Started early and out into the first rain of the Camino so far! A chilly five-degrees. Headlamp on, aiming towards the lights of distant towns and walking into growing daylight. Accompanied by the spring scents that seemed intensified by the rainfall.

The day felt long, probably because it was. The rain came and went, swapping out for increasing sunshine by the early afternoon. And here’s me sounding like the shipping forecast.

Torres del Rio was a charming (twin?) town, with the eponymous rio / river crossed by another of these always-lovely senior bridges, and the town again, in classic fashion, somewhat rambling up and then back down a small hill. Can’t get enough of these places.

More interesting countryside, gentle hills changing from vineyards to dry pine forest and back again. After about 18km the small town of Viana, with a beautiful ruined church at one end of the Camino route. More open landscapes and a slightly interminable no-man’s-land of ring roads and subways before finally crossing a beautiful bridge – pictured below – into the fab city of Logroño. A highlight is the fairly stunning twin towers of Concatedral de Santa Maria de la Redonda.

Stats for today:

• 27.0km
• 533m up
• 588m down
• 2 provinces today, Navarre and La Rioja