Abla to Huéneja 21km

I got up very quietly, having packed my bag the night before, I just had to lift it out to the lounge then get my sleeping bag and a few things off the bed. the hospitalera was up and organising breakfast for us, we had the choice of toast, cheese, jam and coffee and tea. She asked if it was ok and I said in my best Spanish that it was just like being at home, she seemed very pleased at that response.

We set off in the darkness, our way illuminated by the street lighting until we reached the edge of town. The path was tarmac and easy to follow but we still used our head torches until it began to get light. After a couple of hours we reached a small town called Fińana and were delighted to discover that there was a cafe and that it was open. So, like good hobbits, we had a second breakfast of coffee and toastada.

We didn't stay too long, it is good to stop roughly every couple of hours for 5 or 10 minutes but the longer you sit down the harder it is to get going again, and you begin to stiffen up a bit. The next section of this stage was about 7km and we walked it reasonably quickly, this time it was mostly dirt/gravel paths through farmland and open countryside. We had to step off the path for 10 minutes whilst a herd of goats were being driven along the path. The landscape looked very much like the backdrop to a western movie of the kind I watched when I was a boy. I half expected a stagecoach to come along any minute.

We stopped at a pilgrim shelter for water and snacks - not the jelly babies alas, sadly, they were no longer with us...they had melted, there are pilgrim shelters at random locations along the camino. Basically it is a picnic table and benches with a canopy to provide shade from the sun, usually a wooden construction. Although there are not many of them, they are very welcome we you find one. On some stages of the camino there is not so much as a rock to sit on. Refreshed, we set off once more, the view as amazing, on the one hand it looked like we were walking through a desert, and yet there was snow on the mountains.

Eventually, we arrived in Huéneja, the albergue was an apartment in a building that was part of a school, naturally, it was at the top of a hill. We had to telephone for the code for the key safe but were soon in and sorting our stuff. Despite the fact that we were not the first to arrive, no one had claimed the room with just two beds in it so Ken and I bagged it. The main thing was that we would not have to be in the same room as Jorge, to be fair to him, although he was a very loud and persistent snorer, he was a nice guy and good company.

The albergue was quite small, there were three bedrooms, a lounge area and a bathroom, with a small balcony with a washing machine, the shower was the smallest shower I have ever been in.

Normally on the camino, if someone is using the washing machine, you just put your stuff on top of it to show that you are next, but one of the Italian ladies was presumably ignorant of this unwritten rule and put her stuff in before mine. I let it go.

By the time Ken and I got our washing done the washing line was full. However, this was not our first rodeo, we had both brought a length of paracord with us, so using our superior knot tying skills we made our own washing line at a corner of the school fence. We then went down the hill into the town to get some supplies and the menu del dia, and by the time we got back our washing was dry. The Italian lady's clothes were not.

It had been a good day for walking, it was only 21 km and the even the dried up river bed had been ok to walk on. Tomorrow's stage is graded as easy by Gronze, so that will make a nice change.

Two of the pilgrims are from Malaga, and they said that it was unseasonably hot, they would normally have been wearing a fleece or jacket at this time of year but were in shorts and t-shirts. The temperatures have been up to 39° so far, it has also been very hot through the night, no one is using their sleeping bags. Everyone seems to be planning on an early rise to try and keep ahead of the heat, it is expected to be in the 30s by 10am tomorrow. So, once again we were all in bed by 9pm.Leggi altro