Stage Seven - Los Arcos to Logrono

28.5 km

October 13, 2011

Prayer of the Pilgrims,

Santa Maria de Los Arcos Mass, English translation

Lord, you who recalled your servant Abraham out of the town Ur in Chaldea and who watched over him during all his wanderings; you who guided the Jewish people through the desert; we also query to watch your present servants, who for love for your name make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Be for us, a companion on our journey, the guide on our intersections, the strengthening during fatigue, the fortress in danger, the resource on our itinerary, the shadow in our heat, the light in our darkness, the consolation during dejection, and the power of our intention

so that we under your guidance, safely and unhurt, may reach the end of our journey and strengthened with gratitude and power, secure and filled with happiness, may join our home, For Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

I needed this prayer today cause it was a long, hot, walk. However, I was lucky there was a nice breeze to cool me off a bit. I walked alone, through miles of olive orchards and vineyards today. The couple with the baby passed me again  and on the path someone took the time to make a heart and arrow out of pinecones.       A happy distraction along The Way.

My intention was to stop in Viana, at an albergue there, however, I seemed to miss it and ended up out of town at the bottom of a big hill. It was so hot that I did not want to turn around and go back up it so I continued on another 10 km to Logrono. Hmmm the pilgrims mind is weird. One doesn’t want to go backwards and especially backwards up a big hill. Better to walk another 10 km. It doesn’t really make sense but that’s the way it is. That was another 3 1/2 hours of walking and some of it beside a noisy highway. I found it strange that I had not seen another pilgrim for hours. I dug out my mp3 player and listened to music for the first time while walking to drown out the traffic noise and give me some motivation to keep walking. I later found out that many pilgrims either stopped in Viana or took a bus the last 10 km to Logrono due to the heat. Well..I walked it!

Logrono (pop. approx. 150,000) was a larger centre than I expected.  It had a nice large municipal albergue. I was again on the bottom bunk. Because of my age, I seemed to get the bottom bunks all the time. I am thankful that age is a factor because crawling down from the top in the middle of the night to pee is not that easy. The downside about the bottom bunk was that I continually hit my head on the top bunk. Every day I did the same thing. I had bumps and sore spots all over the top of my head. The fellow sleeping above me this night, was a bike rider from Denmark. He had ridden his bike all the way from home. That was impressive.

Catedral Santa Maria
de la Redonda

I was invited to join some pilgrims for drinks and tapas so I walked around the streets and town square looking for them when my daily routine was done. Logrono was a busy place as it was now after 6 pm. There was a 14th century gothic cathedral that was attracting many tourists but it wasn't open. I tried to find somewhere to eat again or even a grocery store because I couldn’t find the other pilgrims. I could only find bread and some fruit so I went with that and the left over sausage I was carrying, for my supper.  I got a chance to use the internet and send a few messages. I continued to doctor my feet and knees with essential oils but I was now feeling a kink in my neck and right shoulder. I hoped it wouldn’t develop into something worse. Oh, I  also ran into Min, from Vancouver, that afternoon in the albergue, last seen in Pamplona. He had carried on walking but was now getting his pack transfered for him to each stop by a service offered on the camino. His knee was better without carrying the weight and he was trying to catch up to Kim and Jean, who were a day ahead of him now.



Clever signage



Graffiti