Track today
About 20km and very pleasant. Along a national park, through farms and just delightful walking. A little rain was no hardship, warm and falling for only a short time. There’s been enough though that there was pretty heavy mud in parts along the track and a little running water. Still, easy going.
Funny that I remember many sections of this part of the track but only one town so far. I don’t know why.
Last nights albergue (Rio…) in Aljucén was memorable, very pleasant and run by nice people in an organised manner. Reasonable price, at €10 each for a bunk bed. €3 more for breakfast. I highly recommend it.
Snorers
Sometimes I hate albergues though as you don’t know who you are sleeping with and, more importantly, their nocturnal habits. Our new roommate last night snored the whole night! Sure, softly but, she snored and how is it that snorers always go to sleep first? A cosmic puzzle. And it’s not the first time I’ve noticed it. (Benedo was a classic. )
And to add insult to injury, 3 of us for breakfast and guess who ate 80% of the tomato left for breakfast for the 3 of us! Nationality? Yes, my old bête noir. I am again intrigued by the different attitudes and expectations. I was still very very surprised at such blatant thoughtlessness. And, we’d shared food with her the night before. Thankfully she is in a separate room tonight.
Fixing blisters
I leant something new today: leaving salt overnight on a blister can reduce its size. This was the first time I’d even heard of that approach. V’s nasty blister-on-blister blisters, one on each foot, both reduced to flat overnight with salt under tape! Today, with tape over the newly flattened blisters and she’s much more comfortable and able to wear boots again instead of socks in sandles. Lucky for her with the mud on the track.
Alcuéscar
Us same three pilgrims are at the donativo albergue tonight, one run under the auspices of the Catholic Church. It’s a very different type of albergue.
It’s only my second church connected one, that I remember.
The guy collecting the documentation was very nice but speaks only Spanish (very rapidly and with a regional accent) and French. His offsider speaks only Spanish. Of us pilgrims, all female, one speaks Spanish and a little english (V), one english and a little spanish (me), one french and some english.
So dinner was an awkward meal especially when the two guys chatted in rapid Spanish to each other. Thankfully dinner didn’t last long and I got to try a persimmon for the first time. Loved it and would like another.
Sorry, but, no pictures tonight (except for one of the lovely beans, first course for lunch today). I’m tired, it’s tedious to transfer pictures from my camera to my phone but, most of all, the internet in this location is very slow and loading them is almost impossible. Not even sure I can post at all. So sorry.
I am still tired. Just not picking up my energy level despite thousands of calories in both fats and sugars. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get it together as I’ve got about 200km to Salamanca where I am definitely taking a break.
After tonight, it’s only more night before Cáceres. As it’s a short day there and an equally short one to the following town I’m not currently planning on stopping two nights now.
My walk from Granada so far
It’s been about 3 weeks of walking to here for me, nearly two of them with Victoria. We start the day together but I’m much faster and wait along the way for her to catch up. We eat and shop together and, blessedly, she doesn’t snore. Phew.
She’s also contributed considerably to my Spanish conversational skills. Has a very nice way of correcting me when I run off the rails and, of offering options and explanations. At times my brain still freezes and refuses to recognise that I do know some Spanish and can speak it. Almost like it locks up after time in overdrive.
Walking without poles this year has been fine so far. But, my pack weighs more than I’d like and I’m not quite sure where I’ve gone so wrong, about 1kg wrong.
Anyhow, overall, I’m managing just fine, enjoying the walking a lot, and have reestablished my passion for chocolate milk. That adds to the weight day to day and to a level of pleasure in reducing it!
Bedtime soon for me so, hasta la mañana.
Wandering the world 