Allison Cowie

Rabé de las Calzadas to Castrojeriz / 17.94 miles I’m writing this after 3 days and 56 miles, so I’ll keep it short… Day 12 was long but strong. My legs felt great all day, and my pace was reasonably, appropriately slow. I started the day under starlight. It was the coldest morning yet —…

Burgos to Rabé de las Calzadas / 8.76 miles It felt SO good to be back on the trail today after three days in Burgos, where I recuperated from a cold. I eased into things today with an under-nine mile walk in case my symptoms returned, but I’m feeling healthy, strong, and ready to keep…

Azofra to Redecilla del Camino / 16.65 miles I continued with the 22-minute challenge on Day 10, actually averaging closer to a 24-minute pace plus occasional short breaks for photos, water, etc. The steady pace felt sustainable, and while I still had occasional knee tendinitis on steeper downhills, it felt like something I could live…

Navarette to Azofra / 14.4 miles Day 9 was the first day of my walking challenge from Jeff, which was to walk no faster than a 22-minute mile (and preferably slower) pace all day. Having this challenge in front of me made it more fun to go slower, and I was pretty amazed at the…

Logroño to Navarette / 7.96 miles The Stingy Nomads itinerary I’m following had a short day built in this day, which I was very ready for after pushing the pace irresponsibly the day before. The walk out of Logroño was underwhelming. Much of it was through a city park, which was a nice park, but…

Los Arcos to Logroño / 17.5 miles This was the longest day yet on the trail, and it was a tough one — especially from miles 5 through 10, when the trail just felt unending. The morning started off well. I began walking before sunrise, so I got to see the fields light up around…

Estella to Los Arcos / 13.58 miles Estella was an A+ stop. Beautiful town, great albergue, plenty of rest time. It was also a big milestone to reach, because a mile out of town lies the famous wine fountain of the Camino! I reached the fuente del vino around 8:15am and there were already a…

Puente la Reina to Estella / 14 miles This was a good day. I was worried how my quad strain would do today, and tried to take it easy on the pace. Looking at my mileage splits, I still ended up averaging around a 20-22 minute mile – too fast. But, I took more breaks,…

Pamplona to Puente La Reina / 15.4 miles Day 4 started before dawn. After scarfing down a protein bar and a banana among the barracks at the albergue, I walked out the door and immediately met Andrew, my new Romanian friend who hikes in fashion sneakers. We made our way together from Pamplona’s historic center,…

Larrasoaña to Pamplona / 9.4 miles Today was an easier day of walking. I got to my albergue at 11am after leaving LarrasoaNa at 7:25am. It was good that I got here early. Once again, every private albergue was booked up, and I was relying on getting to the public albergue early enough to get…