Day 9 Navarrete – Nejara Take a load off

A night in a hotel will do wonders. A full 8 hours sleep and breakfast will help lighten any journey. I sent my pack on to Nejara today, so I could give my knee a rest and it worked wonders.

It was a glorious day today, sunny light breeze, easy rolling hills, up is better than down at the moment, but the walk started as I expected. Sore.

i spent the first couple of kms trying not to hurt the joint any more. More than once it crossed my mind what happens if it doesn’t get better, what will I do, what about Kate? What about the remainder of the journey. But once the Ibuprofen kicked in at about the 4km mark, we were starting to cook with gas. Steady pace, with no weight was excellent. I passed a fellow pilgrim, Ashley from the U.S. But lives in Puerto Rico sitting under an olive tree meditating and doing some breathing meditation which she swears by. She did look quite serene, and although tempted to take a photo I resisted. The countryside was lovely. Walking  through vineyards down country lanes. Just on my own was wonderful.

it was a relatively short walk today. I was passed by many people as I slow walked into Nejara, maintaining my objective of preserving the knee and allowing it to slowly improve during he next day or two. One guy who passed my, Donal, a lawyer from Ireland I met when I arrived and had a beer with down by the river at a tapas bar. All very civilized. He had just started his Camino from Logrono and is walking over the next couple of weeks to Leon, when he will head home. He is doing it at a section at a time each year and will come back next year to finish it. So there are many ways to do your Camino.

So now off to go to the monestary, look through the museum and pop into the cathedral, find dinner, some other pilgrims and an early nights sleep.

i saw this beehive hut on the way into Nejara.

Thanks Chris k….

PW – 29k steps only today