Nájera → Santo Domingo de la Calzada | ~13 miles .

I started this morning in Nájera, which I have to admit was probably not my favorite village since starting the Camino. Everything seemed to operate on its own schedule. Breakfast was supposed to start at 7:00, but 7:00 came and went, and eventually breakfast appeared around 7:30. Apparently even time is somewhat negotiable on the Camino. Another lesson in adaptability.

But almost immediately after leaving Nájera, the entire day changed. I walked out into what may have been one of the most beautiful mornings I’ve experienced yet.

The sky was an unbelievable blue. The path wound through endless vineyards, surrounded by mountains and ridges, with the morning sun rising behind me. It is September, so the grape harvest is underway, and every once in a while a tractor would pass carrying freshly harvested grapes .About 2½ miles in, I realized I hadn’t put on any music. I could hear birds chirping, the occasional tractor in the vineyards, and the shuffle of pilgrims’ feet along the path. There were quite a few people walking this morning, but somehow it still felt incredibly peaceful.

The sun was at my back and I had this overwhelming feeling of gratitude. I had this circular thought going around in my mind on how lucky I felt to have the time and space to be doing this walk !

As I walked with the sunrising I started to think about a question I often ask people: Do you prefer sunrise or sunset? I’ve never really been able to answer it myself because I love them both. But this morning, walking through the vineyards as the sun came up, I started thinking about why. There is something about sunrise that feels completely different. It’s a fresh day. It almost feels as though a blanket of newness has been laid over everything. The light comes up and suddenly you can see everything and in todays case it illuminated the vineyards, the mountains, and the path. Everything looked bright and clear, actually almost fake .

A sunset is beautiful in another way. The light becomes softer and the day begins to disappear. You can’t quite see everything anymore. Maybe that’s why I love them both. A sunset asks you to let go of the day that was. A sunrise gives you the opportunity to see everything again in a new light and this morning, I could see everything.

A meaningful part of this Camino has been carrying the names and intentions of people with me. Today, I walked a mile for Kathy, who recently lost her life to cancer. There are moments on this journey when leaving a small stone seems like such a simple gesture. But somehow, out here, it doesn’t feel small at all. A stone left behind and a mile walked with intention and a life remembered while I keep walking .

Additionally I am learning about the Camino is that the landscape each day is so different .The morning had been lush and green vineyards everywhere, mountains in the distance, and that incredible blue sky. Suddenly, it wasn’t the vineyards gave way to huge expanses of dry, straw-colored fields. The trail became dusty. The sun became hotter. And the hills seemed to keep coming. At times, I honestly felt like I was walking through a desert, it was 92 degrees

At one point I was climbing what felt like an enormous hill and decided I needed reinforcement. So I called my friend Stephanie who lives in Germany on side and we FaceTimed and she talked me right up that hill !! So needed and appreciated and felt as close as we did when we both were in Hopkinton . When I reached the top, there was this wonderful little park in the shade. It had such beautiful vista, an incredible breeze, and these cement lounge chairs I had never seen anywhere and at that moment might as well have been at the Four Seasons. I grabbed one, took my shoes off, stretched out, and the cool cement felt like AC, I literally said out out loud how happy I was . I stayed there for quite a while. I’m learning on the Camino: sometimes the greatest luxuries are incredibly simple. Cold cement. Shade. A breeze. Taking your shoes off.

Eventually, I put my shoes back on and kept going. About two miles later, I walked into a small village and discovered something I definitely wasn’t expecting to find along the Camino: A golf course and a country club. Even better, they had a sign to pilgims walking to welocme them to come in and eat. So naturally, I stopped. Of all the places I imagined eating lunch while walking across Spain, a golf course was definitely not on the list.

But there I was—a pilgrim covered in dust, carrying walking poles, having lunch at a country club in the middle of the Camino. You really can’t make this stuff up. After lunch, it was time to keep moving. The afternoon was hot and hilly, and I continued through open fields and much agricultural land toward Santo Domingo de la Calzada and walked along Paul I had met the night before from CT who had awful blisters and needed to go really slow so walked up the post lunch hill in the stiffiling heat at a slow pace learning more about him and his family .

At one point I passed another Camino marker:565 kilometers to Santiago.There is something about seeing those numbers that is both encouraging and slightly terrifying.I’ve already come so far but there is still so much road ahead.

Santo Domingo

Eventually, hot, dusty and very ready to stop walking, I arrived in Santo Domingo de la Calzada and landed at my accommodation which was so fun and unique, a hotel that was once a 12th-century pilgrim hospital.I love thinking about that. For hundreds of years, pilgrims have been arriving in this town tired, hungry and needing a place to rest and today I became one of them. Although I’m fairly certain the 12th-century pilgrims were not greeted with quite the same amenities. My first priority after arriving was a very cold beer. I sat down, took a sip, and almost immediately received a text from camino friends to meet for dinner at Las Caballeros , a Michelin restaurant in the village. I had not eaten particularly well over the previous 24 hours, so the idea of a good restaurant and dinner sounded incredible.

I had brought exactly one black dress with me for six weeks on the Camino and at the time, that seemed perfectly reasonable given that I could only bring limited clothes in my pack, until tonight. Suddenly, my Camino wardrobe felt a little limited. So after resting my feet, I wandered into town looking for an alternative to my one black dress. That very thing is becoming one of my favorite things about this adventure, I never really know what the day is going to bring, so I need to figure it out as it comes Maybe that’s why this morning’s thought stayed with me all day, I don’t need to know exactly what’s around the next corner nor need to figure out the entire road ahead. I just need to walk where my feet are.

Buen Camino

PS - Please send me your intentions by text or email me if you would like me to walk a mile for someone , it has been so meaningful to me along the way .