Atarfe

We had a good night's sleep, although I woke up about 0400, we had left the balcony door open slightly because it was so hot, and the room had cooled down. Rather than get up to close it, i just pulled the blankets up, as i had been sleeping under just the sheet. Our 25 euros included breakfast, whihc the nuns had left for us in the dining room, and so we sat with some other pilgrims and enjoyed coffee, toast and fruit.

The convent was on the southern edge of the city and we were heading north, so we thought about getting a bus to the edge of town, but it was a nice morning and so we decided to walk it. In many ways it was a dull walk going through the city streets but it also gave us a sense of what a beautiful city, especially as the streets were mostly empty, it was just beginning to awake.

It took an hour to cross the city, there was a park and then the pavement ended, so we sat on a bench and ate our bananas and had some water. Another pilgrim came along, his name was Hector, i think he was from Barcelona, he had left the albergue later than us but he was half our age, and his backpack was tiny so he was always going to pass us. we chatted for a few minutes and then he headed on.

The walk to the next town Atarfe, was easy going, mostly on tarmac, which is quick but eventually is sore on the feet and knees. Hiking boots are not really made to walk on tarmac for long, and there was little shade so by the time we got there we were beginning to feel the heat of the sun. Atarfe was about 10km from Granada, with Pinos Puente another 9km from there. Naturally, we stopped in Atarfe and like proper hobbits, we had 2nd breakfast (though technically it was our 3rd breakfast as we had stopped on the edge of Granada for a snack).

The walk to Pinos Puente was unremarkable and uneventful, the road was as straight as an arrow from Atarfe, the only snag was that there was zero shade, and by this time it was really quite hot. we were quite glad to finally arrive. Using the Gronze app we headed off to the albergue. we had not gone far when we saw Hector walking towards us, he had also followed the app but could not find the albergue. As we stood together on the side of the road looking at street maps, a guy pulled up beside us in a tractor. He said he was the hospitalero and that the albergue was closed for repairs. The next town was another 4-5 hours walk away with an incredibly steep (and long) ascent right at the end. Hector decided to head there, but Ken and I both felt that was too much for us.

We went back down the hill to the hotel that was on the main street, we booked a room, and then got on with all the daily tasks of the camino. The room wa sok, not luxurious, but it was another night not having to sleep in a sleeping bag and the toilet/shower was good. The hotel had a restaurant and so we went down for dinner, the food was excellent, we had two beers + 1 coke, with 2 free tapas, two generous main courses, 2 coffees and 3 bottles of water for 44 euros.

We had washed our clothes but there was nowhere to dry them, fortunately the technical fabrics dry quickly, and the sign for the hotel was right outside our window, so we laid our socks out on that to dry in the heat of the sun. Once we got our stuff packed, there was nothing more to do other than head off to bed.Read more