Carcobosso - Hostal Asturias 30 km

I was up and away before 0600, the first couple of km were on the road, and the turnoff to the countryside was well marked. This morning was the coldest it's been so far since I arrived in Spain, but I expect it to be colder once I got into Galicia

The path was very good, clearly marked and I felt quite energised and really enjoyed the walk. Kelly's guidebook said that you could basically ignore the yellow arrows as the camino no longer followed that route, though it would still get you there. I decided to follow his GPS, and although there were no arrows or way markers for the first 5-6 km it led me true. There were actually very few arrows on this section of the camino but for the most part it was pretty easy to follow, if the path only goes in one direction then that's the direction you have to go in - I'm sure there's a life lesson in that.

I noted in my journal that it was the best day's walking so far. I reached Cáparra in good time, and phoned the Hostal to pick me up, then spent some time taking photos, and making a short video for friends back home. I also spent some time taking photos for the steady flow of cyclists coming through.

As I waited for my lift I reflected on the nature of Empire and was reminded of Shelley's famous poem Ozymandias and the much quoted line "Look on my works ye mighty and despair!" It struck me that no matter how great are the works of the mighty, and there was surely no greater or mighty empire than that of Rome, all empires fall. Mighty as the Roman empire was, all of its mighty works have turned to dust, or lie as ruins for tourists to gawk at. So end all the works of man. The things that last cannot be measured in a share price, or carved in stone.

My lift arrived and off we went, the Hostal was nice enough, and my room was small but clean and it had everything I needed. the Hostal was basically a stopping point for truckers and salesmen so it was near the motorway but not near anything else, fortunately it had a restaurant and the food was good.

I had coffee with Rita, she was going to go in the taxi in the morning with her suitcase to Aldeanueva del Camino, I was going to walk it, but things didn't quite work out that way...so, with nothing else to do it was another early night of reading and listening to music.Read more