April 22, 2026

Today Zazi (the woman from the UK) and I walked together again. We planned to start early, but a number of things happened (wet socks, sore toes needing to be taped, coffee shop not opening ‘til 7) and we didn’t get going until about 7:30, just in time for sunrise.

It was a bit cooler, hazy in the morning, breezy later. The Camino was a mix of walking through fields and more and more vineyards, by treed areas, and on roads and sidewalks.

About half-way between Sansol and Logroño is the town of Viana. Jerry and I stayed there last year. This year Zazi and I had a coffee and a bocadillo (small ham & cheese sandwich). On the way out we passed a church I think in ruins. It has no roof and isn’t quite whole, but … the light in it! It is magical. It has quite a number of frescos just out there and beautiful high columns and arches.

Best of all, a garden in back:

This is the garden:

In the garden there’s a small monument explaining that Joan Manuel Serrat is the adoptive son of the town of Viana, and a quote from a poem by Antonio Machado, a poem put to music by Joan Manuel.

This is the verse in full:

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.

We crossed from Navarra into Rioja shortly before arriving at Logroño.

I am now getting ready to sleep at the Winederful Hostel & Cafe. But a day on the Camino wouldn’t be complete without a picture of those beautiful red poppies I so love!