After a lovely rest day in Logroño visiting Michelin-starred Ikaro and plenty of pintxos places, it was time to move on to Nájera.

With a severe weather warning for high temperatures (33°C – 34°C!), we started out early at 6:25am to front-load as much as possible before things got dicey.

We had several rest stops on the way for bread, cheese, and meat (the first just outside Navarrete, and the second with a lovely corn bread a few days later just past Redecilla del Camino).

An hour or two before Nájera, we decided to take a detour off the main Camino path to visit Ventosa, primarily because there was a cafe there for a well-needed liquid break – and it only added an extra 10 minutes or so of walking time. The path into Ventosa also had some funky artwork along it, including three giant safety pins, a fake garage door, and window with an old couple looking out of it.

Such is the way in Spain, Nájera had a random festival when we arrived… so festivities were in full swing. We ordered a negroni and got something that was about three times the strength of anything in the U.K. – which meant the next morning was a later start than planned 😅.

Still, we made it to Santo Domingo de la Calzada just in time time to take three showers and then head to a Michelin-recommended restaurant for some great food – including a local specialty of pickled partridge 🤤.

Today we passed from the La Rioja region into Castilla y León, raided more pea fields (I love my freshly-picked veg 😀), put up some more googly eyes, and after a long last push with absolutely no shade for a few hours, arrived in Belorado.

Tomorrow we leave for the two-day journey to Burgos where we’ll enjoy some awesome food… but that’s for a future post.