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