So I woke at 6am which is actually quite a reasonable hour when you have gone to bed at 9.30pm. A couple of people were obviously sleeping in so I did the right thing and dragged everything out into the corridor to pack quietly and carefully.

I shone my phone torch around the bed and floor and was confident I’d left nothing behind. I stuffed my sleeping bag in the compression sack, rolled my clothes and squeezed everything back into my pack and decided I would send my Teva hiking sandals and a couple of things on to Santiago from Logrono to keep the pack weight down.

Interestingly when I eventually took everything downstairs to adjust and repack two men were cooking a rather extensive breakfast down in the kitchen. The smoke filled the room and escaped into the alley. Pilgrims were coughing outside in the street and I’m surprised the smoke alarm didnt go off.

The two breakfast boys were unaffected and sat quietly chomping on their breakfast unaware of the chaos they had caused.

A lovely spanish girl informed me there was a panaderia (bakery) that opened at 5am in this town but it was back down the camino in the wrong direction. I could not in all good conscience walk backwards at the start of my day. I told her I would eat in Logroño. So I ate my banana and dug out some change to buy a cafe con leche from the machine. But the machine wouldn’t play ball. It wouldn’t take my coins. I was sad. I drank water. But I still wouldn’t walk backwards to the panaderia.

So I headed out the door filled with joy and enthusiasm as I was going to catch another sunrise. It is still staying dark until near 8am. Head torch on, arrow hunting, watching every step down hill, seeing cats and cats eyes everywhere. I headed out of the town.

Other pilgrims were just as enthusiastic as me and were also streaming down the path. Even the lumberjack from Canada was heading in for an early day in Logroño. At the bottom of the hill I looked back for my last view of Viana.

Much to my displeasure I felt a little discomfort in both of my feet. I did the right thing and stopped to investigate. I could see nothing so I poked some hikers wool down each sock and continued on.

A spanish lady who I had been seeing over the last few days went by again. She had reprimanded me the day before when I encouraged her to pass as I was very slow. She told me to take a smaller bag. I thought mine was small! Hers was mas pequeño! If you send it on each day you have to book each day. I wanted some flexibility to be able to stop if somewhere looked interesting but sent some stuff on to lessen weight when the day was already planned.

Ironically I had no booking for Logroño and rain was threatening so, upon arrival, I sat myself in a very nice cafe to book something in and indulged in a unique toasted sandwich with egg tomato and cheese and, of course, cafe con leche. Had I walked backwards in Viana I may never have experienced this magnificent sandwich. Sadly I was too hungry to remember to take the photo! Believe me it was very unique with a hole in the toast where the egg popped through and was very very tasty.

I wasn’t overly thrilled with the “pilgrim” accommodation as seemed to be predominantly workers accommodation but thankfully I had my own room for a change with my own bathroom and even air conditioning! There were a few pilgrims downstairs too.

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The rain began in the evening and I was glad to have not sent my teva sandals on to santiago as they were needed to avoid slipping on the city streets. Janine caught up and a couple of Melbourne Aussies joined us in one of the Laurel st Tapas bars. Rather than write about it all this time I took a few snaps. Could’ve taken more but too busy eating! Buenas noches