Tárrega to Linyola, 25 km

Elevation gain 24 m

Elevation loss 133 m

Total distance 107 km

We were joined in the albergue last night by a Spanish guy and his nephew who are from Barcelona and had walked the camino from the city, although they are taking a different variant to us. They are the only pilgrims we have seen thus far.

Today is a little fresh as we set off and the sky is speckled with fluffy cloud. The forecast is for sun all day. We reach our first track after a very short while and are greeted by a bunny on the path.

We follow very distinct arrows, but I’m a bit anxious because they are taking us in a very different direction to the track that I had downloaded. I keep faith and eventually the two tracks meet at about 5 km.

We are walking through cereal crops interspersed with groves of olives and almonds. All very precisely laid out for easy harvesting. The track is wide and stony – access for farmers. The sun is rising in the sky. it’s all very peaceful.

I’m feeling very slow and uncoordinated this morning. Nothing specific is hurting but there are a few aches which I suppose isn’t really surprising. Luckily no one seems to mind taking it easy.

There are fruit trees are planted extremely close together in espalier fashion, in long long rows. We see apples and pears growing like this. The edges of the fields are full of stunning poppies and the wildflowers are putting on a lovely show.

Some of the apples and pears are growing under netting and we can’t work out why this should be. Surely this fruit is robust enough to look after itself.

Marilyn and I are having a bit of a plant identification walk this morning. It started with taking photos of the different types of cereal crop to see if we could distinguish them, which we could. We are taking pictures of every plant we don’t know the name of and looking it up – it’s making a slow day even slower, but it’s great fun.

We reach the outskirts of Tornabus at 10 km. It seems a very clean and tidy town with more orchards on the outskirts and very well kept properties. We stop for a drink and a thorough adjustment of my pack straps to make them all even.

I’m really impressed with the town, especially as they had a fresh fruit and veg stall which was glorious (and I bought some cherries).

After passing through a tiny village with no services we reach La Fuliola at 14 km and another tiny village at 15.5. Although we have been road walking for a good while there has been virtually no traffic and the scenery is just stunning all the way. These villages really help to break up a long stretch. Variety is the spice of life!

We have seen our first stork today which was cause for much excitement. At 19km we unexpectedly come across Castell del Remei, an historic wine cellar – the oldest in Catalunya according to the blurb. It is a stunning complex of buildings. A wedding party emerges from the chapel as we arrive. We obviously call in to take a break in their glorious grounds. There is a bar, wine tasting sessions, a restaurant, cellars and lovely gardens. It is a beautiful place. Sadly I don’t dare order a glass of wine on account of the mounting heat and the fact that we still have more than an hour to walk. A chilled Fanta has to suffice.

I can’t tell you how fabulous was our visit at Castell del Remei. The two young staff members were friendly and very very kind. They provided us with a lovely sello for our pilgrim’s passports and gave answers to all our many questions about the surrounding countryside. They explained that the covers on the fruit trees were there to protect the fruits from the regular hail storms that occur in this region and which can quickly destroy an entire crop. Having experienced the hail on my bare arms twice now, I can thoroughly understand this precaution. It must be very expensive to set up though.

From Castell del Remei to our stage end is entirely on gravel track. The break has given me a bit of a boost and the next 6km aren’t too strenuous.

The scenery has remained pretty much the same all day – very beautiful and very flat, although we can see some mountains in the distance which may or may not be the Pyrenees.

We can see our destination of Linyola in the distance, a long way off. This isn’t the best way to approach a town – when you can see it on the horizon it seems to take absolutely forever to reach, whereas if it’s suddenly in front of you when you round a bend it’s a wonderful surprise.

The afternoon has become very warm. There are clouds but none that stop the sun. Fortunately there is a gentle cooling breeze so the day has turned out to be just about perfect.

I’ve noticed in recent times, particularly on Camino, that my scalp burns quite easily where my hair parts. I hate wearing a hat – it makes me too hot – I always wear my homemade visor which is great for shielding my eyes and keeping my hair out of my face but leaves my scalp exposed. Just the day before I left for camino I had the brainwave of making a headcover that fits on top of my visor. I put it on for the first time today and it’s perfect. Made out of Buff fabric is has some sun protection and was not in any way hot.

Seeing our first stork this morning was a delight. But it was a long way off so I didn’t get a very good shot which is a bit disappointing. As we approached the castle however there were many storks nesting in the surrounding trees, which we don’t see that often as we normally spy them on church towers. I managed a couple of shots that I am delighted with. It makes carrying my camera absolutely worthwhile. It may not be worth its weight in gold but it’s worth its weight in the delight of being able to use a 30x lens and catch images that my phone would fail to.

We reach Linyola at around 25 km. The outskirts of the town are little bit sad – there are lots of new boxy buildings but none of them have been quite finished. I’m sure there is an old town which will be much more charming.

There is limited accommodation in Linyola. We enquire about an apartment but it is taken. The owner kindly offers us a room in her house and we agreed over the phone yesterday that Marilyn and I would bunk up in a double bed with a single for Paul. It’s a bit of a shock though when we arrive and realise how tiny our room is. We will be doing a lot of shuffling around eachother this evening!