Day #12. Navarette

A lake on the Camino--pretty unusual. Jade enjoyed the view. 

Our new British friends with their Rock Star, Sam 

Winery as we enter Navarrete. Note how many miles we have to go to Santiago. 

We had a lovely time today as we walked 8 miles in 3 1/2 hours  away from the festival into this quaint and quiet village of Navarrete. We now have walked a total of 107 MIles in 11 days.   Whoop ...whoop!!!!!  We do ROCK!!!!!!

We wanted a hotel today but the only places (small x2) were booked. Since we got here so early we found a very nice private hostel with 3 bunk beds in a corner room with 2 big windows. So far only 2 roommates have arrived. David & Helen (Scottish )--they are our age and very nice. 

I'm in a much better mood today and finding my Camino Zen again. You can imagine how happy Sam is to hear me say that!  I was a little crabby and stressed yesterday.  Sam, as usual, is doing great. 

I've decided to name my backpack, Jade. Only 3 other times in my life have i carried a package constantly with so much discomfort and weight ... I named them:  Jenny , Dan & Bob. 

As you can see in the pictures, Jade has been on the trail with me for the last 2 days. Tomorrow she is taking the van to the next town 12 miles away, because I can't carry her that far. I must be getting stronger because only my hips are sore after 2 days instead of every joint in my body and head. 

We met up with the young British friends (Jemma, Dan, Tom and ?just forgot her name--see photo). from 2 nights ago. We met them in the center square in this town of Navarette.   They took a bus here! (Too much party last night). But they continued on ahead to the next town on foot. We chatted for a while. They think Sam looks like this rock star who is popular in Britain. They swear Sam is The lead singer in "National Review". They started this discussion while we were in the hostel and even brought up pictures of the band on their iPhones. Finally, today We told them that Sam IS a famous Rock Star but we are avoiding the paparazzi so don't tell anybody else on the Camino. 

Sam will be posting our new plans for the rest of the Camino on the next page. We have made some revisions due to our current pace of an average of 10 miles a day instead of the planned 13-14 miles a day.  If I was able to buy a cape then I could fly those 13 miles a day, but They only sell those on Camino Krypton. 

We had planned to walk the entire 500 miles on The Way of St James from St Jean Pied de Pants to Santiago in 6 weeks. (It's really Pied de Port...but my version is funnier). We are modifying the trip. See next blog page. 

Approaching our next village of Navarrete. Vineyards are in every direction. 

My favorite picture!  I laughed so hard!!!