Day 7: Torres del Rio to Longrono
- sarezend
- Apr 24
- 3 min read
The Bus, the Bus, the B.U.S.
Last night after dinner I spoke to the owner of the Hostel, Rafi, about calling a taxi in the morning to the town of Viana, about 10kms up the road as Jeff’s knees were still sore walking downhill and when leaving Torres del Rio, there is a climb then a steep decline. Rafi explained that a taxi would be too expensive, he wouldn’t feel right about it being $20 euro, so he opened his phone to look up the bus schedule. There was a local bus arriving at Torres del Rio at 8:10am. Rafi then opened his google map app, and showed me the 1 minute walk to where the bus picks up. I didn’t want to offend him, so I agreed to take the bus, thinking to myself, $20 euro was fine, but I’m on vacation and why not. I explained the predicament to Jeff, and without hesitation, Jeff said, sounds like we are taking the bus.
Torres del Rio is a town of 120 people. We are in the middle of nowhere, it appeared, and where there are no taxi stands, so taking a bus seemed normal. The next morning Jeff and I walked, exactly 2 minutes to the bus stop, where there was another pilgrim. We had met before in Pamplona, John, who was missing his wife. In Pamplona, while waiting to be checked in at our hotel, we met John and his wife Mary, who were approximately 70 years old, but very fit. Mary explained that they had been walking the Camino from their home town of Lyon, France. Mary said, we walked out our door, locked it and left 6 weeks and 3 days ago. But today, John was waiting for the bus, he was injured having shin splints, so he was busing to Longrono to meet Mary, and where they would rest a few days. We had met two French couples so far and they have been very nice to us Americans, not what I expected.
At 8:15ish, (8:10 Spanish time), the bus arrives, it’s a luxury touring bus, as nice a bus as I’ve seen. We get in, I tell the driver we are going to Viana, he nods and says $1.45, I gladly pay, and get on the bus for a 15 minute ride to Viana. Rafi was right, the bus was the right choice, I’ll need to send him a thank you note. Rafi called me Mr. Scott and I can say only good things about the hostel and service from Rafi and his staff. They were great, even offering a vegan food menu.
Viana, a city of 1200 people, is a little bigger and nicer than Torres del Rio. Jeff and I walk to the center of the city, find a hotel, and sit for breakfast. A good start to the day. An Australian woman, named Sam, walks up and introduces herself to us, talks for 15-20 minutes about her Camino experience and I look for the exit sign as fast as possible. Hahaha, it’s the Camino, people do this all the time.
Jeff and I leave Viana at 9:30am and arrive in Longrono at 12:00pm, just in time for lunch. That means Pintxos, and experiencing the Spaniards life. We take in 4 or 5 different Pintxos bars in two hours, and meet some very interesting people, including a woman, Marissa, from Bilbao. She likes soccer, or football in Europe and boy is she a big fan of the Bilbao football club. Please enjoy the pictures below:
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