Not Counting Chickens But..Getting My Mojo

Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada – 21.3kms

Alarm went off at 6am, waking me from one of my weird-ass dreams that involved an epidemic where people had blood streaming out their noses and all falling to the floor before turning into a Grey’s Anatomy episode. Somehow I was out the door 30mins later.

I was getting my pack carried again today, but it would be a 21km day, so it would be interesting to see how I would go.

As we started, the rain started coming down, despite the forecast saying no rain. Clearly the weather is like the rest of Spain – up for interpretation!

It started getting heavier, so we stopped to put rain gear on, which of course made the rain stop a few minutes later and cause us to feel like we were in a sauna.

There was very little to see at this time of the morning other than the bobbing of headlights from other pilgrims.

Soon though, the light starts to lift and the views are just magical.

We hit the first town Azofra and had to stop for Cafe con Leche and a croissant. Here, we ran into Steven from Ireland who is walking the Camino with his dog Holly. We have crossed paths with them a few times and it seems so have others. Everyone is delighted to see Holly. I think Steven is used to playing second fiddle to her.

A quick message with Irish found that she was only a town ahead of us. I think she may have reverted back to her later starts without BC and I moving her at 6:30am.

For the first time, once we started moving, we actually felt cold while walking and had to put our jackets on. It was lovely walking in the cool weather.

While most of the walk was flat, there were some inclines that were described as being “imperceptible.” Unless you had your eyes open!

One hill had a gradual climb, that never seemed to end. By the time we reached the top, we practically fell into the lovely rest area that was set up, complete with concrete seats.

Lying back on these chairs was heavenly, from the cold concrete cooling our feet to the incredible view across the mountains. We actually weren’t that far from the next village, but that stop was worth every minute.

Irish had advised us to stop at Bar Jacoba in Ciruena (she failed to mention it was 800mtrs off route), so along with every other pilgrim, we did. I had a fabulous vegetable Paella though, so totally worth the detour.

While we were there, there was a little elderly Spanish man eating what looked like a potato Tortilla with a capsicum salsa on top. I smiled at him as I was going past and made the charade of his meal looking delicious. He made charades back inviting me to share it. I smiled and declined, but it was the sweetest thing ever!

I had a bit more spring in my step, so we were moving pretty quickly. The landscape was incredible, wide sown fields, red clay fields and grassy coverings.

Santo Domingo eventually materialised, though the cathedral seemed to keep moving further away. My feet though are feeling pretty good. Second day I have walked into town rather thsn hobbling.

We are staying in Casa de la Cofradía del Santo, with 14 other beds in our room. Do not have positive thoughts on how much sleep I’ll get. 😐

It’s a lovely place though. Chickens are a prominent thing here due to a legend that a pilgrim couple and their son arrived into the village and the innkeeper’s daughter was quite taken with the son. Being devout, he thwarted her advances.

Furious, (woman scorned thing) she hid a silver goblet in his bag and accused him of being a thief. He was condemned to hang, but thanks to Santo Domingo, he was found still alive. The parents rushed to the sheriff who was sitting down to eat dinner.

Hearing their story, he announced their son was no more alive than the chicken he was about to eat upon which the chicken jumped up and flapped its wings. The sheriff raced to the boy and cut him down, hence the prevalence of chickens.

So, I’m liking my chances of a decent night sleep even less. It’s 8:45pm (way past my bedtime) and the light was off and dark in the room. A Chinese group came in and started talking really loudly. Ok, earplugs in. Then a woman walked in and simply turned the light on, which blared straight into my face, put something in her bag and walked out and left the light on!

The Camino is definitely like a baby, sleep when you can.