The day was cool and overcast, but six degrees is a lot better than three, and there was no wind. I left by eight, and thought I’d have breakfast on the way.

The road wound sharply up through pine trees as we left Nájera behind. Again, once through the forest, the landscape was dominated by vines. It is hard to know how much insecticide goes into managing vines in any particular area, but the absence of birdsong was noticeable. We passed a few fields of other crops, but because there are no hedges, potential safe areas in which birds can nest are greatly reduced. My birdsong app noted a steep rise in numbers and variety in wilder scrubland.

We passed through Azofra (popn. 250), and while some people stopped there,  I pressed on. After another kilometer or so the path rose alongside a medieval column.

There was nothing to tell us about it at all, and the guidebooks are unclear about its purpose. It is medieval, may have been a boundary marker between territories, or in some way related to the administration of justice. And still it stands, a solitary, unmoved presence while life and its changes swirl around it.

The longest stretch today was between Azofra and Cirueña, about nine kilometres. For a while the broad, well-maintained path rose, but at the summit we could see the motorway below us, and our path running alongside it.

Mercifully that didn’t last long, and we started a very long climb. By now the vines had ceased, and the landscape was all huge prairie-like fields.

I tend to walk fast, not pressing myself to, but just because it is comfortable to go a something a bit over 5kph. So I catch up with a lot of people. I fell into walking with one young man who was going at my kind of pace. He was Raffaele, from near Lake Como, a physiotherapist in the middle of changing jobs. He had a month off, so was spending April walking the Camino – a feat that is only possible if you do 40 kilometres a day! So, while I was walking 21.4kms to Santo Domingo, he was planning to have lunch there and then walk another 22 Kms to Belorado.

I asked him what he would do if his body started protesting at such treatment. “Oh, I’ll do shorter distances”, he said. I was a bit relieved to hear him say that. I was talking about this plan of his with another pilgrim tonight over supper. Julie told me she had met someone who had done the Camino in this ‘go hard, go fast’ style when they were young, but had come back in later life to learn the Camino’s lessons, which can’t be rushed.

But Raffaele was a thoughtful young man, and a considerate walking companion – we talked and walked and were silent for a bit and then might talk some more ( a mix of English, Spanish, Italian and French made up our communication resource bank), so I am hopeful that he will gain from it as much as he can – it was clearly something of a life reset for him at a transitional point, and not just a race to the finish!

We said goodbye at Cirueña. He pressed on to Santo Domingo, and I turned into the village in search of a cafe. My 500 metre detour was rewarded – I found coffee, coke, and delicious egg and bacon sandwich all for 6.10€. My Camino app told me I had another six and a bit kilometers to go, and as I left the cafe the village church clock was striking twelve, so I judged I would be there about 13.15.

I was so energized by the food and drink  that I powered through the last bit of the stage and was walking into the cathedral square in Santo Domingo at 13.02.

I found my lodgings and booked in. A single room with wash hand basin, and clean and tidy shower and toilets for eight rooms. I showered and changed and went downstairs with a bag of washing. This hostal had good machine and a good dryer too, so by 15.30 I had a complete set of clean clothes! When you are constantly on the move finding the time to wash AND dry clothes is much more pleasing than it sounds.

After a bit of a rest and putting my feet up (literally – pillows at the foot end of the bed to elevate them) I got ready to go out to see the Cathedral. Going into the office to buy my ticket I found Julie, who I had met the night before and again on the road today. We went exploring the building and the cloister museum together.

There was (a lot of Spanish bling notwithstanding) a refreshing simplicity about the building – as you can see above the beauty of its East end was not obscured by a huge altarpiece. Those kinds of decorations were there a-plenty

but the nobility of the cathedral’s design was not obscured. There was so much of interest here that I could rabbit on for ever, so I will restrict myself to two highlights.

First, Santo Domingo’s tomb, a magnificent construction in alabaster. What was remarkable on top of the beauty of the tomb was that it was a double decker. In the crypt below is the actual sarcophagus of the saint surmounted by a reliquary holding, it is to be presumed some of his bones.

Two, the hen and the cock. There are legends around Domingo and miraculous healings and an intervening cockerel. Anyway, the cathedral claims to be the only church in Christendom which houses animals in the church. They have a hen and a cockerel in a gothic chickencoop.

After a tour of the cloisters, the two of us went for a posh coke in what used to be pilgrim hostel that Santo Domingo founded, but which is now a part of the very smart state run Paradour hotels.

A search for food followed, then, and an early night. A good day, crowned by the cockerel, a living reminder of what you discover when you slow down. Sleep well!