Day 10: Torres del Rio to Logrono ~ Roaming Rocks

Miles: 18.52/Steps: 40,563

Todays Selfie:

My morning selfie was about 30 minutes late and after 30 minutes of incline so disregard the sweat! 🤪

It was a beautiful day!
I got to talk to Howard as I walked out of Torres del Rio. As we were talking I saw a deer frolicking thru the wheat fields. It was so majestic looking and reminded me about how lucky I am to be doing this trip. Of course he cracked a joke about hunting deer but I pretended not to hear it! The sunrise was gorgeous and the chill in the air promised that it wouldn’t be a hot day.

There were lots of views and landmarks to see on the trail but my favorite was the food stall that showed up in the middle of nowhere when I least expected them! I had fresh squeezed orange juice, a chocolate croissant and a banana.

Viana was a cute town we walked thru with a great church and really friendly townspeople.

This police car made me giggle a bit. It’s just so small! I tried to imagine it keeping up in a high speed race and all I could think of was a clown climbing out of it.

There was tons of graffiti. I love this shell.

I’m not going to lie but the struggle is real when communicating with people who don’t speak English or Spanish. It takes a lot of extra effort to use Google Translate or to act out what message you are trying to get across. Don’t get me wrong because I do try to do it but sometimes I just don’t have the energy.
Fast forward to the last 2 miles of today. I was exhausted and so slow. This Italian gentleman and I walked at the same pace but were both too tired to talk. He only spoke Italian and French. I only speak English and Spanish. That said we really valued each others company and cheered each other on. Even though it was only a 12 mile day, I’m not sure I could have made it without him

It was one of those situations that could have been really awkward but was just comfortable companionship that I really appreciated. I don’t think I will ever see him again but he has no idea what a blessing he was.

The river in Logrono:

I walked into Logrono and over its river. I got to the hostel at 12:30pm and they didn’t check people in until 1:00pm so I chatted with a lady from Mexico and a man from the Canary Islands to pass the time. My Spanish was good enough to understand about 65% of the conversation. They were super entertaining and funny.

It was a good day at Alburgue Albas because I got a bottom bunk and a sheet in a room with 22 other people.

After showering, doing laundry and napping, I went to town to see about getting some new shoes.
….and of course there is a story…

Most people believe in a higher power or divine reality. People can call it many different things but some choices are: God or a god, the Universe, Guardian Angel, Divine Being. I am not sure what I specifically would call mine but I believe there is one and I believe they protect me and point me in the right direction when I am going astray in life all the time. If you know me, you know that things always work out. It might not be how I planned it but things usually end up better than I plan. The presence of this higher power came to my attention twice today.
Firstly, today, I was thinking about how I got here. How did I get to be walking this Camino at this stage in my life and had a thought. We lived in Santiago de Compostela (where this pilgrimage ends) for almost a year. I spoke to strangers all the time. How is it possible that the whole time I was here, I didn’t speak to a single person that got me excited enough to consider doing the walk then. I often sat in the courtyard and watched the pilgrims come into the plaza but I never considered it to be something to do at that stage of my life. But…the seed was planted and it was watered by movies and Facebook groups and stories of friends doing it and here I am. I do believe that this is the right stage of my life to be on this adventure. I am not sure I would have appreciated it back then as much as I do now.

The second intervention was later in the day. When I was looking up directions to my hostel, I randomly saw a review that also mentioned a fabulous shoe store that specifically helped Pilgrims with walking shoes. I had come across it by mistake and it mentioned that it was located near the main plaza.
I started walking to the plaza (by the cathedral) and put the stores name into Google Maps and it listed the store as being 1 mile away.

I definitely didn’t want to walk that far but was open to consider anything to fix my blister problem. Every time I tried to follow Google Maps it turned me around and would say I was going in the wrong direction.

I tried navigating on my own but each time I got turned around. Finally I asked a local couple to send me in the right direction. They had never heard of the store. After a lot of debate for a couple minutes they pointed me in the general direction because there was multiple ways to get there. They sent me up a very small and almost suspicious street and I’m not kidding when I say the store was three stores in. It was the craziest thing. It wasn’t in Google Maps and of the multiple ways they could have sent me….they sent me down the right street. Such a blessing!

The store manager and his wife were amazing! They totally understood my problem and made a great recommendation. I got some North Face shoes and immediately after putting them on I knew they were the right shoe!

I then met up with my friend Victoria and enjoyed all that Logrono had to offer! We drank wine, ate tapas and found the Mecca of all bandaid stores. We felt like children in a candy shop! It was a great night and ended with H talking to me while I walked home because we all know his voice will protect me from Stranger Danger if anything happened. 🤪 It was a great way to end the night. ❤️