Camino de Santiago - Day 3 - Logroño to Belorado

Biking Day 3

• Logroño ---> Belorado
• 73.8 km (47.7 miles)
• 8 hours (with lunch-town visits-and breaks)
• Total Distance Traveled: 171.1 km (106.3 miles)

I woke up this morning as quickly as I could to get into the bathroom because there were a lot of people in the albergue and only 3 sinks. I left Logroño at about 8:30 am and took my time on the first part of the trip because I was tired and planned on biking a little further today. 

Leaving Logroño

The ride was tough for the first few miles, mainly because I was still waking up. I biked about 31 km ( 19 miles) to a town called Najera and stopped to have a coffee. 

still waking up 

coffee break

From there until the town of Santo Domingo de la Cazada was fairly easy, especially the last part. There was a section of really shitty dirt hills that was a little steep but not too bad.

no fun with all that weight on the bike

Leaving Najera

Pretty fields along the way

I made it to the town and had a big lunch and rested for about an hour. The weather to this point was overcast and brisk. I thought it was going to rain, but as I left Santo Domingo de la Calzada the clouds disappeared and it was sunny and warm. I debated if I should continue on and try to make it to Belorado, which was 22.1 km (13.7 miles) away.

Tough hill climb

picture explains just how I felt

coming into a small pueblo before stopping for lunch

I pushed forward and regretted it almost instantly. About 5 miles out of the town I passed 3 walkers and for the next 10 minutes I didn´t see any signs on where the camino was supposed to be. It is ALWAYS marked by yellow arrows. I was deep in the middle of wine fields and it was really hot. I finally came to a 4 way dirt intersection in the fields. I debated what to do then I followed a RED arrow up a steep road. At the top was a T-intersection with another red arrow pointing back to the town I just came from. I went back down the hill and backtracked to where the 3 people were at. The guy said you always go straight if there is no signal.

So i started back up the road to the 4 way cross and continued straigh. I biked for a few more miles and still saw no signs. I came to a paved section with 2 dirt roads going off it and took the paved section down the hill. I was really hot and tired and still had about 16 km (10ish miles) to bike. I ended up coming onto the next town and it had signals. Apparently I took the old camino and it hadn´t been marked for some time. I was back on the official camino and happy.

Carrying the shell to santiago

I got into the small town of Belorado and stopped at the first albergue I saw. I showered and cleaned my clothes then headed into the town to a health center and to buy some food. I wanted to make sure my wound was alright , because one section had a funny color. The nurses said it looked good and told me to keep it covered and clean it with soap and water. After I walked around and then climbed a large hill to see the city from above, then headed back to the albergue to eat and read.

Plaza in Belorado

Above the city

I am planning on biking 51.5 km (32 miles) tomorrow to a town called Burgos.