#11 Walking the Camino - May 2, 2016

9th day of walking

Logrono to Ventosa

Book - 11.64 miles

Map My Walk - 13.28 miles, 6 1/4 hours

Fitbit - 33,451 steps, 14.26 miles

We left Logrono at 6:15am for two reasons. One - we wanted to get out of the municiple albergue as soon as humanly possible.  It was way too crowded- too many bunks in the room, too many people breathing the same air, one guy hacking and sneezing through the night, bathrooms inadequate and two - we needed to get to Ventosa early enough to make sure we got a bed as the next town was an additional six miles away. 

Logrono at 6:15 am

The Logrono marker showing the way in the dawn light

It took us one hour and 2 1/2 miles to get to the edge of town and walk through this underpass with a great mural

And new distinctive stele markers

Into the country side

It was a beautiful walk.  Cool and not windy, through what we thought was a placeblike our state parks. 

We saw a lot of people today with just small backpacks and no distinguishing shells identifying them as peligrinos. We figured they might be day trippers on the Lanor Day weekend. Other peligrinos often have their packs transported from one town to another by one of several services. Reasons?  Blisters, bad backs, sore muscles, age, no desire to carry a pack. To prove we had our packs

Fountains along the way

A bull that I had to stop Dad from trying to chase

The countryside looks like central Oregon with acres and acres of grape vineyards

The soil is unbelievingly rocky

Piles of grape stems that need burning or grinding or something. Maybe decorative table legs?

The original pilgrim path from centuries ago had hospitals along the way. Here is a ruin from 1185

Entering the town of Navarrete we found a new logo for marking the way

And a sign showing we had travelled a total of 790 - 576 = 215 Km which is

129 miles

Navarrete is another neat hill town

Our hostel in Ventosa is delightful. Roomy, comfy, with a back yard where everyone rested in the sun and washed and dried their clothes

A perfect place to end the day.....but we still walked where windmills should be, in addition to the grapes. 

The apostles James and John were brothers and the sons of Zebeedee.  Peter with James and John were the presidency of the Twelve. James and John were called Sons of Thunder because of their enthusiasm 

James is commonly designated in theological literature as James I to distinguish him from the other younger apostle bearing the same name. 

James, son of Zebedee, was the first apostle to meet a martyrs death. He was beheaded by order of King Herod Agrippa. 

More tomorrow.......