Albergue at Granon May 17 Supplemental

 

 

Date Post Added: May 18 with only 3 pictures

More pictures added on May 21

The Albergue at Granon is pretty special and a bit different from many of the Albergues I have been at. Tom Friesen, from the Canadian Company of Pilfrims and my Hospitaleros Training course leader has served as Hospitalero at this one and has spoken fondly of it. So I timed my walking days so I can stay here as I have done for two or three different Albergues run by the Amigos de la Camino so I could see how the different ones operate.

For the time being this post will have to be mostly narrative, internet is slow here at the Albergue in Belorada and I have spent a good deal of time waiting for pictures to upload for today's regular blog, so I will upload pics later when I have a faster connection. Pity, as the church that houses the Albergue, the Church of San Juan Bautista, provides a very neat space. You will just have to revisit this blog when I get them uploaded. :)

The Albergue itself is housed in the church loft accessed through a small door at the rear of the church and up a spiral staircase 2 flights. There are 2 dorm rooms, one on this level and another a loft above the Albergue living room is a couple of flights of stairs higher.

One flight up above the first dorm room is the living area, consisting of a living room with fireplace, kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a hallway serving as reception. All stone and wood, very cozy.

There are a few real differences in this Albergue from others I have stayed in, for a starter, there are no beds. You sleep on gym mats on the floor. Not so comfy but I was able to sleep ok. Another difference is that the pilgrims cook together the evening meal (guided by the Hospitaleros), clean up from the meal together and eat breakfast together. Also, there is a time of reflection at the end of the day when, depending on the Hospitaleros, there can be a sharing of song, daily memories and reflections and other things to help make the experience one that fosters the Pilgrimage and lifts it up from a mere touristic a experience.

There were 27 pilgrims at the Albergue and we all set about chopping, setting places, and doing other odd jobs for dinner. After the work was done we lounged around while the pasta sauce cooked and waited for the feast. I took the picture below of the feast in progress. I haven't had a better salad in a long time and the fresh veg in the pasta sauce gave my veggie cravings what they were looking for.

After dinner we all did dishes. Big tubs of water for washing stations were set up in the dining room and we each gathered around one station and helped wash the groupings of dishes we were assigned, plates, cutlery or glassware, Erving pieces or pots. I have never seen dishes done that way, but they were all done lickers-split and everyone was able to help fully.

After cleanup folks either waited around until the 9 pm sharing/reflection time arrived, or else just went to bed.

Barbara from Massachusetts was one of 4 Hospitaleras caring for the 27 pilgrims who were logged here. The Albergue had capacity for 40 but given that the "beds" we're mats on the floor, it was less popular. The Albergue provided both dinner and breakfast and was probably difficult to clean since it was so old and I think the 4 Hospitaleras were all kept pretty busy.

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Najera to Granon - May 17

Today was a longer walk, 28.6 km and my feet are telling me not to do this to them too often. The day has again been cold and very overcast - threatening rain at any moment, so it seemed just as well to continue with my trek. In any case, I had wanted to stay at Granon if I could - more about that later.

 

Breakfast was in a small village Azofra after a walk of nearly 2 hours. I slept lightly in last night's dorm room of 90 folks and of course there were about 20 people or so who were rustling their bags packing up starting at 5 am and I gave up at 5:30 and got up - so I was walking as the sun came up at 6:30ish and captured the picture which starts this blog.

After my breakfast - a tortilla (which in Spain is an egg and potatoe sort of omelette) and pan (bread) and cafe con leche I was well fuelled to carry on.

The fields of grape vines gave way to wheat, oats and garden crops and I enjoyed the next 15 km or so watching farm workers in the fields as I walked to the next town.

There was a kind of rhythm of the I passed the 200 km mark of my journey of walking the trail up to a ridge, then walking down to the valley beyond - then of course doing it again and again and again. But today my stride was strong and seemed like no time until I was at the next town Ciruena.

Ciruena seemed to be a golf resort town - at least the part we walked through. I didn't stop but headed to the next town straight away, having decided to carry on to Granon.

I have caught up with my cohort and left some of them behind at Santo Domingo De la Calzada a pretty town of nearly 7,000 with a beautiful large cathedral and lots of restored heritage buildings with information signs to fill you in on the buiildings history. The term "Heritage Building" has a different meaning here.

 

Once I got to Santo Domingo I had a coffee and then immediately set off for the final 6ish km to Ganon.

It was very interesting to see the irrigation system they have in place here, I am sure first built by the Romans.

 

 

I was interested in staying at the the parochial Albergue in Granon because I had heard so much about it from my Camino buddies back in Canada. It is in the church in the upper Loft. I will do a separate Supplemental blog tomorrow to chronicle my experience there and post this one in themeantime. Just a hint: we are sleeping on mats on the floor and we will be cooking community dinner together and spending the evening together.

 

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Navarrete to Najera - May 16

 

I am starting to get into quite a routine now having walked 191.2 km over 9 days. My routine is pretty straight forward:

• Get up at 6, get dressed and pack up my stuff. By then it is 7 am and starting to get light so I can start walking. I find I cannot sleep past 6 as the sound of 14 or more others in the room rustling their stuff as they get ready to leave is just too much noise.

Ventosa - breakfast stop

• Walk 5-10 km and stop for breakfast and a pit stop. I try and have something substantial, a bocadilla rather than the Spanish favourite - tostados (toast) and OJ or cafe con leche. The bocadillas are made with a large baguette type bread and are quite the full meal. Today's had ham, cheese and tomato on it. I prefer to walk before breakfast and this puts me in front of the rest of my cohort, at least until after my morning break.

• Walk 10 km or so further and if there is still a ways to go then stop and take a break and eat the food I have brought. I usually have an orange and banana along with my disminishing supply of power bars. Often there will be a cafe or a road side food truck along the way and I can stop for a coffee or a glas of freshly squeezed OJ. Such was the case today - I was able to pick up a glass of OJ (and watch the guy squeeze it) along the way and as I got to the outskirts of Najera I stopped for coffee and sat outside to watch the Pilgrims walk by.
• I am trying to average about 20 km per day. Extra long days leave less time to blog and shorter days involve a wait for the Albergue to open. Today I arrived at Najera at 12:30. Getting an Albergue is first priority when I reach y destination. I arrived earlier than usual today as it was only 16.3 km from Navarrete and the Alberge at Najera didn't open until 2 pm so I had an hour and a half to wait. I left my backpack "in line", and went shopping.

• This particular Alberge run by the municipality and staffed by Hospitaleros from Amigos Del Camino (the same group which has provided the assignment in Zamora to me.) There are 90 pilgrims in one big room of 45 bunk beds. Tonight we will have a real symphony of snoring for sure! Once checked in, the first thing to do is to shower and put on your change of clothes. Most folks only carry 1 change of clothes. Next is to wash dirty clothes and hang them to dry - good reason to plan to be at your destination not too late in the day, or you will be hanging your laundry off your pack the next day! I skip laundry sometimes if it is rainy or my clothes aren't too dirty. I am carrying one extra set of "wandering around town clothes", so as long as my pants can last another day, I don't need to do laundry.
• Most often I will make sure I have food in my pack for lunch and if I don't eat it on the road I will eat it when I get to the Albergue. Today I stopped at the supermarcado on the way and bought eggs, bananas and a hunk of bread. I boiled 4 eggs for breakfast/lunch tomorrow and 2 I will fry and put on bread for my dinner. Lunch today was a couple of empanadas I bought at the pastry shop along with a glass of wine (I have a part litre in a tetra pack I bought for 1.20 EUR which I have been carrying in my pack. I still have a hunk of cheese in my pack, so will add that onto my bocadilla for tonight. About every alternate day I try to get a Perigrino's dinner from a retaurant. This is a full 3 course meal with bread and wine usually for 10 EUR. I am averaging about 10-15 EUR a day for food and the Albergues have been mostly 7-8 EUR, except for a couple of private Albergues which charged 10 EUR. This is well within what I budgeted - 30 EUR per day.

• I try and do my blog in the afternoon before dinner. Depending on the quality of the Internet I can upload pictures or not. I am usually done my chores by 5 or so and if tired I will take a nap for an hour or two. Restaurants open no earlier than 7:30 for dinner so if not napping then I will do a tour of the town and see if there are any perigrinos hanging about to pass time with. Today I am making my own dinner in the Albergue cochina (kitchen), so I can eat around 7 if the kitchen is not too crowded.
• I try to have dinner before 9 if I can, as I like to get settled into bed by then and read my books and sort out tomorrow's walk. I pack up whatever I can before bed to make the morning pack up a it easier.

I took it easy today and only walked to Najera for sort of a half rest day. Najera is a pretty town, medium sized at about 10,000 people with lovely parkland surrounding the river in the core of town. As I have been writing this blog, in the Albergue common room, I have been listening to the Hospitaleros chat about the number of Perigrinos this year. Today they started turning away folks at 3:30 and after that they have been sending people to the school gymnasium, which the town is opening to house pilgrims on the floor as there are no more beds in town and the folks arriving now are too tired to walk the 6 km to the next town - which will be undoubtedly full as well. I heard one Hospitalera say that there are 500 a day now leaving from Saint Jean. Good reason not to walk too late in the day!

Today's walk,except the breakfast stop in Ventosa, was entirely through vineyards. A very pleasant and almost embarrassingly short walk into Najera, but no matter. Andrew, one of my Toronto Camino Walking Buddies met up with me today. He had left Sain Jean the same day as I did, except he stayed at Orrisson instead of continuing to Roncsenvalles. We both ended up at the Municipal Albergue at Najera. We had a nice chat and caught up with our Camino tales.

Centre of Town Najera

 

Now I need to go find some wifi and upload this blog and if the wifi is fast some pictures as well. Tomorrow is probably going to be 20 km to Santa Domingo De Calzada. I had hoped to go further to stay at the Albergue in Granon, which is 6.2 km further, but it may be further than I want to walk. We will see.

The map following shows this section of the Camino. I am moving through the Province of Najera (named doe the City I am in) in the Autonomous Region of Rioja from right to left. The last town before I enter the Castile-Leon Autonomous Region is Granon. Spain is made up of 17 Autonomous a Regions.

 

 

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Viana to Navarrete - May 15

Boy the weather sure has changed! Yesterday's high of 25 at noon was followed by dropping temps for the remainder of the day. This morning when I got up at 6 it was 9 degrees and sprinkling rain. I was glad I did not send forward my warm jacket! I was on my way by 7:15 with my mind set to walk the 9.2 km to Logrono before breakfast. Today's destination was Navarrete, which is 22.3 km away and hardly any climb so I thought an easy walk. It was a cold windy but luck seemed to be with me and while there was heavy rain ahead of me and behind me, I only noticed a sort of wet wind. I saw several partial rainbows this morning which cheered my spirits.

Logrono is the capital of La Roija and so is quite a large city with a population of 197,000.

By the time I got to Logrono I was starved, so I stopped at the first cafe I found hoping for a hueve y queso bocadilla (Egg and cheese on a bun), but the best could be done was a coffee and a muffin, which sufficed. Refuelled, I carried on through this rather large urban area.

Finding my way through Logrono was not easy as the way was not well marked in the core of the City, but locals were really good at helping me out when I took a wrong turn or was unsure which way to go. Once I was outside of the core, the way was a rather pleasant walking path, with benches along the way, for several kilometres all the way to an embalse (a reservoir) and park.

The rest of the route to Navarrete was easily done, just one major hill over a ridge and then down the valley to the approach to this hill town. I was able to check into the municipal Albergue (7 EUR) any about 1:45.

I found walking in the wind to be particularly tiring and it seems my body is hurting more today. So after my shower I made a nice lunch in the Albergue concina (kitchen) with a hunk of bread I had picked up in Logrono, a tin of tuna I had been carrying from Saint Jean and cheese and ham bought yesterday on the way to Viana. After that I napped for a couple of hours until 6 when the shops opened and went to the super mercado (supermarket) for some fruit for the road tomorrow and a short walk around town.

It must be my lucky day for there was another rainbow in the direction I came from today. I ate such a large lunch, I will just snack for dinner and after posting this blog, get an early night. Internet is really good here at the municipal Albergue, so I am able to upload lots of photos.

I am not sure how far I will go tomorrow, Najera is only 16.5 km ( with a bit of a peak to climb at Alto San Anton) but the next stopping point at Azofra has a fewer number of available beds in the albergues as it is a less popular stopping point. A vendor along the road mentioned that that he is seeing about 200 pilgrims a day along the route. There are well over 200 beds available in Najera but only 60 in Azofra as you can see from the chart below.

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Los Arcos to Viana - May 14

Added: May 14

Uploaded Pictures: 3 on May 14

Today was a very nice day. The temps have cooled down to 22 and a good wind has come up so made for a much more pleasant walk. Also, I walked with music today and that had me skipping down the way to the sounds of my tunes. Soon I will be able to enjoy the walk a bit more, having gained sufficient strength to walk without so much difficulty.

 

I was unsure how far I would get today. The day was so nice, I had idle thoughts of perhaps being able to walk the full 28 km to Logrono, but by the time I got to Viana at about 1:00, my feed were sore. I have been nursing a small blister on my baby toe and decided not to push it. I checked into the first Albergue into town - Albergue Izar, and for 8 EUR have a bed in a pretty nice private Albergue in a dorm room of 16 people. There are a total of 40 beds in this Albergue in rooms of various sizes.

In all I walked just over 18 km in 6 hours having left Los Arcos at 7 am.there was some very beautiful farmland we passed and a couple of typical Spanish towns to stop for a bocedilla and a cafe con leche. There was one major mountain ridge to cross - Alto N.S. Del Poyo at 570 metres - a climb of only 170 metres so not so tough.

Ok, so I am getting a bit annoyed at my blogging tool, having re typed the next two paragraphs a couple of times. It keeps crashing and although I have saved my work somehow the saves didn't work. So I will finish up and post what I have. I guess the Internet is too slow here - uploading photos is causing the software to crash. I was trying to upload a photo while I was writing the blog, which worked at the library yesterday, but is not working today with the slow Albergue internet.

Viana is a pretty little walled town on the outskirts of Logrono. From my Pilgrimage Cultural book, it was quite a booming city in the Middle Ages. The walls of the city are almost intact and inside is a castle as well as a church and municipal office around the central plaza and of course housing for the population. I would guess the central street running the distance from one wall to the opposite wall is about a km, and there are 4 parallel streets running the length of the walled town. I have scouted out a nice place for my dinner and for 11 EUR I will get a salad, a main course, bread and wine and dessert.

Tomorrow I think I will only go as far as Navarette, which is about 22 km down the road and with of course, one smaller mountain ridge to climb, Alto Grajera at 520 metres, 120 metres above Logrono. We are slowly making our way over this range of mountains which will peak at Alto de Pedraja at 1149 metres above sea level, in 5 or 6 days time. I have travelled 152.5 km so far.

I wish I could load some pictures. If I find a place with better wifi I will up,old one or two later today.

 

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Estella to Los Arcos - May 13

Posted May 13th - with pictures!

Today was another very hot walking day. The distance - 21.5 km (23.3 adjusted for altitude) was about par for the course, but I got on the road early at 6:20 to beat the heat. It was just getting light when I started walking. The streetlights were still on.
There were a few highlights of the walk today. The first was a fountain that dispensed wine and the second a midieval castle at the top of a small mountain.

The fountain which dispenses wine is in Irache at the Monisterio de Irach II. There is also a wine museum there. Too bad this isn't at the end of the day instead of the beginning.

The second interesting sight was at Villamayor de Monjardin. You may not be able to see it in this picture , but the castle of San Esteban de Deyo crowns the very peak of the mountain in the photo. Just below the castle is the little village, church and an Albegue. On the site today is the small Ermita de San Esteban which has been reconstructed using the castle's original stones.

I took a zoom shot of the castle. It would have been great to spend the day and go see it, but this was not to be my end point today.

After the two scenic stops, the rest of the day's walk was through farmland. By 11:00 the Spanish sun was really hot but there was a bit of a breeze so it didn't feel as hot as it did yesterday.

We are now leaving Basque Country and entering the Roija, known for its wines. It is also known for it's white asparagus.

I arrived at about 12:30 at Los Arcos and spent the afternoon taking it easy. The Albergue - called "The Fuente" is an Austrian sponsored place and is really nice.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler but it is a bit further to go to the recommended destination - Logrono which is 27 km so I may stop at Viana which is about 18km.

 

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Puente la Reina to Estella - May 12th

Date Added: May 12

Date Pictures Added: 1 on May 12

I was on the road at 7 am today as the hot trend continues. I am getting into the groove a bit and because there were fewer uphill stretches I arrived at 2:30. The distance from Puente la Reina was 21.9 km (23.4 adjusted for altitude)

I set off without coffee or breakfast to maximize the time walking in the cool of the morning. It was very pleasant and the countryside was beautiful. It was about 5 k to the first village and I was able to get coffee con leche and an egg and ham sandwich for breakfast andick up a banana and orange for lunch on the road. There were 3 really cute villages on the way and this broke up the distance nicely.

Estelle is a larger town than I had pictured but I had no trouble finding the My bed for the night (Albergue Parroquial San Miguel) and settling in with about 35 other souls. There are 2 dorm rooms, each with about 18 beds - 9 bunks. There is a very tiny kitchen and a main room with a large table with several benches around it. The Hospitalera had set out some water in a pitcher and coffee and tea free for the taking. There was also a few biscuits and some candies. This is a "donativo" Albergue which means you give what you can. The Hospitalera, from Germany, was working there on her own. This is a much more modest Albergue than the "donativo" I will be staffing at Zamora in June.

I have noticed that some of my fellow perigrinos are one by one dropping out or taking some time away from the road. There are also the walking wounded, who are continuing to walk despite injury. For me, so far so good - although I wonder how I will fare tomorrow when it is supposed to be as hot or hotter than today and the route a bit more difficult due to a major ascent. Please know that 30 degrees in the shade is a lot hotter in the Spanish sun - there are no clouds in the sky. Even 21 degrees seems to me to be hot while walking in the sun. It is tough on everyone.

That said colder weather (and rain) is on the way, so I will be complaining about that next. The good news is that I can feel myself getting stronger.

So now I need to find dinner as I am starving. I will leave uploading pictures to another time - it takes about 10 min per pic, so you will understand why I chose to add the pictures later when I have a bit more time and only when the wifi is fast. Today is good - I am in the library at Estella. If it is open after supper I might be able to upload a few photos. We will see.

 

 

 

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