Abla

Santiago's wife served us the usual Spanish breakfast. No sooner had she opened the bar that men from the village came in for their morning coffee.

Last night, as we walked around Nacimiento, we noticed that all the water downstream was coming from Nacimiento. Upstream from Nacimiento, the river bed was dry. So we had no issues walking down to the río in the morning, on our way to Abla.

Most of our walk today was on the riverbed.

Our first stop was in the tiny village of Los Gregorios. There was a bench, some shade, and we stopped to let our feet rest.

We continued on, and at Doña María, we stopped at the Ayuntamiento to get our first stamp. Doña María is nice little town. Just before we got to the Ayuntamiento, there was a fountain with drinking water. There is also a bar, but we didn't stop.

The next town, Ocaña, has a large elderly people's home. As we arrived in the town, two ladies were sitting on a bench and called out to us. One of them said something along the lines that if you have good legs, keep using them. We stopped to have a chat, and when we told them we were from Australia, the other said her daughter was currently in Australia on a contract.

Just after crossing under the autovía before Abla, we came across an aqueduct with seven arches. There was a sign with the name "Acueducto Molino los Arcos". The scant information we found about it indicates that it may have been built in the 16th century. It fed a flour mill.

We arrived in Abla at about 1:15pm. Knowing that everything closes at 2pm, we hurried to get groceries at the local supermarket, and then walked to the Ayuntamiento to get another stamp. The town is built on a hill, with the main streets running parallel, and any streets connecting them being either steps or a very steep inclines. The albergue is at one end of town, on the other side of where we entered the town. It is comfortable and well equipped.

By the time we had settled and went back into town, the only bar closest to us, at the Plaza Mayor, had closed. So we walked all the way to the other end of town to have lunch at the Restaurant Mirasierra.

After lunch we walked around town. We had returned to the albergue, and were getting ready to have a shower, when the door of the albergue opened and someone called out. Nely had told us that we would be the only ones in the albergue tonight, so we wondered who could it be who knew the code to get the key. It turned out to be two volunteers from the Asociación Jacobea de Almería-Granada, who had come to clean the albergue.

A nice day, meeting nice people.Read more