We leave town walking on very quiet road between the Rio Bernesga and the rail line.  The river is raging and completely swollen after all the rain. 

We see a few more animals since swapping to the San Salvador. A few cows, sheep, no pig farms thank goodness. We saw almost no livestock on the Lana – I guess the land was farmed so intensively there was no room for animals to graze. 

We reach La Pola de Gordon at 8 km and stop for a drink. There are bars and shops here, but they’re not necessarily open!  We stop at a bar for a hot drink and when we leave I go to find a shop. There are actually two small supermarkets but neither is open until 10:00 and I’m not prepared to wait around for fifteen minutes on the offchance that they’ll open on time. 

After leaving the town, the scenery becomes rather spectacular.  The mountainsides host dozens of electric pylons and cables that I don’t recall from my last visit.

We’re on the road for a very long time, but most of it walking alongside the river. I see the cheeky fellow on top of the cliff again but this time surrounded by electric cables. I’m sure they weren’t there before and when I check the photo I took back in 2017 there were none. 

The sky is blue with white fluffy clouds. The sun is out and I’m definitely warming up. My knees were rather chilly first thing this morning but luckily it didn’t last too long. There is no rain forecast for today or pretty much for the rest of our camino which is very very good news.

We pass through Buiza at 13.65 km, where Marilyn and I stayed in the albergue last time. It’s a tiny village with no services but we take a short rest before embarking on the steep climb that follows. 

There are 360° views of mountains. It’s just glorious. I’m starting this climb slowly and I can only anticipate that I will get even slower as the climb continues.

Last time I walked from here in the early morning on a day when there was very low cloud so I didn’t see how amazing and truly spectacular these surroundings are.  There are cows loose grazing on the hillsides and great chunks of craggy cliffs towering out of the green mountains. 

I reach the top at about 16.5 km – that was a lot of huffing and puffing. It is very craggy up here at a height of 1460 meters ( although I understand that GPS isn’t always very accurate with altitude). 

The colours are absolutely stunning on the way up with yellow broom and the pink of alpine heather. After the peak the descent starts via a wooded path so it’s quite shady for the time being.

As I round the corner of the mountain – which would be slightly dodgy if you suffer from vertigo – a massive valley appears. This whole experience is such a joy. I’m so lucky to be walking this route on a sunny day. 

There’s quite a lot of water flowing down the track – most of it very shallow or easily navigated. 

As the path drops to ever lower altitude I’m still surrounded on all sides by towering mountains, mostly green slopes with craggy outcrops above. The cicadas are singing, which is the first time I’ve heard them on this camino, and a very tuneful wren has been keeping me company.

We finally reach our destination after 24 km. The albergue leaves something to be desired, but the shower is warm and Nina leaves the last bottom bunk for me (there’s true friendship). There are eight of us here and the hotel which has seven double rooms is apparently full. 

We drop off our stuff and head to the hotel for refreshment where we meet up with the American peregrina and get chatting with a British ex-pat who lives in the US. The sun is shining and it’s a really pleasant afternoon. But it suddenly gets chilly and when we check, the weather forecast for the next few days has completely changed – heavy fog and lots of rain. What on earth is going on?  Thank goodness we’ve had this one fabulous day.