Day 9: Nájera to Grañón 27km.

Another long day today, but temperatures have cooled down somewhat, and they’ll be positively fresh tomorrow.

We arrive in Grañón around midday, and investigate the donativo albergue. There’s three types of hostels on the Camino: municipal, parochial and private. Municipal (or multiprinciple as my walking buddy calls them) are fairly basic, very affordable (€6-10) hostels run by the local council, mostly quite clean, but basic and can be a bit noisy. We know about an Italian guy who can wake the dead at night. Parochial hostels are “donativo”: donation based, they can be known as this too. They’re run by religious organisations and offer a more spiritual and communal experience, often with shared meals cooked together. Private albergues are a little bit more expensive (€8-15), and generally tend to be smaller dorms, and a bit fancier inside. I’m travelling for a shorter amount of time and I’m not on a tight budget, so I’ve been staying in mostly private albergues.

The donativo in Grañón is well known, but my companion is horrified when we look into the room where the guests are supposed to sleep. There are about 20 plastic covered mattresses on the floor each under a metre apart, that’s all. The Italian lady who invites us in is friendly and welcoming, trying to address our concerns about my friend’s night noises by telling us that everyone snores. That doesn’t help. I’ve heard lovely things about the communal spirit in these places but this is a level of community that is too much for me! We head to the nearest private, that gives us a bed in a historic hostel for €8 per night. It’s clean, and the rooms are quiet as there are few guests in low season.

I’ve changed my plans for tomorrow, I’m going to start late and finish earlier than expected. We’ve had several quite long days and I feel like a chilled one. The temperature in the day is going to be cooler as well. Taking a breather is going to be welcome. One of our group has found a place with a pool, which I’m very much looking forward to relaxing in.