Day 9: Navarette to Azofra (Sunday 3rd Oct)

Another shorter day in order.  I´d been on the road for 1.5hrs and the first coffee stop was Ventosa! Sunday and not much open but the Spanish understand the NEED for coffee ;-) on to Najera for lunch then finish at Afroza - 23km again today - was cooler but warmed up - a stunning sunrise! At Najera - hmm its so ugly! But set in stunning backdrop! Too many rocky paths from Ventosa = fekin painful throbbing feet - resting for lunch then another 6km to Afroza and day 9 will be done N dusted - the rocky tracks are serious meat pulverisers on the feet and create havoc!! I arrived in Afroza - 6.5hrs 23km 35mins break and TOO MUCH ROCKS.....my feet hurt so bad if anyone tried to massage them I would likely punch them in the head!!! Oh that's right I'm a Pilgrim....so I'd still punch them in the head!! Hehe hehe day 9 DONE!! I´m not sure I´ve ever experienced such pain in my feet - it´s not blisters, it´s the pulverised sole´s (muscles, tendons, nerves etc) and it makes it almost impossible to walk the pain shoots through your feet and almost cripples you in an instant. Shorter days hopefully will give them time to mend & repair a little.  Azofra is a quiet small village but with a very new Alburgue and beds down 60 people with only 2 beds per room - a luxury!! Still communal bathrooms and toilets. Resting & washing day as they have machines and was incredibly windy, so everything dries quickly.  My walking pal, Ed, and I met up with the young german guy Gabriel who had seriously overdone himself in the first 4 days and was currently 90% cripple - he had done a couple of 40km days and was in some places running.....his feet cursed him for it and was now barely able to walk 13km without stopping every 5mins or so - he was grey from pain and conceded he´d been a tad foolish, but hey when you´re 21....weren´t we all invincible??!! LOL painful lesson to learn....but after a pilgrim meal together and a couple of bottles of red wine it dulls the pain until morning...!