Gaudix to La Peza 23km

I had a great nights sleep and woke feeling really refreshed. It was a real treat to sleep in a bed with sheets and covers rather than on a bunkbed in a sleeping bag. I woke up before the alarm and woke Ken up 10 minutes later. Despite having packed our bags the night before it took us 35 minutes to get ready, having sneaked past the two Italian ladies in the other rooms. The building was sort of open plan with each room opening into another, there were no doors between the bedrooms and we had to walk through their to get to the lounge/kitchen/exit.

From last night's excursion, we knew that the camino went right past the cathedral, if there is a cathedral in the town it is usually the camino starting point. We had 23 km to walk today plus the 2 km to the cathedral. At least we knew the way in the dim light. On the way we met Raffa and his dad, they were heading in the opposite direction to an ermita, presumably to make an offering or to pray.

When we left the albergue the sun was just beginning to come up and the town looked quite beautiful in the early morning glow. We walked in the shade for most of the first couple of hours, it was cool when we set off and we warmed up with the day. The landscape was very beautiful, I especially liked walking through the woodland, the path was quite flat and easy to walk on, though that would change later. The badlands, as they are known were very reminiscent of the landscape in countless western movies that I saw growing up. It was not difficult to understand why the Spanish loved the American continent, it must have reminded them very much of home. As we get closer to Merida we will walk through the birthplace of Hernán Cortés, more about him later.

We stopped for breakfast after 8 km in a small town called Purullenna. By the time we got there almost everyone else on our stage had already overtaken us. The rude French lady and Jorge were already in the bar, so we dumped our backpacks and Ken went up to the bar to order our breakfast . Meanwhile the Italian ladies arrived and as Ken was speaking to the barman, ordering our breakfast, as he was doing that, one of the Italian ladies leaned past him, interrupted him and tried to give the barman her order. So rude.

I have written elsewhere that when I am abroad I am very aware that I might be the only Scottish person that someone meets, and that they might judge my country based on their interactions with me. So, I do my best to be friendly, polite, helpful and kind.

After breakfast we set off once more, we stopped in another 6 km in Graena hoping to get another coffee, although we had just had one, this would be the last place to get a coffee before La Peza which was about two and a half to three hours walking beyond that point. Sadly, when we got there all of the cafés were closed. We had no option but to walk on, we got to the top of a hill and found some benches in the shade and so we took off our packs and sat down to have a snack and some water. From there the road was good for about 3 km then we found ourselves once more on a dried-up riverbed, and so it got a lot more difficult, and felt never ending.

We came off that path onto a good wide flat tarmac road and so we managed to pick up the pace a bit and make up for time lost trolling along the riverbed. However, it did not take long for the road to began ascending, and it went up, and up, and up, and up, snaking its way over the mountains. It went steadily and increasingly steeply uphill for over 2 km before we turned off onto another gravel path taking us down into the town. It was also very steep and very slippy, and I almost fell several times, despite using my walking pole as a brake.

It was good to get into the albergue, which was very nice, although, as is common in many albergues, there were no locks on the toilet and shower doors, but at least the showers worked. The church bells seemed to strike every 15 minutes so I was hoping that they will not continue through the night.

There was not much in the way of food as the bars seemed to just do tapas and sandwiches. However, the albergue provided a communal meal prepared by the hospitalero, and it was excellent. A lentil and veg stew, salad, hot sausage and black pudding - though not, alas, Stornoway Black Pudding - with bread and wine.

Tonight we would be saying goodbye to some of the folks who had been walking the same stages as us over the last week, some we would be sorry to see go, and others...

We had two shorter walks over the next couple of days so there's no great rush in the morning, but it had been a long day and bed was definitely calling.Meer informatie