emilyonearth

While looking last night at options to stay for tonight, it seemed that a lot of albergues and our next intended destination were either full or closed or for some other reason not communicating. A quick search also revealed that all of the private accommodation like hotels and the like were also all booked out. We then heard at dinner that there was a school group staying in that town, and so there wasn’t much space left. Our options were to go anyways and risk it with the municipal albergue that wasn’t taking reservations, or to have a short day and stop a town earlier where there was sure to be space for us. We took the second option, which is how we ended up having a sleep in until 6:00am and a relatively easy walking day.

In saying that, early on there was a reasonable significant hill. It was pretty steep on the way up, and extremely steep on the way down, but it did have some lovely views from the top. After that we were back on the flat, with just a couple of mild slopes thrown in to keep things interesting.

The town we are staying in is tiny. There’s not one single shop, there’s not even cellphone reception! There is a church just beside the hostel with storks nesting on top of it, which is interesting, but that’s about it. Walking into town a farmer was transporting his sheep somewhere. They were just following behind him. As he crossed the bridge over a wee river, several sheep went down to the river for a drink. He gave them a moment, then tapped his stick on the edge of the bridge and they came straight back to him, and they went on their way.

Tomorrow we have a slightly longer day to make up for the short day today, so we’ll go back to our early starts. I have to admit, 5:00am is beginning to feel almost normal!