Algerri to Tamorite de Litera, 24km

Elevation gain 144

Elevation loss 131

Total distance 164 km

The day starts bright and sunny with various shades of cloud, but nothing threatening. The forecast is for sun all day. After a quick coffee stop at the café by the petrol station on the way out of town, there is something less than a kilometre of walking on a busy road with no shoulder at all. I’m finding it quite stressful this year having traffic hurtling past so close They don’t seem to slow down for you, but they do pull out if they can when there’s no oncoming traffic. Soon enough though we transfer onto a nice soft track.

It may be a bit premature to share (and let’s hope the words “don’t speak too soon” aren’t relevant here), but my body seems to be coping well. My problems with my pack are sorted now and the bruises that I always get in the first few days on my collarbones and hip bones are subsiding. My knees give an occasional twinge, but nothing too onerous. But annoyingly I’ve developed an elbow strain which can be painful – but at least it doesn’t affect my walking.

The track is between wheat fields to begin with and then the orchards appear again, but now there are peaches, doughnut peaches, nectarines and apricots.

There’s more hair-raising road walking into Alfarrás at 7km. We’ve come across these blue lines painted along the shoulder on this Camino. I’ve never seen them before. Does anyone know their purpose?

At just over 10 km, we pass under the aqueduct which is the dividing line between Cataluña and Aragón.

And soon after we are finally off that awful road and onto a track. We had a long conversation with a farmer tending his nectarine trees. He showed us how many fruits were damaged and dead due to severe cold weather last week. He is planting new almond trees between the existing nectarines and next year he will cut down the nectarines as they are too much work, and he will grow almonds instead, which are a lot less trouble. We also engaged with a few other farmers who were all happy to answer the nosy peregrinas’ questions.

We have seen (and smelt) dozens of pig factories today and I’ve also seen a couple of livestock transporters filled with the poor creatures.

We arrived at Tamorite de Litera after 24 km and found our way to the town hall which is on the main road into town. A very charming Policia Local registered and walked us to the albergue. There are three rooms of bunks and three bathrooms with showers, but no other facilities at all. The building is also used by others – there was a yoga class taking place this evening.

There’s a Spanish pilgrim from Barcelona here who is 84. He’s walking half stages and taxiing to and fro. A lovely chap.

I am now including the accommodation information I have gathered from gronze.com and other sources. I will eventually edit previous posts to include this info.

Albergue de peregrinos , C. Residencia, s/n, 18 places, donative. Call ahead to ensure availability. Accommodation also used occasionally for visiting entertainers. From Monday to Friday, pick up the keys at town Hall (974 420 075). If closed ring Policia Local on 974 421 703. Holidays, weekends and/or emergencies: 672 575 075. No kitchen. Good-ish reviews.