Last night we were a group of 7 for dinner, the same 5 from last night plus the Canadians John and Vivien.
Food was ok, large portions as usual, I had a garlic soup to start, it was good but not as nice as the one in Roncesvalles! This was followed by a beef stew with chips and creme caramel for desert and plenty of red wine. As good fun evening. No one had made it up to see the castle, whilst this is the mental section, bodies are still feeling the impact!
Tomorrow John and Vivien are stopping in a town before us so we won’t see them tomorrow evening but might at coffee stops and breakfast. George and Karie both took their breakfast to go as they walk slower and since today is a 26km they wanted to get started earlier. Andy, Dawn and I are all walking 26km and staying in the same place.
The walk today started with a good hike 4km ish up a fairly steep hill, I have to say, I put my headphones on for one of the first times and powered up the hill, I quite enjoyed it.
At the top of the hill I bumped into Andy and Sian, so we walked the next section together. However, what goes up must come down, there was a pretty steep decline, down concrete though which was better than the usual shale. My knee was definitely unimpressed though, so I used the slalom method down, which I think helped a little. Up ahead Andy was trying the walk backwards technique which he also said helped. It is very funny to watch all the different ways everyone tries to get downhill.
Once downhill, the three of us walked the next 5km ish to the first coffee shop. It was nice having another female to walk with as we both took turns whilst the other tried to use the reeds at the side of the fields for shelter and the bathroom. This Meseta section is tricky, it is so open, that bathroom stops are very sparse.
As we reached about 11km we arrived into the town and our coffee stop. George and Karie were both there having left earlier. Again, there are so few breaks in this section, it is really nice to stop when there is one.
That was the only stop of the day, the next 15km were pretty continuous. Andy had already headed on and I left Sian thinking that I would see her at the next stop in about 9km but there was nowhere.
It was actually a lovely peaceful walk for the rest of the day and I arrived at our final destination just after 2pm which was earlier than I had expected. I had caught Karie up as we approached town so we helped each other to find our respective roads and then headed off since we are in different places tonight.
The hotel today is right opposite the church of San Martin. Normally I would have stopped in first and then had a beer but my knee was complaining today and when I saw that my room had a bath, I decided that was the priority for the day. I will pop out after to visit the Church.
Despite the discomfort from my knee, I really enjoyed today, hopefully a good nights sleep later and some red wine will sort it again for tomorrow! In the meantime I have loaded with bath with magnesium oil and lavender oil, bound to help!!