Tag 10 - Najera nach Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Eyes open. Do I get up? Do I stay lying down? Fear runs through me. What will happen to my foot?
I get up and the first feeling is good. I immediately take a painkiller and put cream on my foot. After getting ready, I set off at 7:20 a.m. It feels OK. There is pain, but it is bearable. After a kilometer, I take a short break to have breakfast. Then I walk a little further through the town until there is a long climb up into the vineyards, before a long, drawn-out walk downhill again. The pain gets worse downhill and I have to stop every now and then for a short while, and sometimes for a little longer. After the walk continues on level ground, the pain also improves. After 2 hours, I reach the first town. I go to a bar, drink a coffee, put my foot up and put cream on it again. Suddenly Ryan is standing in front of me. The American who lost the money on the first day. He had visited friends in Pamplona and therefore took a longer break there. I carry on. The next destination was Ciriñuela, 9 km away. I carry on, in freezing cold and with an ice-cold headwind, along the vineyards and fields. Today everyone is going faster than me. I don't want to risk anything and I get into a good rhythm, so that the pain becomes more bearable from time to time and I sometimes forget it completely. I didn't have a single conversation while I was running today. The last few kilometers are all uphill. But uphill is OK for the foot. When I arrive in Ciriñuela, I want to go to a bar, but none are open. No warming up, no putting my leg up, nothing to eat. But I still have cereal bars in my backpack, which I then eat and don't let myself get distracted at all and decide to carry on walking the next 6 km to Santo Domingo. There is another incline up from which you have an incredibly beautiful view over the valley to the next mountain range. Then it goes along a long valley. The pain is much worse downhill and so I only take very small steps. On the flat, along more fields, I take the next painkiller and then pick up the pace a bit. After the last climb of the day and a beautiful view of Santo Domingo, there was another final valley. Steep and long. Painful. About halfway there was an opportunity to rest for a bit and there I met a suffering Ludoviko from Italy. He had a lot of pain in his foot. Since I'm now carrying half a pharmacy with me, I offer him the creams and painkillers, which he accepts with infinite gratitude. After I even offer him a chocolate biscuit, he only addresses me as angel. 🤣 I continued down the valley. At a snail's pace, so that I could continue walking normally on the flat. In Santo Domingo there was a dreary industrial area, which then turned into a residential area, before you get to the old town and after a few hundred meters the municipal hostel was waiting for me. After showering and walking around town, I met Ludoviko again in the hostel. He was incredibly happy to see me again and told the people around me that I was the angel he had told them about 🤣 I'm meeting Hendrik (Jena) and Stephan (Stuttgart) for dinner. I met the two in the cathedral. A rooster and a hen live in the cathedral because of the legend of the chicken miracle of Santo Domingo. I'm not going to write the story here because it would be too long, but here's a link to it: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%BChnerwunder

The swelling in the foot has decreased significantly and the pain is at a very bearable level.

Ryan is in the room at the hostel again. He is really a very pleasant person to talk to and we want to have breakfast together tomorrow morning and then set off.

Hoping my foot will get better. 🙏
Cost of the day:
Accommodation 13€ Breakfast 6,30€ Food along the way 2€ Dinner ??