We left Lorca at 5:30AM after first refilling our hydration packs at an ice cold spring that ran constantly in the village square. With our LED light bulbs we easily navigated through the pitch black and back into the countryside. We were first on the trail this time and weren’t passed for almost two hours.
When we were it was by a woman from Colorado that Nancy had met somewhere days back. We stopped at the first open place that had coffee and she was there at an ATM next door. We didn’t exchange names somehow but I think her name is Joan. We chatted through a breakfast of coffee, glazed rolls, and orange Fanta. No breakfast pie darn it. She was a photographer so I told her about Dave and Cheryl’s immense efforts to document Kansas in photos and words. She was interesting and easy to talk to and we hoped to bump into her now and then.
We had to make around 19 km today since albergue’s are becoming more erratically spaced. That distance would be easy on flat level trails. But Nancy said we would negotiate three hills and one large city so we knew it would be tough. Besides it gets HOT by 10 AM. Our destination was Villamayor de Monjardin.
The first half of the walk was early morning cool with mostly smooth flat trails. We reached Estella, the Manhattan sized city well before noon. We found a Farmacia because I needed another knee brace, and then a market where we bought fruit, hotdogs, mustard and bread for lunch. After lunch at a park we headed out of town. It was getting hot.
Now comes the three hills and we still have energy. But after an hour the heat was intense, the trail steep, and the paths often littered with large stones and washed out ruts. We decided we could maybe bed down at Ayequi and call it quits but found ourselves 5 km past it already. So onward to Villamayor.
Needless to say we again dragged into town exhausted with not another step left in us. No A/C or fans at either albergue. They were hot bunk rooms with lousy ventilation. We wound up in the third floor ‘penthouse’ bunk room with three Spanish walkers, which is good. We can step directly out onto a rooftop patio with a stupendous view of the town and hills. Too bad the patio is sun washed and hot. We were too late to get in on the communal supper but still had another round of hotdogs and chips in our backpacks which we dined on in the sun and heat on that patio. Oh yeah, we also had a half liter of excellent red wine given to us by Bodega Irache wine makers right on the trail. Of course hot wine is nobody’s favorite which is what it is after carrying it 10 km in scorching sun. Our walk was an even 20 kilometers. Can’t wait for the cool morning breeze and out of here.
Catching up on your trip today. Loving the stories and the photos. Quite an adventure you two are having. I have a friend who is wanting to hike the Camino and she mentioned getting a shell tattoo as motivation to get there. Wishing you some cooler days and flatter roads.
Hi Cheryl, Today is Sunday. We just finished 20.9 km today and 20 km yesterday. Our dogs and knees are beat. A young man from Dublin Ireland walked with us a bit before we got to the town we are staying in tonight. He plans to do the whole Camino but in stages. He walked 5 days last year and will do 2 weeks this year with more to come. We told him we were not hikers. He said when we have completed the camino we can call ourselves hikers. It started raining as we were checking into the El Olivio. Peace. Nancy