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Day 4: Viana

So now we've walked all the way to Viana -- well, mostly walked. We did take a taxi yesterday from Monjardin to Los Arcos because I would have died if I walked one more kilometer.

Days without injury: 4

However, please note: We did walk 12 kilometers yesterday anyway, even with the taxi ride.

And note: During the taxi ride (which lasted about 15 minutes), the driver chatted with us about the Camino. His advice? "Start slow, don't do more than 10 kilometers the first days." Ha, well, nice to know, now that we did 56 kilometers the first three days. (Sorry, within hours of starting on the Camino, you become obsessed with mileage.)

Ugh, my feet hate me.

Today we've walked from Los Arcos to Viana, 18.4 kilometers according to Gina's guidebook, "Hiking the Camino de Santiago," which has slight variations from MY guidebook, "A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago," by John Brierley. Every day we compare the notes and directions in each book - it seems that the Brierley book indicates elevation much more explicitly. Sigh. I had not paid attention to the fact that there are HILLS.

One treat as we left Estella yesterday morning was stopping by the wine fountain. It's provided by the local community for the pilgrims -- a nearby sign asks folks not to take more than their share as there's only about 30 liters a day.

On Wednesday night (last night) we stayed at Casa de la Abuela, a fine albergue, though we were in a dorm room with a family with three teenagers who liked to watch videos on their phone. Could be worse! But perhaps that's why the wifi was so bad -- I didn't blog yesterday because the signal at Casa de la Abuela was too weak for the iPad.

We had dinner with several other guests -- all from the U.S. at our table; the other table was all Italians -- and then attended the evening Mass at the nearby church, Santa Maria, which is super old of course. After Mass, the old folks who appear to be locals insisted that we stay up at the front near the altar, so we stood in a group with other pelegrinos so that the priest could give us a blessing. They do this every evening -- it's a special gift from that church community.

Tonight we are sleeping on mats on the floor of the parish of the Assumption in Viana ... I think I will be tired enough to take it.

The views continue to be stunning. Well, today was actually less stunning, if that's possible, though still beautiful by most measures. Lots of vineyards. Acres and acres of grape fields. Lots of sun today, too.

Yesterday was dedicated to Tony Coode on the occasion of his 41st birthday, and today is dedicated to Helen Hassett Shaw on the occasion of her birthday.















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Comments

  1. UnknownJune 7, 2018 at 11:09 AM

    Loving this blog, thanks for keeping it updated, tired as you may be. (It gets better?)
    (This is Hank, btw)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CoodeIndigoJune 10, 2018 at 4:55 PM

      Hi ... So tired. Not better yet. Hopefully at some point. : )

      Delete
  2. UnknownJune 29, 2018 at 12:46 AM

    I drank out of that wine fountain!

    ReplyDelete

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