September 21, 2023
Nájera
Cañas
For the most part we had spectacularly good weather for our first week here, but today is a different matter as there’s rain on tap from mid-morning into early afternoon. It’s a situation that makes us thankful that today’s ride to Nájera is one of the easier ones of the tour - only 17 miles with minimal climbing, and probably just a normal walking day for the Peregrinos. I had several longer alternatives mapped out for consideration if conditions were better, but those are quickly scrapped once we wake up and confirm that it really is going to rain. We’ll try to window our ride around the weather and take the direct route.
We can stay in our current apartment until 11:30, and we can check in the new one in Najera as early as one, so we have a lot of flexibility. One strategy is to wait here until it’s time to check out and then go find a place in town to hang out until the rain passes on, which looks like should happen in early afternoon. With such a short ride and sunset at eight we have plenty of time to work with.
At 11 though it looks like a couple of hour gap is opening up if we leave right now and might follow us to Nájera, since that’s the direction the weather is blowing. So we act quickly and are on the street biking toward the center fifteen minutes later. Not long after that though we’re sitting under an overhang considering our options because almost as soon as we started biking it started showering.
We sit there for a few minutes, note that it’s not really coming down enough to scare us, and decide we might as well ride. We put our raincoats on for warmth more than anything and start biking east. Soon afterwards the showers stop and we make it about halfway to Nájera before they start up again and we decide that we should stop at a cafe in the next village just up ahead, Alesanco.
The situation in Alesanco is a repeat of the one in Santo Domingo. We lean our bikes against the wall under an overhang and take off our panniers before entering the cafe, and then look back at the street. It’s stopped again. So we bike on.
About three miles from Nájera the showers begin again and this time they continue until we arrive at our apartment. There’s no more shelter between here and there so the best we can do is to hide under a tree long enough for me to wrap my walking shoes that are exposed sitting on the back rack. It never rains hard though, and we aren’t seriously wet when we arrive. If this is the worst rain that hits us on the tour we’ll feel lucky.
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It’s just turning two when we arrive at our destination, take our turns shuttling our bikes up to our third floor apartment in the sufficient but slow and small elevator, and let ourselves in to our unit using the keypad combo we’ve been assigned.
We take a minute to marvel at the spacious place we’ll be spending the next two nights - it’s obviously the best place we’ve stayed in so far - and then quickly change clothes and head out again, back across the river to the restaurant we’ve picked out for lunch where we enjoy another fine, reasonably priced meal. I have lentil soup with chorizo as a starter followed by pork cheeks and chips, and Rachael starts off with potatoes Rioja style followed by a huge slab of salmon. That, together with dessert, bread rolls, water and a full bottle of Tempranillo sets us back 36€. I can’t believe it’s taken us all this time to start taking lunch as our main meal in Spain, because it works so much better than waiting until the ungodly last hour restaurants reopen for dinner in Spain. the fixed price menus available at lunchtime are cheaper, and it’s nice too that we aren’t the only diners for the first hour we’re there because normal folks don’t show up for dinner until nearly ten. It helps that our days are so short and we can count on arriving at our destination in time.
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It’s nearing four when we leave the restaurant. Rachael heads back to the apartment by way of the grocery store, while I stay in the old town for a look around as long as I’m over here already. Showers are just ending and skies are quickly clearing, and by the time I make it back to the room ninety minutes later they’re blue again - and from the forecast at least they’re destined to stay that way for the next two weeks straight.
At four the monastery opens for the afternoon so for 4€ I buy my way in and spend the next hour wandering around in amazement (photos to follow in separate post) and then head home myself.
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1 year ago
We hang around our spacious, comfortable apartment until around 6:30 when Rachael decides there’s still time for a quick walk if she hurries. She heads across the river to see how close she can get to those red cliffs, and comes back enthusiastic and committed to the idea that she wants to see more and will plan for a longer walk tomorrow.
And when I look at her photos and see the swarm of swallows or swifts swirling above the cliffs I wish I’d gone as well. There’s still tomorrow night though.
Ride stats today: 17 miles, 800’; for the tour: 168 miles, 9,200’
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2023 Bird List
197. Eurasian griffon vulture
Today's ride: 17 miles (27 km)
Total: 490 miles (789 km)
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1 year ago
1 year ago
And yes, we were glad we didn’t get wetter too, although we were never really worried about it. There were several villages along the way where we could have stopped and waited it out if it came to that.
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