Trepidatious traveller – camino blog

A leisurely 08:00 am start to this relatively short day. The first couple of hundred metres were on the road, although we didn’t follow the prescribed route because that would have meant doubling back into the village. We picked up the Camino within ten minutes. We were first of all walking through working farms with all the pungent smells that you might expect to find around a dairy farm. The tracks were wide and sandy and very comfortable to walk on. The cows were eating their breakfast as we passed and took very little notice of s couple of pilgrims walking by. We came upon the village of Villanueva del Duque after just 4 km where I spied a stork at home atop the church tower. A short distance outside the village I became caught up in a traffic jam, and one of the commuters stuck her tongue out at me – how rude! Mind you, I did bleat back at her. Next along the track I saw some horses, appearing very well looked after, the greys’ coats were shining silver, obviously recently groomed. I have seen a lot of hoof prints on the tracks over the last few days, but haven’t come across anyone riding as yet. There were a few water features to ford, but without any mishap. The lush green meadows that surrounded us were tinged with red, or purple or yellow, changing colour one after the other. The trees were holm oak again and the land surrounding them was often cultivated with a cereal crop. We passed free range chickens, goats and beautiful cows. And then we came across the escapees – a group of ten little squealers who had crept under the farm gate onto the track to forage on forbidden fruit, but as soon as they saw us they turned tail, kicked their heels and headed back to mum. George thought it was hilarious, and I caught the scene just at the right time. Although the tracks were being kind to us, my feet were rather tender from yesterday’s efforts and I made fairly slow progress, but that meant I had all the more time to appreciate the beautiful surroundings and the fabulous sky. We took a break in the second village we passed through, Fuente la Lancha. George was hoping for a coffee, but the bars were closed so we sat in the church square and I ate the remainder of my supply of nuts. The next stop was towards the end of our walk at a ‘zona recreativa’ an area with children’s playground and picnic benches. We then had a couple of hundred metres on the road and a long walk behind an industrial area until we reached the outskirts of this large town. The first area we came to was a bit dubious, obviously a very poor area, but a guy struck up a conversation about our journey. As we neared the centre of town it seemed very strange – just like another ghost town. All the shops were closed and very few people were around. After a long walk towards the church square I could suddenly see why the town was so quiet – everyone was gathered in the square to witness the parade of the town bands and the icon of the Virgin saint emerging from the church on the shoulders of the chosen few. But for a few moments it felt as though the band was playing and the bells were ringing to welcome us to town (yeah, right!) It was all very nice to see, but it gave us a problem. We needed to contact the townhall or the local police to get a key for the municipal albergue, but everything was locked up for the fiesta. The sounds from the bands, the church bells tolling non-stop and the rockets being fired was deafening and I knew it was not a good time to make a phone call. So I patiently waited for the parade to move on before phoning the police. The guy who answered was obviously at the business end of the parade with all the noise going on at the other end of the phone, but I managed to tell him what I wanted and he told me he would come. The trouble was, I didn’t know when – I didn’t expect for a moment that he would leave his parade duties to tend to a couple of pilgrims and we settled on a bench to wait for who knows how long. But luckily, it was less than 30 minutes before we saw a policeman, who waved out to us while he was doing his duties, and soon came over and showed us to the Albergue which was just around the corner. It is a lovely, shiny, newly decorated albergue with four sets of bunks, a nice bathroom, a meeting type room with microwave and a reception area with a sofa. Very nice. All the townspeople are dressed in their very best, all looking extremely smart and as soon as the icon was returned to the church they piled into the bars surrounding the square to eat and drink. Don’t the spanish know how to enjoy themselves en masse? I love to watch them socialising like this. I have just eaten a good lunch of loin of pork and salad, and checked that the bar will be open again this evening, as there are no shops open to buy food for self catering. No wifi here though, so I shall have to visit the other bar in the hope, and it will be necessary to have another drink whilst I am there – who said a pilgrim’s life was uncomplicated? ……well, fortunately a good wifi signal is available in the other bar and food is served, so here we are again. This lovely town is the last stop over in Andalucia, tomorrow we cross into the province of Badajoz, in Extremadura. Because it is fiesta time, not only are no shops open today, but they will not be open until too late for us in the morning. However the waiter has just told us that the bar will be open at 06:30 tomorrow and we can order some bocadillos, which is very good because we have 31 km to travel with no shops between here and there. Distance according to wikiloc (my own recording) 23.2km, mapmywalk 24.9km, Fitbit recorded steps 30,867

Accumulated elevation uphill 144 metres Accumulated elevation downhill 201 metres

Total distance walked 342.2 km, average 26.3 km per day

Today’s spend – lunch and drink 6.30€, tinto verano 1.20€, dinner and drink 8.90€.  Spend for the day 23.40€

Thirteen days total spend 329.40€

After a good night’s sleep, we set off this morning shortly before 08:00. The weather was quite fresh, plenty of cloud and a cool breeze, but the forecast was for sunshine. I had decided to wear a sleeveless merino T-shirt this morning, but I needed some extra warmth to begin with, so I had to tuck my fleece sleeves under my bra straps to keep them in place. For the last couple of days I have also started to wear my ‘buff infinity’ (long loop of bamboo fabric) to keep the sun off the back of my neck. The new T-shirt worked well, it was nice to have my arms entirely uncovered when it warmed up later in the day.

The first few kilometres were spent walking along the road which runs between a huge military complex, but we were eventually directed onto meadowland and a variety of tracks through Holm oak woodland and rocky paths, along a disused road covered in rutted dirt, beside a long unused railway line, on quiet country roads, sandy tracks lined with beautiful flowers and rough gravelly tracks.

At 13 km we stopped at the only village we passed through today, where we found a cafe that was overflowing with people, a dozen or so cyclists, bikers, lorry drivers and locals, all enjoying sweet pastries or eating toast spread with olive oil and puréed tomato. It was manic and interesting to watch the waiters juggling the orders.

Just another 9.5 km to walk, which was again on a variety of surfaces and never far away from the main N432 road.

We arrived at our destination of Villaharta at around 12:30 and stopped for a drink at the first place in the village – Bar Mirasierra, where we are staying the night for 15€ for a room each and a shared bathroom. Also with Ukitchen facilities and huge sun terrace. My notes tell me that the town hall offer the floor and a shower in the sports hall, but the telephone number given is a landline, and the chance of getting an answer on a Saturday is entirely remote. Added to that, I am not in the slightest bit keen to sleep on the floor. The host at Mirasierra is a lovely chap who is very helpful.

Tomorrow is a very long day with no villages between here and our destination 38 km away. It has been suggested that there are three options.
1) our host will drive us to a point 17.5 km along the track where it runs close to the road and we can start walking the remaining 20+ km from there.
2) we can walk to the above mentioned point and telephone our host to collect us and we can stay another night here and in the morning he will return us to the same place for us to finish the walk in two stages
3) we just go for it in one go.

We have decided on option 3 and will have to take extra water supplies and enough food to stoke the engines.

So far, this Camino is very different from the French and Portuguese routes, where you pass through many small towns and villages most days. The Mozarabe until now has run almost entirely across country, passing through either no, or only one village en route between stages. I do love the countryside, but I think I prefer to pass through small villages, interact with the locals and poke my nose over the garden walls to see how they are living their lives.

My foot is still a bit swollen, but I think less than it was. I have a small blister on each heel, neither of which is giving me much bother, but they have been hanging around for a few days now. I think I may try a compeed on each of them tomorrow and hopefully see them gone in a few days.

Off in search of wifi now – there is none in the room, but hopefully I will be able to log on in the bar – and it would be rude to just sit there without a glass of wine, so I will just have to do that as well.

Distance according to wikiloc (my own recording) 22.8km, mapmywalk 24.3km, Fitbit recorded steps 27,244
Accumulated elevation uphill 293 metres
Accumulated elevation downhill 217 metres
Total distance walked 281 km, average 25.5 km per day

Today’s spend – Coffee and pastry 2.20€, tinto de verano 1.20€, hostal 15€, shopping 2.20€, dinner and drinks 5.80€. Total 26.40€
Eleven days total spend 278.30€

We had a very leisurely start this morning, and partook of the included breakfast at the youth hostal. The things I don’t like about youth hostels are the youths. There were lots of them – dozens and dozens. Teenagers en masse make me a bit anxious, although I have to say these kids were very well behaved – it was just that there were so many of them.

So we set off at around 08:45 in search of the church of Santiago, which we found – but as I suspected it was locked up, so no special stamp for my credencial.

We had no specific instructions for exiting Córdoba, so here are a few pointers. Find the road Calle Corregidor Luis de la Cerda, which is between the back of the Mezquita and the swanky new information office, and follow this road with the river to your right. Keep a lookout for signs, you will see a series of ceramic tiles as in the picture below, all at well above head height.

All will be well until you reach the corner opposite the central library where the sign is on an angled wall and rather ambiguous. Turn left here and then right into Calle Segunto and look out for Clinica Los Angeles on a left hand corner, turn here and immediately turn right into Calle Cinco Caballeros, straight across the major road Avenida Carlos III where you will pick up regular arrows on lamp posts and trees.

It was a lovely walk today, firstly through meadow land and occasionally crossing a road to regain a narrow track. And eventually onto a steeply rising rocky path surrounded by stunning wild flowers – beautiful walking – just like being at home in the mountains.

About halfway through the walk we passed through a very odd town, with hundreds of similar looking yellow houses and virtually no sign of life – a bit reminiscent of the ghost town by the golf course on the camino Frances.

The weather was warm and hot at times and it was quite hard work walking steeply uphill on the rough ground but the surroundings made it all very worthwhile.

I took it easy today. My right foot is still a bit swollen (I think through lacing my boots too tight) but it is getting better. The elevation on today’s walk helped I think, pounding out the kms on a level surface doesn’t seem to suit me at all.

And it was a short day with a big treat at the end of it. We are staying in the small town of Cerro Muriano where a Dutch couple have opened an albergue ‘Acogida de Peregrios’ tel 691 923 145. Maria and Jan have walked the camino and trained and served as voluntary hospitaleros and worked in the pilgrims’ office in Santiago, so they have an excellent understanding of what s pilgrim needs. They are a very kind and interesting couple who made us most welcome and I would highly recommend a stay here. They have seven beds spread between several rooms so we were once again able to have a room each. A hot shower, a sunny garden to hang the washing and a good wifi connection to boot – what more could a pilgrim want?

George has gone into the village to eat this evening, but I decided to buy a few supplies at the shop and have made myself a ham and cheese sandwich (with a boiled egg kindly donated by Maria’s chickens (well the chickens didn’t actually boil it). And I have also replenished my fruit and nuts for the next couple of days, and bought a bottle of ‘young green’ wine (only 5%, so no worries about a hangover) for only 1.5€, which I was glad to share around in return for the warm welcome that we were given.

Distance according to wikiloc (my own recording) 17.4km, but I forgot to turn it on until we had walked about 2 km, do say 19 km. Fitbit recorded steps 27,244
Accumulated elevation uphill 488 metres
Accumulated elevation downhill 54 metres
Total distance walked 258.2 km, average 25.8 km per day

Today’s spend – Fanta 1.5€, water 1.2€, shopping 9.4€, albergue donation 10€. Total 22.1€
Nine days total spend 251.9€

I was rather annoyed last night at the way the hostel owner charged us for food. I guess he was trying to make up for giving us a discount on the accommodation. I ate a really good menu del dia at lunchtime for 9€. I didn’t really need anything in the evening, but just to keep George company I ordered a bowl of soup. When I got the bill I found that he had charged me another 9€ for my evening meal. I challenged the price and he changed it to 7€ for a ‘half menu’. The price included drinks, but nevertheless I considered it to be taking advantage. So if you stay in the hostel ‘Casa Jose’ firstly try to negotiate him down from 20€ per night to 15€ and then be aware that the only option for food is the menu – not individual dishes. There are other bars next door and across the road. Having said that, he was a very congenial host and the food was excellent.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post the thunderstorm in the afternoon. Well, that wasn’t the only one – there was thunder and torrential rain on and off during the evening and most of the night. We had already discussed the possibility of not walking cross country because of the likelihood of treacherous mud and difficult or impossible to pass collections of water on the track, and the hostel owner confirmed that it would indeed be a difficult trek after so much rain. So we reluctantly decided to walk on the road all the way to Córdoba.

The three german pilgrims were also staying at Casa Jose and apparently two of them had decided to take the cross country route, and the third took the bus! If we meet them again, it will be interesting to find out what the track was like.

The N432 is a busy road with lots of heavy speeding traffic. There is however a decent shoulder to walk on, but it still felt A bit threatening at times. Most of the drivers were courteous and pulled over where possible. I noticed that almost all drivers would make eye contact when passing and I made sure to give a nod of thanks to all those who pulled over. We got a few beeps from people – not sure if they were wishing us well of wondering what the hell we were doing walking on such a busy road. Almost without fail, the guys who waved out were driving gruas (rescue trucks) or highway maintenance vehicles.

At last we have left the olive groves behind. A couple of weeks ago I couldn’t imagine being bored by olive trees, but after traipsing through them for days on end, I am glad to have a change of scene. Yesterday I noticed several fields of small young plants that I didn’t immediately recognise and thought they might be some type of green beans, but George recognised them as sunflowers. I passed many more fields of them today, still only a few inches tall. It is a shame that, as a spring walker, I shall not see them in their prime. I e only seen them in photos, and they always look so glorious in full bloom turning their heads to the sun. I shall have to take a trip to this area later in the year so that I can see them at their best (but not a walking trip!)

We took the opportunity to stop for a break at the only possible places along the road, a disused train station and a picnic lay-by. At the time of our second break after 17.5 km we could just see Córdoba in the far distance, and just after we set off on our last leg the rain came pelting down again, but luckily not for long. Crossing the network of roads into Córdoba was a bit of a nightmare, but at least the traffic was now moving fairly slowly and it was not too dodgy.

There was no industrial area to slog through, we were straight into the suburbs for a couple of kilometres and then towards the city centre. We found the youth hostel that our notes suggested right in the heart of the city, between the castle and the Mesquita.

We were each allocated a same sex shared room and I was expecting to find a dorm with 6 or more beds, but hurrah I have a twin room with shower and, so far, no room mate. I was surprised at the cost of 20€. The only other youth hostel I have stayed in was last year in Lisbon and I think I paid 12€ then. I also had to take a cold shower, which didn’t bring much cheer. The hostal is situated in a lovely building with large courtyards, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

We found a reasonably priced menu for lunch and then visited the Mezquita. What a stunning place. I have visited Córdoba before, for a long weekend a few years ago and love the city. The old quarter is full of charm and very compact. A lovely place to spend a few days.

After the Mezquita I wandered around on my own for a while and found the information office to ask for a map so that we can work out our route for the morning. There is a church of Santiago where we should stop to get a stamp for our credencials, but it is quite a way from the centre, and on the route out of the city, so we will hope that it is open in the morning when we pass.

We are planning a short day tomorrow with a stay in some highly recommended accommodation, and I have just remembered that breakfast is included in the price of the youth hostal (so maybe not so expensive after all), so we will have a leisurely start in the morning with the hope that the ground will have dried out a bit by then – keep your fingers crossed for us.

Distance according to wikiloc (my own recording) 25.6 km, mapmywalk 27.1 km. Fitbit recorded steps 36,897
Accumulated elevation uphill 122 metres
Accumulated elevation downhill 206 metres
Total distance walked 239.2 km, average 26.6 km per day

Today’s spend – Fanta 1.5€, lunch menu del dia 10€, youth hostal 20€ Supper at hostal 8€, wine x2 4.8€ = 44.3€ – another budget busting day – will need to tighten the belt in the coming days
Nine days total spend 229.8€

We searched long and hard last evening to find somewhere to eat and it seemed we were likely to be out of luck as none of the bars were serving food. We finally found that the rather unlikely-looking bar we had passed first of all, actually served food so we quickly sat down and ordered. George tried the caracoles which are obviously a speciality of the area – all bars have boards stating the time that their caracoles will be ready. Although I have tasted snails before and am quite adventurous in my tastes, I was NOT tempted to join him. But even his delicate stomach didn’t complain and he had soon spiked all the little creatures out of their shells – declaring them to be ‘quite spicy and a bit gritty’. No thanks!

When we returned to the albergue the church bell tower was lit up and my bedroom window looked directly out onto it – I couldn’t resist a photo.

With a large room all to myself I slept quite well until I was woken by a giant clash of thunder closely followed by the sound of great drops of rain lashing down on the roof. Luckily it was over quickly and by the time we walked out of the door it had ceased to rain.

For anyone walking this route, we took the key back to the Policia Local and walked on to the bottom of the street, turned right and followed this road to the end where a huge church building faces you. Turn right here and continue until you can see some steps that lead to the main road above. Take the road straight across the roundabout and you should soon see an arrow.

The first part of the walk was on a busy and fast road (N432), but after s couple of kilometres we turned onto a dirt track, once again leading through olive groves. The day remained dry and warm. The path was quite trying to walk on – very stony and uneven, but without much elevation. Amongst the olives were the occasional vast field of grain which was a treat for the senses after days and days of nothing but olives.

I was worried that the path might be muddy again after the early morning rain, but luckily it remained compacted and dry.

After a couple of hours I could see the small town of Espejo in the distance with an impressive castle at the very top of a steep hill. And guess what? Yes, we had to pass that castle and then descend through more olives. The precision with which these trees are planted makes amazing patterns on the hillsides – quite mesmerising.

While passing through Espejo we stopped for a morning coffee and after a few minutes and group of three pilgrims walked into the cafe. Two men and a woman, around my age, from Germany and walking from Granada to Mérida, but staying in hostels – not doing it ‘on the cheap’ like us.

There was a lot less elevation (other than walking into and out of Espejo) today, just lots of gently rolling hillsides. After another couple,of hours it was time for a boots of break and the Germans caught up with us and decided to do the same (without the ‘boots off’ part – they don’t know what they’re missing!) It made a change to see the olive trees from a different angle and it was nice to wriggle my toes for a while. I have had an ache in my right foot today running along the top from my big toe to the top of my arch. I wonder if I am wearing my boots too tight and will try loosening my laces. Other than that I am doing quite well with my feet. Using the hiker’s wool whenever I can feel a hot spot looming. Yesterday I developed a tiny blister on the back of my heel but I drained it and I don’t think it will be a problem.

The last section the today’s walk was similar to the first, but on a much faster road with vehicles zooming past at breakneck speed – a little unnerving to say the least. We reached the edge of Santa Cruz at about 13:30 and stopped at a bar for a drink whilst I phoned the number given in my notes for the ayuntamiento, who I was told would supply space in the sports hall for pilgrims. This turned out not to be the case – they have no pilgrim accommodation, and as the bar we were sitting in is also a hostal and we were offered a cheap rate for the night, we have not moved since.

I even had lunch today, a starter of salmorejo a cold purée (very thick soup) of tomatoes, bread, oil and garlic and sprinkled with chopped boiled egg and small pieces of jamon (delicious), followed by grilled chicken and chips (I have enough chicken left for supper) and finished off with home made flan (creme caramel).

As I am sitting in the bar writing this (good wifi connection for the duration of my stay – yay) a thunder and rain storm has raged, which doesn’t bode well for the state of the tracks tomorrow. But a strong wind has also picked up so perhaps the paths will be blown dry by the time we step out in the morning.

I shall go in search of some fruit in a while – I am definitely missing my ‘five a day’.

It has continued to rain on and off all afternoon/evening and I am more than a little worried about the state of the track tomorrow. We may opt to walk the slightly shorter route all along the road which won’t be fun, but maybe less fraught than the track. Vamos a ver!

Distance according to wikiloc (my own recording) 24.4 km, mapmywalk 25.94 km. Fitbit recorded steps 15,478 before battery ran out, say it should have been 32,306
Accumulated elevation uphill 335 metres
Accumulated elevation downhill 396 metres
Total distance walked 213.6 km, average 26.7 km per day

Today’s spend – coffee 1.1€, lunch,supper and drinks 18.3€, shopping (clementines and chocolate) 1.5€, hostal 15€ = 35.9€
Eight days total spend 185.5€

Cuevas Bajas seemed to be a nice town with some substantial period buildings. The key to the albergue is held in Bar Toni which is opposite the church and the albergue is just around the corner. We had a drink and a tapa in the bar, for which we each paid 1.20€ and then found a pizza place which was teaming with dozens of children making the noise that only spanish children excell at. It was deafening, but we managed to put up with it for the time it took me to eat a very tasty chicken bocadillo accompanied by a glass of wine for a total of 4.50€, so I came in under my meagre budget.

I shall begin to give a bit of directional information if I think it will be useful to anyone considering this route.

When we left this morning it was not very obvious which direction we should take, so for anyone following us on this route – standing with the church on your left and Bar Toni on your right, turn left onto calle Real and continue to the bottom of the road where you turn right onto a country road. Keep on this road and you will eventually see an arrow – after this the signsge is good. We did though manage to get mixed up in the next village, Encinas Reales. Just head for the church – there is a rather ambiguous arrow opposite the church but take the small street opposite and you will soon see the next arrow. The trail is generally well marked and and is mostly on drivable track and some side roads.

After putting down my book at around 23:00 last night, I woke at 01:00 am, the same time that I had woken and stayed awake the night before, so was thinking that I would have another sleepless night. But the next thing I knew, it was 07:45 and I had slept right through. Wonderful! Poor George was all packed and ready to go, but hadn’t woken me. I’m not sure that I would be so patient.

So a rather leisurely start and after returning the key to the bar we were off and away under blue sky and sunshine – just what the doctor ordered. Shortly after leaving the town there was a very, very steep incline, which was followed by many others over the course of the day.

We reached the only village on this route at about 6 km, all of which had been walked on quiet roads, and stopped for a coffee. And I actually ordered a coffee. For those that have not discovered this ¿interesting? fact from previous posts – I don’t drink coffee, it makes me feel queasy, and I have always blamed it on the milk that is used. My hot drink of choice is hot water, just that, no tea bag, or lemon, or sugar. Just hot water – which you might think would be easy to obtain. But believe me it isn’t. Bar tenders think I am mad, and always need some persuading that just plain hot water is actually what I want.

Yesterday I had a eurika moment. I decided to ask for cafe descafinado, which I expected to arrive as a glass of hot water and an individual pack of nescaf. But what I actually got was a cup of hot milk and the nescaf. So I gave it a try and actually enjoyed it – with no after effects of queasiness or indigestion. So it seems I was misjudging the milk and it is the espresso that has been the villain all this time. So now, when I take a coffee break I can actually take a coffee. Who would have known there was such an easy solution to my dilemma.

We had a little difficulty leaving this village as explained above but were soon on our way through yet more olive groves, again as far as the eye could see.

We came to a point where a stream was washing over the concrete track. George hoiked up his trousers and waded across and I could see that I didn’t want to follow suit – it was much too deep, as in four or five inches and quite wide. After pondering for a while I decided to take off my boots and don my crocs for the crossing. This sounds like a quick and easy solution but actually involved

• Removing pack
• Sitting down and taking off boots and socks
• Taking crocs from pack
• Getting up and hoisting pack back on
• Carefully crossing water in unstable crocs
• Taking off pack
• Sitting down and removing crocs and carefully drying feet
• Replacing socks and boots
• Returning crocs to pack
• Getting up and hoisting pack back on

There were more climbs through more olive groves. Geogre was suffering a bit with the heat and the elevation and I had gained a lot of distance listening to my camino playlist, all tracks carefully chosen to bring some life to my legs. So after a while I took a break in the shade of an olive tree and ate a warm mandarin and some nuts, and waited for G to appear at which point he collapsed on the ground and didn’t move for about 15 minutes.

Note the change in colour of the earth in the distant hills, and yet it seemed to be no time until I was walking through that same area

The sun was quite hot for a few hours and then hid behind some cloud for a while. A lot of the time there was a lovely gentle cooling breeze but the effort of tackling so many hills put a strain on my water supply. I have two 750 ml bottles and I was rationing myself on the last few drops when I saw a guy unlocking a gate up ahead. I called to him for a refill and he happily obliged. I am drinking a lot more regularly with my new hydration system, and I am very pleased with it. But tomorrow I think I will buy another small refill bottle.

We passed very few properties but I had a chat to a lovely old toothless lady before we eventually made it to the outskirts of Lucena, a sizeable town/city. Our guide papers told us that there was an albergue ‘under construction’ which I assumed (silly) would now be a nice shiny new facility. Needless to say, there was no such shiny building. A very kind man stopped to ask me how many kilometres there were between malaga and santiago and I asked for his assistance. After consulting with a guy from the townhall we were advised to get our credencials stamped at the tourist information office and find a hostel to stay in, which we duly did.

It seems a nonsense that every little village and town we have passed have all gone to the effort to provide albergue facilities, but a rich and thriving city hasn’t bothered.

So now I have blown today’s budget by having to pay 22.50€ for a bed for the night. Just one of those things!

Distance according to – wikiloc (my own recording this time) 29.62 km, mapmywalk 31.86 km. From now on, if I am successful in recording the full day’s walk on wikiloc (not always the case as it sometimes cuts out for some reason) I will use this figure which I feel might be more reliable. Fitbit recorded steps 38,353 – I am now keeping the Fitbit in my waist pocket rather than on my wrist for two reasons (1) it catches on the pack strap and makes it even more awkward to put on my pack, and (2) it occurs to me that when walking down hill I only swing my arm every other stride so it might not be very accurate.

Accululated elevation uphill 630 metres
Accumulated elevation downhill 454 metres

Total distance walked 131 km

Morning coffee break 1€, arrival fanta 1.50€, evening food 4.00€, vino x 2 3.50€, bed 22.50€. Spend for the day 32.50€.
Five days total spend 118.70€

I forgot to mention the beautiful decoratively painted walls in the church of Santiago – quite amazing.

A bit more about yesterday…The rooms around the albergue courtyard seemed to be used as an advice / social centre and there was lots of coming and going as we left for supper. Then George returned whilst I went to find wifi to post my blog, with the arrangement that he would obviously leave the huge iron gate to the courtyard unlocked for me. Well, there must have been someone still in one of the rooms after George returned, and when they left they locked the gate, so that when I got back to the albergue I was locked out. Now, although the rooms we were using were close to the gate, the door was pulled to and George is quite deaf. I bellowed out his name, not thinking for a second that he would hear me, if he was even awake. I have to say I was nervously weighing up my options when thank goodness he came to let me in – phew!

I had a terrible night, not necessarily because of George’s fairly persistent snoring – I just didn’t sleep for more than a couple of hours, and spent most of the night reading and writing. But luckily I don’t seem to have suffered too much from it today.

We set off at 07:50 and left Antequera on a level path and we stayed walking on the flat for a good two thirds of the day. And at least 50% of this section was on quiet country roads, the rest being on dirt tracks! all of which was trailing through olive groves. There are olive trees for as far as the eye can see in all directions.

We actually passed through a couple of small towns today, first Cartaojal and then Villanueva de Algaidas, both of which may have had hidden charms, but if so they were very well concealed. We had a coffee in the first town and a cold drink in the second. The kind barman brought us a couple of complimentary tapas but George didn’t want his so I scoffed the lot! We had now covered around 25 km and had kept up an incredible pace of around 6 km per hour.

Because of our short day yesterday and awkward distances tomorrow we had made the decision to walk on to the next town of Cuevas Bajas a further 11 km – making a total walk of about 36 km.

I think both of us are suffering a bit with aches and sore feet after such a long walk. I stopped on the last stretch because I thought I might be getting a blister on the ball of my foot, so I de-booted and placed some ‘hiker’s wool’ where it was feeling tender and hey presto all was well when I arrived. Yet, though it was a hard day, it puts us in a good position to set off tomorrow, and as a bonus there is a friendly bar opposite the albergue with a good wifi signal.

The weather today returned to dull and cool – I don’t know what’s going on with this spanish weather – where is all the sunshine? Although to be honest it has been pretty perfect walking conditions, except when it rained for a while on our final stage and the lovely firm dirt track that we were walking on instantly turned to clay and clogged our boots up again. Added to that, the terrain was now steeply rising for km after km, and then equally steeply descending for the rest of the way. So it wasn’t all plain sailing!

The signage has not been great again today. There were several places where we had no idea if we were on the right track. There is not really any need for the great frequency of arrows that we found during the first two days’ walk, but a reassuring splash of yellow every kilometre or so would have been appreciated today, and yesterday for that matter. The latter part of the track today shared the GR249 route that meanders through the white villages of the Axarquia region of Málaga province and passes through our local villages of Cómpeta and Canillas de Albaida.

The albergue here is really posh – shiny marble and newly decorated. Three sets of bunks, and a couple of sofas and a nice kitchen area. Another hot shower has been taken. The only let down is that there are no heaters so our clothes probably won’t get dry. Because of this I only washed the muddy zip-off section of my walking trousers today – I shall have to recycle the rest of my walking clothes for tomorrow – lucky it was cool today and not too much glowing took place (as in ladies glow, men perspire and animals sweat).

Distance according to – wikiloc 33.9 km, mapmywalk 38.55 km, so an average of 36.2 km – twice what we walked yesterday.
Total distance walked 101.2 km

I think this evening I shall only have two or three tapas for supper, so that will restrict the cost to less than 5€, plus maybe 3€ more for a couple of vinos. This morning I had a coffee @1€, a fizzy drink @ 1.50€ and when we arrived here a tinto verano @ 1.25. With a donation to the albergue of 7€ that will make a daily total of 11.25€. To be honest, keeping track of my expenditure has made me want to restrict it. I still have nibbling supplies for tomorrow so don’t need to restock.
Four days total spend 86.20€

If George leaves the bar before me this evening I will escort him to the door and take the key back with me – I most definitely don’t want to be locked out again.