Dinner goes late ..... Very late and long after desert

One final note about dinner in Viana with my new German friends. When we order dinner we are asked to select all three courses when the waitress takes the order. I guess you could ask for a delay of your desert selection until after having the main course, but it just doesn't work that way here, so you just go with the system and get with the program.

I order, as my desert menu selection,"fruit". I have now finished devouring my Rabbit, which comes from the ocean. I actually ordered the Rabbit but she brought me the fish. I could have sent it back but I really don't want to be the ugly American. I will just eat it. The waitress also brings me my desert choice, the "fruit". It's a fairly large plate and on it is an orange. That's it, an orange. I watch the waitress coming toward me and its amusing to watch her trying her best to keep the giant object from rolling off the plate. When I say giant object I am talking about a very large orange. My orange does come with something else, a knife, a very sharp knife. Just another reminder that I am in Spain, not Capistrano. 

We now retreat to the "Salon" aka the living room for our nightcap. I stick with the wine but everyone else is having the coffee. Not the con-leche version, they are all having the high-test version. I don't know how they can sleep after the coffee. I know that I'm not having any. The night goes long, the topics are many. I lose track of the time and before I realize it it's 2:00 am when we finally head to our rooms! This cannot become the norm. This cannot be done even one more time unless it happens in Santiago when the journey is complete. 

Because I am now going to Navarette and not to my original much longer destination I can sleep in and all will be good. Meeting Rainer was a blessing and it results in getting my schedule in order.

I leave Viana at 10:45. On my way now to Navarette--stage 8--a walk of about 12 miles. I pack and head to the front desk to check out. I am leaving the room and I just have this uneasy feeling that I am missing something or leaving something behind. I am correct. My walking poles are missing. They are not in the room. It would be hard not to find them if they were in the room. By the way I look at my critical list and I don't have them listed. How could you lose your poles? I will just have to deal with it.

I am at the front desk paying my bill when I look down in the corner of the reception desk, and there are my poles leaning against the wall exactly where I left them while checking in yesterday. I make a mental note to make a change to my list. I don't have my one pair of shoes on the list either but I'm starting to think I should include them. With me anything is possible.

I will walk alone today. Everyone leaves when it best suits their desired pace and the length of the day's scheduled walk. It's just the way it is. I'm sure I must be the last one out.

It is about 7 miles from Viana to Logrono. A large city with a population of more than a quarter of a million. I think that's right. As always, before I leave my room, I open the window to get a sense of the weather. It's sunny and cool. Perfect. I dress for what looks like a nice day.

I leave the hotel and within ten minutes I am cold. Just pain cold. It's sunny but its cool and the wind is up. I stop at the first spot where I can deal with the wardrobe change with my backpack on a wall or something. It just makes the process of getting things in and out of the bag a lot easier. I add my fleece vest and will now have on four layers . I also put on my REI gloves (socks) and as I am going through the change, a young guy passes me wearing shorts and a tee shirt. He gives me the look as he says "Buen Camino". If he has a blog it probably describes him passing the old wimp with the white beard wearing the socks on his hands. What a wimp.

Yes the white beard. More about that at another time. 

I head to Logrono having not yet eaten anything . I am starting late and will just wait until I reach the city. I make fairly good time and for the first time I would describe the scenery as not worthy of stopping to take any pictures. Most of the next seven miles is on small paved roads with very little traffic, almost none.

 I am passing through some less than upscale neighborhoods which just remind me that I am close to a large city . As I make my way around a right hand turn down a little hill I get my first glimpse of the dogs. Lots of dogs. There are about seven or eight of them, they are all barking at me and they are all small except one. The big one looks like a shepherd and his bark indicates that he is not happy to see me. I have read about the wild dogs in more that one book while getting ready for The Camino. What I have read is correct. This is where you are happy you have your poles.

I am about fifty feet from the big one, he has not yet started toward me like all of his little friends. The little ones are of no concern they are just running around me making all kinds of noise. I'm waiting but the last thing I want to do is stop and give the big one a sense that he is in control. 

I'm now getting very close hugging the opposite side of the path from him when he jumps in my direction and then I see it. He's on a chain big enough to tow a truck! His chain keeps him at least ten feet from me as I pass him. I yearn for the quiet part of The Camino.

Entering the city I am getting concerned with how few signs and markers there are for for The Camino. The city is noisy, lots of traffic and lots of people to get around. I am hungry and need my coffee con-leche.  

It will take nearly an hour to get through the city to get back to The Camino. I stop at the Royal Cafe. Pastry and coffee, two cups, they are small and I am good to go. Before I return to The Camino I need to find an ATM . I don't need any more cash but I'm not sure that once I leave Logrono I will be back in the smaller villages without ATMs where cash is the only method of payment. I find one easily. I leave the city and I am making good time. No aches and pains, all good. My training is paying off and it's also given me a new appreciation for what Robin goes through when she trains for a marathon.  She has completed three. New York twice and last year Chicago in addition to a number of 5 and 10 K events. Lots of hard work and many hours of preparation. She is probably running at the beach as I write this. You go girl!

Speaking of writing, I received an email before I started today from Pat. He and seven other guys from the Club are in Florida playing golf. I was invited but I'm a little busy this weekend. Thanks Billy for the invite--sorry I could not make it. I am sure that there will be some good wine and at night a little four on four Gin game. 

I can just see it now. Paul is playing Bobby and says "how can you take that card?" At which point Bobby knocks and gets 45 points. Paul is a Golf Professional, a Touring Professional, currently out with an injury. He is the better golfer but Bobby is the better Gin player.

I mention Paul and wonder if he is reading my blog and grading it . He is a former school teacher and I expect that when I get back and see him at the Club, he will give me my grade. Hopefully, he grades on a curve.

 Please keep in mind that when I write my ramblings each day I am often tired and I will make spelling and others errors, its been a while since I wrote anything more than a short email. I try to edit them as best I can but you will just have to bare with me . Or is it bear with me? 

Once out of the city I will have about 5 miles to go. Well that's what I am supposed to have remaining. I am now stopping to drink some water, sit for a minute or two, and go through my third wardrobe change of the day. It's gone from being cold and windy to warm. I'm down to less than two layers and the sock gloves are long gone. I'm not sure what the temperature is but when I was in the city a bank's temperature and time sign said it was +13. I'm guessing its about 60 degrees. 

I leave for what should be my last two miles and I should arrive in Navarette at about 4:00. I cross over this bridge where a dozen or so old man are fishing  and make a left and continue on the trail. I walk for about twenty minutes and realize that I have not seen a single Camino marker. That's odd. I walk another ten minutes and I see a sigh for a golf course. I stop and take out my map. There is no golf course on my map. There is a large regional park which The Camino passes near but does not go through . I am clearly in the park. I turn around and double back to where I made the left turn . There was one yellow arrow ( the standard color for The Camino ) at the turn but I just missed it. I have added about two miles. I knew this would happen I just hope I don't make it a habit.

I arrive in Navarette and find my Hotel, the Rey Sancho.  When I enter the lobby there is know one at the front desk and its dark. In most of these small villages the lights in most rooms are triggered by movement. Leave the room and soon after the lights go out automatically until someone steps back in. Makes sense. I trigger the lights and I see that on the front desk there is a bell. A really large bell. I wait and then take a guess. Am I supposed to ring the bell for service? I give it a try. Wow, this is a serious bell and when I ring it I'm sure that everyone in town knows that there is someone at the front desk of the Rey Sancho who wants to check in.

Soon after the bell stops ringing a young woman checks me in and hands me the remote for the television in my room and politely reminds me that I need to return it when I check out. I'm not sure why I bother to take the remote, there is absolutey nothing I would want to watch and it's all in Spanish. 

I take care of my gear, take a shower and head out to get something to eat. There is an outdoor cafe fifty feet from the Hotel. I take a seat and soon after I am having a slice ( its actually square ) of pizza and a glass of red wine. When finished I head back to the Rey Sancho and call it a night. It's 7:15, perfect.

I get a message from Michele that he and he and Rainer will be in the restaurant at 7:30 if I want to join them . If not coffee in the morning before we all leave for Najera a walk of only about 10 miles. A short day. I'm looking forward to it. Good night.