Ventosa to Azofra

Last night, six of us sat down to a lovely dinner at the hotel: an American couple, a Greek couple who live and work half the year in Switzerland, a Brazilian lad and myself. The Senora produced a delicious meal: a salad of many ingredients, a paella and a cinnamon custard. It was a lovely evening: everybody spoke English and we had a long debate about the relative merits of boots for the Camino.

Portion of salad.

This morning it was only 6 degrees outside and I was reluctant to leave my nice warm bed. The Jacotrans rule is that your bag has to be downstairs and ready to be collected by 8.00 am, so I couldn’t linger too long.
My room faced east and there was a brilliant sunrise just after 7.00 am. It promised to be a glorious day.

Hotel Las Aguedas : my room is the one on the top floor, just below the TV aerial.

 Ventosa has done a lot of work improving the Camino: a wide and smooth track making its way eastwards through the vineyards.

The white building is a winery; Najera can be seen in the distance behind.

The vines are just shooting.

I spoke to a woman who was making an anxious inspection of her vines. She told me she was worried because no baby grapes had appeared.

The sun was out over Najera, getting closer.

This structure is a landmark: Poya de Roldan and commemorates a mythical battle between a pilgrim and a giant in medieval times. An Italian girl took my photo.

Ancient pedestrian bridge over a rushing stream.

Just after this, I came to a rest area with picnic benches and tables, so I stopped to eat a pear that had been ripening in my bag for a week. Two dogs were roaming around freely, hoping to pick up a morsel from the pilgrims. Their mistress was sitting in the sun reading a book. They were a similar breed to greyhounds, so I had a word with her and pointed to my beanie. She said they were actually a breed called Branco de Weimar:

When I arrived in Najera it was just about lunchtime. I knew a good spot to eat near the river:

It’s the white building to the left of the bridge. I ordered an egg and mushroom sandwich and a beer to keep me going, as I had some serious sightseeing to do before leaving town. I could have stayed in Najera, but all the nice places were fully booked, which is why I opted for Azofra.

After lunch I made my way to the Monastery of Santa Maria la Real. It was founded after a vision of the Madonna appeared in a cave, set into the red sandstone cliffs, for which Najera is famous:

This is the sarcophagus of Bianca of Navarre, mother of Alfonso VIII, who died in childbirth aged 18:

What a sad story.

More pics from the monastery follow:

Beautiful tracery all round the cloister, each one different.