Elevation gain 742 m

Elevation loss 469

Total distance 90 km

The only traffic we pass on the way out of town are two mules ridden by a guy leading his young son. 

We are very soon on a narrow winding track on the edge of a gorge with a very beautiful view of the river down below.

Although it’s nice and cool at 07:45, I am soon generating my own heat with the effort of climbing the path.

It’s very peaceful up here with only the sound of birdsong and the water down below. The path winds around the gorge and leads us up and down through a variety of trees and shrubs including palms.  The sound of the river rushing by gets louder as we descend. 

When I can peek through a gap in the bushes I see that we are almost on a level with the river only about 2 m to my right.

After around 3 km, we cross a very wobbly suspension bridge that takes us over a tributary to the river and then there are some tricky steep steps to negotiate on the way down.

I’m not making very fast progress on this walk – there’s too much to look at. It’s a spectacular walk – I’ve already seen some large birds of prey circling above and there should be more to come .

High above I can see the tunnel arches of the railway line running through the canyon. Most unexpected – a bit like the train line that runs past the Caminito del Rey. 

As I huff and puff struggling up a very steep section of rocky incline I suddenly hear steps behind me and a very long legged energetic Spanish man came up behind chatted for a moment and was out of sight within a flash.

Having been far below the train line I am now very high above it. The walk is extremely tiring up rocky steps and steep slopes, it’s hard work, but when I’m able to look up from where I’m placing my feet, the views make every huff and puff absolutely worthwhile.

At 09:15 the sun has just climbed above the mountain and is making its presence felt. 

Finally I reach the top (I hope) after walking for two hours and less than 5 km and gained 235 m elevation

We then descend for some time and come to an L-shaped tunnel that is so low we have to remove our packs in order to get through. It leads to a concrete bridge over the very very very deep gorge with water roaring at the bottom.

And then we climb up some precarious steep rock steps on the other side. Luckily there are cables running up each side to assist with hauling yourself up. I emit considerable old lady noises heaving myself up the mountainside. 

When I think I finally have reached the top there’s an old ruined finca but I see a sign to walk on a recently scraped wide dirt track going back down the gorge.  It’s very very pleasant to be walking downhill on a flat surface.

But it’s not downhill for long and although the track is easy to walk there’s quite an ascent involved, whereas I expected I’d be going down into another sort of canyon. I wasn’t expecting this track at all and it seems very strange. I’ve checked my map so many times to make sure I’m on the right path and it says I am, but in all of the accounts I’ve read of this stage no one has mentioned this track. Hey ho

I assumed that I was way behind Nina because when I came to a point where I could see a long way ahead, I couldn’t see any sign of her. Then she messaged me to ask where I was. It turns out that she took a wrong path by the finca (which involved another down & up) and she was actually behind me.

This first part of the stage was undoubtedly spectacular but it didn’t deliver its promise of lots of vultures soaring overhead. I saw none other than the few on the way up – and it’s known as Cañon de las Buitreras (Canyon of the vultures) so I feel a bit cheated. 

Once we get back on track through farmland I see pigs and goats for the first time, and lots of sheep.

At 13.8 km we pass through a town with bar and it was such a treat to stop in the shade for a cold drink.  We’re both exhausted, having gained 466 m of elevation.

So it’s taken us almost six hours to get this far and we have another similar distance to walk to our stage end, although we expect it to be a lot less hard going. I think this portion of the stage has been the hardest I’ve ever walked. 

After we leave the café there’s a short stretch on the road before we’re directed onto a gravel track.  The unrelenting sunshine beats down from a pristine blue sky and there’s no shade. I’m once again going uphill – I thought we were done climbing for the day but apparently not. The surroundings are very green and mountainous. 

We find ourselves amongst walkers and runners taking part in some organised event. There must have been over 100 of them and we shared the same trail for the rest of the stage. The path changed to a beautiful narrow track amongst ancient trees and wild flowers.  

I was flagging by mid afternoon – the sun was really hot and there wasn’t much shade. One of the organised walkers hurried past me with his music blaring and I thought “I know what to do to revive my energy” and plugged into my camino playlist and suddenly there was wind beneath my wings and I flew over the next few kms. 

Getting closer to the stage end I reach a lovely shady area by the river and wait for Nina to catch up. When she arrives we decide to sit on the bank and soak out feet for a while. It was very cold and just what we needed to help us up the last big hill to our destination. 

We set off at 07:30 and arrived at 17:45 with not more than 90 minutes downtime. A really beautiful but hard day.

We stayed at Hotel Rural Inz-Almaraz (€56.70 for twin room) and ate in the restaurant below. Good food at reasonable price. 

I’m a day late posting this as I was absolutely exhausted on arrival and had not one ounce of energy left to do anything other than eat and sleep.  Quite some day!