Turns out it’s cherry season. Well color me happy.

This wasn’t a farmers crop, just a random tree in a field of Grapevines. So you can bet I had a handful.

Stunning view of some cliffs as we left the village of Najera this morning.

The golden morning hour. Oh how I’ve missed this.

We are on our way. I left this morning with a German woman that I’ve been running into for the last three days. She stuck with me for a couple of hours, before she had to go on ahead. I always seem to walk slower than everybody else.

I discovered that the reason I keep finding rosebushes planted at the end of rows of grape vines is because the farmers use these as a ‘canary in the mine’. When the roses start to wilt, they know it is time to irrigate the vines. Apparently they do this in Italy too.

We are now officially in the Rioja district, famous for its wines. The wine here is cheap and ridiculously delicious. It is smooth, mellow, and appears to have a low alcohol content, as it doesn’t affect me as much as wine normally does. Ahead you can see vines of grapes for as far as I can see.

If you enlarge this picture a little, you can see the trail snaking up the hill ahead of me.

Getting closer… But not there yet. They were a fair number of pilgrims on the trail today.

And thank goodness, right about here I met a German woman who has been living in the UK for 22 years. We had a lot in common. We talked about spirituality and our lives. It’s amazing how you can have a conversation with somebody for one hour on the Camino and go so deep and learn so much about them not just on a superficial level. Thank God, Annetta’s  company helped to distract me from this endless climb today. 

And the best part, Annetta turned out to be a veterinary neurologist. I told her about my dog, Nui and his neurological problem. She was very, very familiar with that, especially as she lives in the UK and that is where his breed originates. Nui was a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

We finally reached the top, and were greeted with this incredible little oasis. There was shade, there was somewhere to sit, and a guy selling drinks and fruit. This is a dreadful picture of Annetta, as she is a very beautiful woman. We can thank the pano vision picture for that.

OK, so now for a bit of bad news. My feet are starting to hurt, my left foot in particular. I was hoping to avoid that with low mileage, but averaging 10 miles a day for 10 days is only considered low mileage on the Camino. Anywhere else it is eyebrow-raising.  I was reminded of that today.