Today was a little diversion day. Ron last night decided that he wanted to go and look at some local monasteries just outside of Nájera, 18kms away. It is a secondary pilgrimage route that can be taken but as we only found out about them last night we decided to take a cab out to them and then walk back to Nájera and stay another night before continuing onto our next stop Santo Domingo.

The monasteries of San Millan de la Cogolla are quite significant in their historical context. I’m not going to go into much detail but if you’d like to read more about it you can read Ron’s blog here or Wikipedia here. Sorry, it’s too much detail to go into here on my blog and I don’t have the energy to summarise all the info we took in today.

We caught a cab out just after breakfast which took just under half an hour. The monasteries are located up in the foothills of the mountains. The oldest of the two sits higher and dates back to the 6th Century where Millan de la Cogolla decided to become a hermit in the caves there and founded the monastic lifestyle here in Spain.

A historic stone building resembling a chapel, surrounded by trees and greenery, with a clear blue sky in the background. — The upper monastery, The Monastery of Suso

This is where the caves are where that San Millan first inhabited and since then there’s been many additions through the centuries which can be seen in the style of the brickwork and architecture throughout.

A view of a historic building with a bell tower, surrounded by trees and a pathway, set against a cloudy sky. The structure showcases traditional stone architecture, with a green lawn in the foreground. — The lower monastery Yuso on the right

We went on a tour of the two buildings in with a large group of Spanish speaking tourists so it was of course hard for us to follow what the tour guide was saying. We did end up with brochures and paraphernalia to read all about it so we could kind of follow what was going on and been said. The building itself is owned by the state now but there is another site nearby that houses an order of monks which means that there has been monastic life inhabiting the area for centuries.

Interior view of a cloister with arched stone columns and a glimpse of greenery in the central courtyard. — The cloister of Yuso

The church of the monastery was very elaborate with much gold everywhere. All very big and grand.

Elaborately decorated entrance with gold accents and intricate designs, leading into a softly lit hall. — This door we passed through to get into the church, looking back out from where we came from

Interior view of an ornate church with a vaulted ceiling adorned with intricate frescoes and gold detailing. The wooden pews line the sides, featuring framed paintings, leading to a central altar area with decorative elements. — The sacristy, just a little more elaborate than my local parish

Interior view of a richly decorated church featuring a golden altar, ornate artwork, and intricate gates. The space is illuminated, highlighting the architectural details and religious statues. — The main altar

Interior view of a historic church featuring ornate wooden pews, a beautifully decorated altar, and intricate architectural details with arches and columns. — The choir and the organ top left

Interior of a church featuring ornate golden altars with sculptures and religious figures. — The back of the choir and its distinct lack of gold

The photos don’t do the size and scale of the church any justice. These ornate carvings were just enormous, and gold everywhere.

Intricate golden altar in a church, featuring ornate carvings and religious statues, set against a stone interior. — Looking at the back of the choir straight on

An interior view of a chapel featuring a decorative altar with a painting of an angel, a stone baptismal font, and a wooden enclosure. — The baptismal fonts, not much gold splashed about here

Interior view of a historic church featuring high stone columns, an ornate altar with religious paintings, and intricate vaulted ceilings. — Ron standing against the pillar giving some perspective of the size and grandeur of this place

Ceiling of a room featuring a geometric design with a circular pattern and intricate details, including decorative elements and a window on the side. — A new design for my bathroom ceiling

A wooden cabinet with two open doors showcasing several old, leather-bound books neatly arranged on shelves inside. — Some very, very, very old books

And that was that for the guided tour in Spanish. We left our tour group here as it was 1pm and we wanted to get walking back to Nájera in time before it got dark. Why we decided to walk back I don’t know but it was a nice enough day to do so and we didn’t have our big packs on so we thought we could hoof it back into town pretty quickly. There is a Camino path out to this place as it’s a secondary pilgrimage so we looked for arrows pointing the other way and fudged our way back as best as we could.

A winding road surrounded by lush greenery, stone walls, and an overcast sky, with a tree leaning over the pathway. — Blue skies!

A person walking along a dirt path bordered by trees showing autumn foliage, with a field on the right side. — We started of walking back through fields

I was a little concerned walking back into town as I didn’t want to be walking on the shoulder of the main road close to cars passing by. Luckily we found the path very quickly and were directed through some fields to the next town. From there it was through vineyards all the way and quite boggy in places. The local landscape around here seems to be a red brown mud and after the rain it was quite slippery and boggy underfoot.

A person walking along a leaf-covered path in a rural field, surrounded by autumn trees and mountains under a cloudy sky. — Looking back to the mountains we’d just come from

A dirt pathway runs through a vineyard, bordered by rows of grapevines with autumn foliage, under a cloudy sky. — Bogtown

We found it quite difficult to navigate ourselves back with the arrows for the way to the monastery pointing the other way. Coming to an intersection it was hard to tell which way to go and as the path isn’t used much there were no footprints in the dirt showing us which way pilgrims had come from. We did end up getting a little lost at one point but thankfully Google Maps has even these small dirts roads between the vines in the vineyards marked out so I was able to pull up Nájera and navigate our way out. Our boots were absolutely caked with red mud by this point.

A winding dirt path traverses a hilly landscape, surrounded by green fields and distant mountains under a partly cloudy sky. — Looking back

Google directed us to the top of this hill and we got a marvellous view looking back at the landscape and where we’d walking from. I was relieved at this point that Google was getting us out of this quagmire. The road eventually turned to asphalt which made the walking back into town a lot easier.

A person standing on a dirt path surrounded by trees, looking towards a distant town under a cloudy sky. — Home ahead

Nájera came into view and funnily enough we were directed down the road that we’ll be walking out of tomorrow morning as we continue our way on the Camino. It was a welcome site and the hotel we’re staying in wasn’t far ahead.

That’s it for me today folks. An interesting diversion to our Camino and a good days walk in the sunshine as well. Tomorrow we head to Santo Domingo and have about a 22km walk ahead of us. Tomorrow’s forecast is for some more sunshine. Yay!

Thanks for reading.

For a map of today’s walk you’ll find it below.

Buen Camino! 😊

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