WynChar Camino 2026

Gronze.com is an essential site for Camino walkers. Here is the relevant quote “From the moment we entered Castile and León, the route markers changed. Someone with little common sense removed all the existing markers and replaced them with a metal model, inappropriate for a pedestrian and cycling route that is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

In the photo above you see a new sign and an older post marker. The post is probably 10-20 or more years old. It is pleasantly weathered and has a pretty Camino shell icon on the side. It will look the same after another 20 years.

The new sign is a couple of years old tops. As you can see people do mess with them. Plus they are ugly even when undamaged. And they get filled up with those pesky stickers.

And keep them off my lawn too!

April 25: Travel and Walking Day, Santo Domingo to Belorado

Miles walked: 8.8

Cumulative miles walked: 131.3

Flights of stairs climbed: 15 (many more than that downhill)

We did the same today as yesterday to make our walk the length we enjoy, i.e., we took a taxi to cut the 13 miles to about 7.

Walked about 3 miles and came to one of the best bars ever, in Villamayor del Rio (“main village of the river”).

We loved the bar because: they made our fried eggs and toast with a smile, coffee was amazing, the bar appeared just when we really wanted to stop, it was decorated with flags reminding me of my dorky hobby of learning geography including country flags. Mostly it reminded me how many I’ve forgotten since I haven’t been doing my flashcards while on the Camino. Believe it or not, we stay too busy! Sometimes we are busy resting, but … It’s gotta be done.

When we were leaving the bar I told the people running the bar and kitchen how much we liked the coffee and they beamed and told us “it is Colombian coffee.” The cups said “Candelas” brand.

The walk itself? Well, there was maybe a mile that was quite nice. But all the rest was on a wide path that followed just feet from a busy, noisy highway. It was pretty country and beautiful weather, but that traffic noise is tiring, probably our least favorite walking day. (The part we missed in the taxi was along the highway, too. The true pilgrims endured that the full 13 miles.)

After we got into our place for the night in Belorado (Hostal Punto B), we went for lunch. The best meal we’ve had so far. More about that in a separate post!

Now, true to routine, we are in the bar across from our hotel blogging and listening to music. American blues mostly. Very nice.

Part of the walk today that was not along the busy highway

Inside the best bar ever: Albergue Bar Tienda Villamayor.

I was skeptical this would be a place for breakfast because it was called “Tienda” on Google maps. That means “store”. Turned out it was a store, too. This shelf was its entire stock. But enough to make dinner in an albergue kitchen.

Leaving the bar/tienda. Side entrance. The owners probably live upstairs.

A statue in Villamayor del Rio: Santo Domingo with the famous Santo Domingo chickens. Read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Domingo_de_la_Calzada_Cathedral Note: we tried to go into the cathedral yesterday, but it was temporarily closed. I’d love to see those chickens but probably never will.

Shortly before we arrived in Belorado we ran into this cheerful young pilgrim we had walked with briefly two or three days ago. He’s German. I asked him what city he was from and he said Leipzig and added that Leipzig was in eastern Germany and had been in East Germany when that existed. He then added that he was born 10 days after the wall came down. He said that when the wall came down, his mother was so pregnant with him that she wasn’t able to leave her house to celebrate and go to the other side. She was fearful it would not last and they’d be walled up again before she had a chance to cross.

April 24: Travel and Walking Day, Nájara to Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Miles walked: 6.7

Cumulative miles walked: 122.5

Stairs climbed equivalence: 0 (but lots of fairly steep downhill). We are on the 4th floor in our hotel but (yay!) there is an elevator, so I won’t get any stair walking in at the hotel. However, Charlie is taking the stairs!

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, where we are tonight, might be translated Santo Domingo of the Road. Or perhaps Saint Sunday of the Road.

The 13 miles between Nájara and Santo Domino was more than we semi-pilgrims wanted to do, so from our hotel this morning we headed for the taxi stand by the bus stop, got a taxi, and asked him to take us to a point 7 miles along the Camino.

The point where we asked him to let us off was a place we remembered from being here in 2013 and 2014: a large golf course surrounded by hundreds (thousands?) of condominiums of various styles. In 2013, only 5 years after the 2008 economic collapse that was devastating to Spain, this place was a ghost town. Before the collapse, there had been a huge building boom in Spain but then the money ran out and we saw so many deserted constructions sites then. This place was one of them and was particularly shocking to us. So, we were curious to see it 13 years later. We were glad to see it is no longer a ghost town. Most of the condos looked like they were being maintained pretty well. I asked the taxi driver about it and he said it’s usually fairly empty this time of the year but in the summer it fills up. So, it is now a vacation destination for Spaniards, because of the golf course. Here is the video Charlie made about it in 2013: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jAUUPEjnhH53Z6JR8

Condos by the golf course today. There’s even a cute little playground and a swimming pool.

A steady stream of peregrinos walking into Santo Domingo

The classic Camino photo. I particularly love this part of the walk. Strangely, though we are still in La Rioja, no vineyards today, which is fine with me!

For the sake of truth in advertising, we do walk through some places like this, industrial area before getting into town.

But Santo Domino, population 6400, is a vibrant little town. This is in front of the bar where we are now blogging.

Here’s the inside. We walked around town a while to find this bar — looking for one with good music and this is a winner! We love blogging and listening to good music. Today, an interesting mixture of American and Spanish pop music, seems mostly from the 80s. Love is All Around (Wet Wet Wet), Like a Prayer (Madonna), I Was Made for Loving You (Kiss), I Will Love Again (Lara Fabian), I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston), Friends Will Be Friends (Queen) can be perfect if you are in the right mood. The bartender has been singing along. The Spanish seem to really like American music. Who can blame them?

We really like our hotel: Rey Pedro I. She proudly showed us some exposed wall in the sitting room downstairs — part of the city wall from the 14th century.

And on a sad note. We thought we’d switch things up and have Indian food at the place next to our hotel. Disappointing food, but the sad part was what was showing on the TV while we ate. It’s hard to get away from the depressing news. Here is the Spanish president responding to Trump’s attempt to get Spain out of NATO.

To give you an idea of the bar culture in Spain. In Google maps I typed in “bar near me” and this is what I got. We checked out about half these bars looking for the one with the right music! Kind of embarrassing just poking your head in the door and then leaving, but worth it. Most places just had televisions going. As Charlie mentioned in a previous post, bars here are really community gathering places. At least three I poked my head into had old men gathered around a table playing card games. Currently there is a family in the table next to us with a child. These are really tapas and coffee bars that happen to also sell alcohol. You rarely see heavy drinking in Spain. Public drunkenness meets strong disapproval. PS. The red line at the top of the map is the Camino. It goes through the old town and misses a lot of the vibrancy of Santo Domingo. However, it is a camino stage town so I’m sure many pilgrims explore the town well.

ccPix

I’m always on the lookout for interesting Camino markers, a little set of three.

Haystacks

If you saw “The Way” you might remember the scene in the haystacks. On our 2013 Camino we were excited to see them, looking just like in the movie. And there were a lot of them. This year we have seen only a few and they seemed old and deteriorating. One we saw was being taken down and hauled away. I guess new technology has made them obsolete. In previous Caminos (more northern ones) we saw the hay in wheels that were enclosed in plastic, keeps them drier I guess. In fact, during a previous Caminos I uncovered a sinister plot involving them. I’ll say no more.

Back in the 1960s in LA I used to watch wrestling from the Olympic Auditorium. And “Whoa, Nellie!” Dick Lane was a great announcer and Gorgeous George really put it to the pencil necks. I don’t remember him wrestling at the Olympic but these photos make me think of Haystacks Calhoun.

These guys were all fascinating characters.

April 23: Walking Day, Navarrete to Nájara.

Miles walked: 10.7 (a little over a mile of that has been around Nájara).

Total miles walked to date: 115.8

Flights of stairs climbed (equivalence): only 22

We were on the trail by a little before 7:00 this morning. The earliest we’ve gotten out, I think. Trying to beat the heat. It’s been unseasonably warm here. Highs in the 80s. Very hot in the sun. However, it wasn’t quite so hot today (76) and there was a brisk wind so we were actually kind of cold. No complaints!!

We met a nice couple from Ottawa, Canada, today who matched our pace pretty well. We ended up eating breakfast together in Ventosa, about 4 miles from the beginning of the walk. They were excited to learn about ordering fried eggs and toast. (It took us quite a while of camino-ing to realize we could ask for things not advertised on any menu. They hadn’t yet realized that.)

So, it was a mostly typical day on the Camino: up, walk, breakfast, walk, get to our town, find our hotel, be told it’s too early to check in but we can leave our pack, go to find a place for lunch, eat a nice menu del dia, go back to the hotel to check in, get to our room, unpack a bit, rest a bit, shower, rest some more (maybe even take a nap), set up pack transfer for tomorrow, go out for a stroll, look for a bar and have a light supper snack, blog. Soon we’ll go to bed, hopefully sleep well, and start it again tomorrow. Good thing we like this routine.

Two out-of-routine things did happened. (1) I’ve gotten a pretty bad blister on my little toe. So a visit to a farmacia for some mole skin to pad it (recommendation from my new Canadian friend as we were commiserating about our blisters). And (2) Charlie’s neat foldable hat blew off his head while we were crossing a bridge and it fell into the river. Irretrievable.

One more photo of where we stayed last night in Navarrete. Charlie walking up the steps to our albergue after we were done with blogging.

Leaving Navarette this morning. We had a cat join us for a while.

We’ve already walked alongside miles of vineyards. La Rioja is famous for its wines. And often when we see vineyards, nearby will be an olive grove. In the above photo, grapes on the right, olives on the left, and pilgrims piling up in the middle.

Can you spot Charlie’s hat? It doesn’t look irretrievable in this photo but there was quite a bit of water flowing on both sides of the river. He dropped it near a little island in the mddle.

Poor little hat seen from above through telephoto lens.

CpcPix

Just after sunrise, walking through huge vineyards.

Out before sunrise which is not until 7:15 because of Spain’s whacky time zone, thanks Franco.

Massive vineyards to make the La Rioja wine.

We walked by several wineries like this one. We often see olive tree orchards beside the vineyards. This olive tree looks very old based on the size of its trunk. I liked the topiary style pruning.

This is the bar in Ventosa where we had breakfast, our usual fried eggs and toast.

Here is the inside of the bar. You can see Wynette, or Dorothy as she goes by here, going to the table we are sharing with a Canadian couple we met on the trail. Of course, we apologized for the abominable behavior of our country towards Canada.

Every bar has an ice cream freezer like this, nothing special there, but …

On the other wall I see this. What? Gelato in La Rioja? I have never seen anything like this in a Spanish bar. The blue one is *nube*, cloud, or in this case, marshmallow. So how is this sourced? Isn’t it a lot of work to make gelato? And 12 flavors? Right behind the little white truck that brings the daily bread delivery to the bar is the refrigerated gelato truck?

The Zia Symbol

We have the following patch on Charlie’s backpack — the pack we carry on the Camino with things we need for the day.

I had it on my back pack the past few caminos. Over the years we’ve had a few people stop us who recognized the Zia symbol. It happened again today. We were sitting in front of our albergue drinking coffee and a woman came up and said “I saw your Zia symbol”. She then held out her arm to show us her tattoo.

She said she grew up in Santa Fe and her father still lives there. She moved to France when she was 20 and has lived there ever since. (She looked to be 40 to 45.) She said she had met 3 people on the Camino this year who are from Albuquerque. We haven’t met any (other) New Mexicans yet.

April 22: Logroño to Navarrete.

Miles walked: 9.0

Flights of stairs equivalent climbed: 44

The first mile or two out of Logroño was through the city. The next 4 or 5 miles were along a long green path that ended in a gigantic park beside a reservoir. A huge very nice dog park, a huge very nice children’s playground, lots of forest and picnic tables and such. Impressive. Then we walked alongside some vineyards. And then we walked a mile or two on a path next to a huge noisy freeway (what they call an autopista). Then finally into the cute hill town of Navarrete.

We are staying in a private room in an albergue. It’s nice being back in pilgram-land after a couple of days of isolation from that in our apartment in Logroño.

The day in photos: