Day 12 – To Logroño

Viana to Logroño – 10 Kms, 16,889 steps

I enjoyed my stay at the three-star Palacio de Pujadas last night. As you may be aware, European floor numbering differs from the US. The European “first” floor is #0, and the next floor is #1, and so on. This hotel tossed in a new twist: my room, #102, was on floor #2! The elevator controls were weird, too, looking like a keypad:

The reception staff explained all this very smoothly at check-in, probably having had to do it a jillion times.

Here’s a photo of the duffel bag I’m having transported each day and of the huge suitcases a couple, also on the Camino, is sending. These folks wear only a light day pack with water while hiking during the day but wear quite a wardrobe in the bar at night. Ah well, as they say, everyone’s Camino is their own and no one else’s.

I had a short, 10-Km walk planned, slept in late, had the hotel breakfast, and left Viana at a thoroughly decadent 9:00 AM.

I’m either getting stronger/faster or kilometers are getting smaller but I was in Logroño just two hours later. In a way, it was a mini-rest day.

Along the way, I met up with an Italian pilgrim with a strip of solar panels on his backpack! He used them to charge his devices as he walked. Pretty cool. He was carrying a tent, so maybe he wasn’t staying in places where he could access power easily at night.

Logroño embraces the Camino. From specially-designed local stelae to unique pavement markers, they’ve gone all in.

I arrived a few hours before my accommodation opened, so I had to cool my heels in the plaza over coffee and maps. Not a bad way to pass a morning.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth. I shed a tear when I heard the news and I’m so glad that I spent this summer in Canterbury and enjoyed the Queen’s Jubilee festivities, celebrating her 70 years on the throne. She will be missed.

I noted a quote in the Washington Post that brought her passing into perspective: “And for the first time since 1952, the UK national anthem will now be sung with the words ‘God Save the King.’”