El Cubo - Zamora 32 km

I was up early for breakfast at the main albergue building and then Anita and I went along to the square to get the bus which was on time and ridiculously cheap. We were in Zamora within 30 mins, and the first thing we did was walk 40 mins to the Decathlon store as Anita was needing some supplies, whilst there I bought another long sleeved top and a warmer fleece. It turned out that the long walk uphill was the camino route we would be following the next day, so that was helpful, at least I now knew where I was going in the morning.

It was way too early for the albergue to be open so Anita and I toured the old part of town, and visited a museum. We had a great time, and great chat, once again I was struck by how easy she was to be with, with her nothing felt forced or strained, whilst there were silences, none of them were awkward, we were just enjoying one another's company. After our tour round the old part of the city we went to the albergue and sat and had refreshments at a very beautiful spot with amazing views just next to the albergue. I was so glad we had decided to do this, I don't know if I will ever be in Zamora again but I am glad we had this opportunity, and very happy to have spent the day with Anita.

The albergue was donativo and very nice, the hospitaleros were super friendly and helpful, and funny. The guy booking us in made a big show of being sorry for not realising I was Scottish, the wording on the cover of new UK passport ends with the word Ireland, and almost every hospitalero thought I was Irish. It got to the point when booking in I would start off by saying - "no Irlanda del Norte, no Inglaterra, soy Escocés!" The albergue is very clean and tidy with good facilities, including excellent toilets and showers and a centrifuge for the washing.

We had heard bad reports about the municipal albergue in our next destination so Anita was going to try and book us into a private albergue, unfortunately they were all full. Mirjam arrived safely, I was still trying to find a way of getting to know her better, so far it's not been easy, she is quite shy, but every minute I spend with her convinces me i should try. I already know that she loves coffee because she was carrying her own coffee maker, a woman after my own heart!

The 10pm lights out rule is enforced here so we all went to bed at a reasonable time, I plan to be up early and away as the temperatures for tomorrow are high from early morning.Read more