Belorado - San Juan de Ortega - 15 miles

Weather said it was 45 this morning so I put on my fur lined kitchen sink that I always carry in my pack. Felt really nice too.

Wanted a bite of breakfast and the sign said open at 0700 but they were late. Finally, I had a slice of cake, coffee , and juice. Ready to go.

Good walking early and I enjoyed the cool temperatures so I made good time for a couple of hours. After reaching Villafranca, the trail changed and the direction was up hill through a gully with plenty of potatoes and eggs to stumble around on. Up hill for the next forever until we reached a service road that must service the wind turbines. Saw a bunch and they do not put these things in valleys so it was a climb.

Ran into a lady from New Zealand at a cafe and we chatted about marathons until time to move on.

Shortly thereafter the trail was in the woods with no cafés and more rock. Anyway, I arrived in de Ortega, found a nice room and am relaxing. Lunch was the biggest bocadillo I've seen...must have used the entire loaf. Doubt I'll have much for dinner as that thing was huge.

Thinking about a trail name. Folks that hike the Application Trail use them as it retains a bit of privacy so I'm thinking about "whiskers " as my trail name. Thoughts and recommendations are welcome.

Pictures are of a church (I think) in the side of a hill, a long view down the road to de Ortega, a temporary café in the woods (she was nice to me...gave me a piece of watermelon for a donation, and took my pic for her Facebook page), the pajaro cafe (pajaro means bird in Spanish so where is this going?), part of the interior of the church in de Ortega, and a really weird painting at a rest stop. Go figure.

Enjoy, and feedback on my trail name , por favor.

PS - if you have any questions about my travels, let me know.Read more