Jersey, do you want our underwear’s to dance tonight? (Day 9)

Well I learned a new terminology last night. If someone tells you “do you want our underwear’s to dance today” it is not sexual or creepy. All it means is do you want to wash our clothes together in the same laundary load. I am proud to say that, for this pelegrino, no underwear is dancing with anyone else’s. That’s a bridge too far that I am not crossing. I also learned that my trail name is “Jersey” (never ever in a million years I could have thought that 10 years ago) and there are rumors that my wife left me for good on the Camino.

Spent the night in Najera. Seems like I am not getting enough calories and loosing a bit too much weight. Need to find a solution for that but so far have not been successful in getting any reasonable amount of protein unless it is a big city like Logrono.

This morning I got back to my routine and left Najera at 7am to catch the sunrise below.

I also got one of my favorite shots of the Camino so far. Below in the distance you can see 2 pilgrim figures. I thought the colors were breathtaking.

I  am finding out something about myself that I didn’t know about. Being alone (at least for 4-5 hrs) isn’t that bad. I enjoy my morning walks by myself especially if I have artists like Lord Huron, Ben Howard or Zach Bryan in my ears walking the Camino with me. For whatever reason(s) I always assumed being alone would be anxiety inducing. Whereas Amy (“my bride” according to Craig Ross) always craves for it which pisses me off at times. Maybe she is right. There is some beauty to it. While I still enjoy the company of others a lot (the group dinners are my favorite part of this journey) solitude in moderate doses is actually delightful.

By the way (favorite expression of Ceyhun “ bu arada”) listen to Ends of the Wold from Lord Huron if you can. My favorite song to listen first thing in the morning as I begin my hike. Talking about my Turkish friends, I wonder if Ali and Ceyhun have a wager on when I will quit. They usually take bets on timing of my failures.

Today I noticed that the vines of all the vineyards I pass started budding. I wanted to take photos but last night it rained a lot and there is a lot of mud in the fields. Tomorrow I plan to take a few photos of these beautiful Tempranillo vines. Yeah that’s the most important task I have for tomorrow and I am fine with it!

Today I arrived to Santo Domingo de la Calzada after 23kms. It has a beautiful cathedral that I will visit after some rest. I am staying (treating myself after last nights grocery store bed event) at the famous Parador hotel. It was built in the 12rh century originally as a hospital. Due to that it has a reputation to be haunted. Will see about that tonight.

My hotel and cathedral. They are connected as the hotel.

Photos from today. The fourth from the last photo is with Zoltan (trail name Messi) who I won’t see again as he is charging ahead to finish faster.

Kms today: 23.5 kms

Kms total: 225 kms

Steps total: 158.4k Amy, 312.5k Ahmet