Los Llanos: in the clouds

The weather was the drama of the day today. When we woke up, the sky was grey, but we could clearly see everything around us from Órgiva below to Cáñar above. We had just finished cleaning our apartment and packing up our gear when we noticed the clouds that had been distant this morning were now distinctly closer. Within minutes, Órgiva disappeared , and then within seconds, we could barely make out the church just 100 meters away in Soportújar.

I started to wonder if the fast moving cars coming around blind curves on the short stretch of highway we had to walk from Soportújar to Los Llanos would be able to see us. Even on a clear day we have a lot of concerns about walking on that stretch of road.

We set out in our brightest orange jackets, but by the time we had hoisted our packs, the clouds had blown on through, and I’m sure we were clearly visible as we walked along.

On our way, we chatted about the good lunch we were going to have at the roadside venta just below our new spot. It would be great to have some variety after eating the same thing every day for a week. We were especially looking forward to some big salads. But as we came around the corner, the venta looked strangely deserted. There were no cars crowding the roadside pull-out like there had been last week. Oh no, was it closed? Looking it up on Google, we saw that not only was it closed today, it was going to be closed all week. What were we going to eat for the next four days? Ned generously unloaded his pack, turned around, and walked back into Soportújar to visit the tiny combo souvenir shop/grocery store. He came back with frozen vegetables, bread, tomato paste, eggs, and chorizo - the exact same thing we ate all last week, but we are grateful to have it. We also have some very handy staples we’ve been carrying around since we last saw a supermarket in Órgiva: milk powder (so much lighter than milk, no refrigeration needed, and this one even tastes good); unsweetened cocoa powder; a small jar of olive oil; and bread from the bakery vans.Læs mere