Day 10

This is day 10, hard to believe.  We have walked about 230 km. Two days ago we were in Najara, not a great town, a bit jaded, but as usual the Camino surprised us again. It was a public holiday and festival day in Najara, with everyone out in their best clothes for a religous procession with a  celebration of wine and food afterwards. We went into the lovely old church and on my way out an old lady took me by the hand and walked up the aisle talking to me in Spanish the whole time and although I told her I did not 'comprende', she just continued talking to me seriously and would not let me go until we reached the door where upon she smiled and wished me a buen camino.

Yesterday we deviated off the camino and walked to the monastery town of Canas to visit the Cistercian Abbey of Santa Maria, a magnificient 11th century building where nuns still reside.  It houses one of the finest sarcophagi in Spain.  This detour required walking on bitumen roads for the entire day.

Yesterday was also the first day we have missed a yellow arrow or shell marker and become lost.  We ended up on an isolated road winding through farmland and had to flag down a farmer in a tractor for help with directions.  We have found the Spanish people to be so friendly and helpful and really go out of their way to help perigrinos.

Today we are in the town of Belorado.  On our way here we passed through the town of Santo Domingo de Calzada where we paid money to climb the 70 metre bell tower of the magnificient 12th century cathederal, which is unique in that it houses a rooster and hen inside the church in a special cathederal coop. This coop relates to the story of 'the Miracle of the Cock'.

We are having the most amazing time.  We have put in a few big days, the biggest walk was 25km and boy did our feet know about it.  The track varies from cement and bitumen through the towns to dirt roads, sometimes muddy, good gravel tracks, the best to walk on, to rough stoney pathways which are real torture on the feet. We all have tired aching feet now and are planning to have a rest day in Burgos in a few days time.

The churches here are incredible and the local people have a very strong Catholic faith.  In the larger villages the church is open every evening and they celebrate mass, sometimes a pilgrims mass. We attended one and it was really lovely.  Spanish chuches are so different due to the baroque decorations and artwork inside, lots of gold and statues, a bit gaudy really, but still amazing.

The temperature is still quite cool.  It's very cold some days and we have walked for several hours in very cold drizzling rain on two ocasions.  Other days have been sunny with clear blue skies and warm afternoons.  There are still traces of snow on the higher distant mountains.

Sometimes the food  is a bit dissappointing. They put on these set pilgrim menues so you have to take what is on offer which is not always great. They can do amazing things with eggs though, omlettes, tortillas, and the bread is also amazing, baguettes just like in France.  Eggs, bread, ham, cheese, and a good choice of fruit are the stable for breakfast and lunch.  We get up at 6am and get going by around 7am and try to walk for several km before reaching a village where we have coffee, eggs and bread.  We then eat some fruit along the way, then buy a ham and cheese baguette for lunch.  (The ham products here are amazing, like in France).