Navarre to Azofra

24.4 km or 15.25 miles
Up 258 m & Down 256 m

Today our walk took us through acres and acres of vines. We are now in the heart of the Rioja region, Rioja being one of Spain's finest wines. All the vines are weighed down with grapes. As we walked we saw pickers in the fields, and under the vines were cut grapes, waiting we think, to be picked up. In the late afternoon I spotted another crop, which seemed a bit out of place in Spain, it was a small field of sugar beet.

We passed through the town of Najera, stopping for a coke, before going down to the river to eat our lunch. We then continued onto to our final destination of Azofra where we booked into the municipal hostal which had rooms for two people, rather than the usual multi-bed dorms.

Today was a shorter day for us. This gave us the opportunity to wash clothes in a machine. We were also able to catch up on the blog.

We also caught up with various people we have met on the trail who we had not seen for a few days. Including Mike and Joan the Australian who we met at Orisson in France, who had detoured to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim. We also met up again with Sky and Charlie, an American couple who started in Toulouse on the Arles route. Whilst they walk Sky and Charlie are also doing a photo-scavenger hunt to raise money for "Esperanca" a global medical charity. To have a look at what they are up to go to www.caminodeskyeandcharlie.com. We also met up again with two American ladies from Manchester, Vermont who we had met at the Dutch hostal s few days ago.

As we wandered through the village of Azofra in the early evening we saw a garage with a farm trailer with it's wheels chocked up on one side. At the back corner a man and women were collecting grape juice as it ran out of the trailer. A little while later we passed again and two men were in the trailer treading down the grapes to get more juice our. The last time we passed we got lightly sprayed with the pressure washer they were using to clean down the trailer.

All in all, it was a nice day's walk and a good evening.

On the Camino in Spain