Tag 8 - Logroño nach Ventosa

The group photo was from last night.

I woke up very early because I slept in a room with many others and most of them left around 6:00/6:30am.

The day begins for me with pain in the back of my right shin. At the spot that was broken 4 years ago. It is also slightly red. With a ton of Voltaren and two ibuprofen inside me, I set off at 7:00 a.m. The first few kilometers are through the city. I have a quick breakfast in a bakery that has an open baking room and you can see how they make everything fresh there. I continue at a snail's pace. I use the sticks more like crutches. I take a third ibuprofen and rub the spot with Voltaren again. After I leave the city, I continue west on asphalt roads. The pain is now almost unbearable and neither Voltaren nor the ibuprofen provide any relief. After 2 1/2 hours and only 6.6 km, I decide to give up. Before it gets even worse and I may have to give up completely, I prefer to listen to my body and call it a day. When I hear and then see a country road near the path, I try to get a taxi via Uber and freeNow, but no chance. I find a taxi driver from Logroño on Google, who immediately agrees and asks me to send him my location via WhatsApp so that he can find me. No sooner said than done, he picks me up at the spot about 25 minutes later. It's really hard for me to give up for today, but it's definitely the right decision, as I still have over 4 weeks to go until I get to Finisterre. The taxi driver is incredibly nice and on the way he tells me about some of the fates he has already collected on the Camino, but also about tourists who he drove to 7 places on the Camino in one day so that they could get stamps there. They didn't even walk 300m and then at the end they claim that they walked the Way of St. James. Unbelievable. But oh well. When I arrive in Ventosa at 11am, the hostel is of course still closed. It doesn't open until 1pm, so the taxi driver drives me around the corner to a bar right on the Camino. It was very entertaining for me, as lots of pilgrims I already knew came by and all sat down with me for a while, kept me company and wished me a speedy recovery. Everyone hopes to see me again in the next few days. At 1pm I go to the hostel, which is beautiful. It has a garden with a fountain. After I shower, I take the opportunity to do laundry again today. My clothes were completely covered in sand dust from the last few days. I enjoy the rest of the afternoon in the garden, put my feet up and hope that I can continue tomorrow. If not, I'll have to think of something. I'm not under any pressure in terms of time. I have almost two weeks' buffer before I have to be back in Germany, so I'll see if I can continue. How far I walk or whether I drive back to Logroño and have my leg examined there. The nurse from day 3 works in the hospital in Logroño and she has already offered to help and that if necessary I could stay with her and her husband for a few days and rest. We'll see. Wait and drink ice tea 😎
I have no goal tomorrow.
Cost of the day: Accommodation 16€ without breakfast Breakfast 5€ Meals 4€Taxi 48€