Day 8: Larrasoaña to Nájera 27km.

Peak temps today were 40C at around 5pm, and unlike yesterday, no cloud cover, so another early start to beat the heat. Fortunately, this is the last of the heatwave, and tomorrow will be relatively cooler.

I’d heard some folks complain about sections of the Camino being a bit ugly, and for the first week, I think it has been mostly beautiful with occasional ugliness. Some of those areas have been quite spectacularly ugly, but thankfully short. Showing some awareness of the pilgrim’s aesthetic sensibilities, one of them ended with a sign saying “You’re now leaving the Industrial Zone, buen camino!“. Today, we had an unrepentant and decidedly unspectacular ugly day, with occasional treats. Those included a park with a lake and a cutout bull on a hill eclipsing the rising sun. Mostly, it was just a hike to get to the end, which thankfully turned out to be a pretty little town on a verdant and wild river.

One saving grace was a fridge with some treats for pilgrims: ice pops, water, cola. There was an honesty box on the side, after a long walk without any breaks or fountains, they were very welcome.

After checking in, I chilled under a bridge with my feet in the water. I chatted to a lady from Málaga walking the dog, she told me where to go for more natural surroundings, and walking over I found my two french companions from the morning walking towards me. We went to the new place together to share the heat of the afternoon, watching a swarm of pond skaters underneath sandstone cliffs, listening to the blackcaps, long tailed tits and goldfinches fill the lazy Spanish heat. Later in town, food was good, locals friendly, the pace was slow.

Some of our group departed to Leon already. I have four more days to go before I get on a bus to Bilbao.