At the pilgrims dinner in Uterga there was some discussion about where to go the next day. One of the Canadians was heading to the C town – so named because none of us could remember what it was called from one sentence to the next – probably because of the amount of red wine we were consuming at dinner (it was Cirauqui by the way). Husband and I were unsure about whether we would head to the C town or the L town (Lorca) which was about 6 k’s further on. After all the C town was only 15 km’s from Uterga but then again the foot problems had not entirely disappeared so who knows where we would land.

I engaged in conversation with a nice German man early next morning whilst I was sipping a cafe con leche from the machine out the front of the albergue. Everyone else had left again and it was only 8am. There were a number of bags sitting in the foyer tagged ready for transportation that day. The German man seemed surprised and said “look all of these people are sending their bag on.” I felt tempted and replied “Yes I still havent worked out why I’m not doing the same.” Then with the wisdom of Yoda he replied “A true pilgrim must carry his belongings.” Thats it, there was no way out now. These Germans don’t walk along the road looking at the slugs and snails. They are the thinkers of the Camino I’m sure – how could I possibly contemplate anything other than carrying my bag now that the German Yoda had bestowed his wisdom upon me.

The Canadians and Europeans had taken off half an hour earlier in shorts and singlet tops so we left our jackets in our bags and followed suit heading off into the rolling fields with the sun on our side. Approximately 100 metres down the road we stopped and dropped our packs and pulled our jackets out. It was as cold as the coldest winter day in Brisvegas, the wind was blowing an icy chill and we were at risk of suffering hypothermia! Those Northern hemisphere people thought it was a summer day! Well we learned not to follow that lead again.

Next thing I know as we are strolling down the fields I turn and see the horizon covered in a rising dark grey cloud – burying the giant windmills that surrounded us. I felt like we were Sam and Frodo heading to Mordor! I asked husband to look at the dark cloud following us and he replied firmly “Keep moving forward – do not look back!” This is exactly what we did. The dark knights would not catch us today!

We went approximately 8 kilometres with very little rest until we hit Puente la Reina. My feet were obviously a lot better as there were not as many hills. After a fairly long breakfast in one of the bars, where I had used wifi to call home, we headed off thinking it was finally to be an easy day. Yep you guessed it! Bloody guide book. The 70 year old Italian back at Orisson had tried to communicate this to me and now I finally got it. Most of the Spanish towns are on hills. It was also getting very hot and I was already feeling burned on one arm and my neck – I tried the old attach the umbrella to the backpack which worked well until we had to go up this almighty great hill and I couldnt see where I was going. As we finally headed into the C town we had another fantastic hill to conquer. The place was a beautiful old medievil village but everything was closed. The only two people we saw were well dressed but somewhat shady looking and they came out to beg from us and I have to say it was a fairly creepy experience so we high tailed it out of there and onward to the L town.

My feet were not doing that well again – after all we had hit those darn hills again and again. Anyway we stopped on the outskirts of C town just to sit on the cold concrete in the shade of a shed and met Caitlin from the States. We shared some suncream and noted she was carrying a fairly sizable pack which she said was approximately 20kg as she was carrying a fair bit for her dad who was 52! She was so proud of him walking so far! Wish my boys were here carrying my gear. Hope they are at least feeling proud at home on the lounge! Anyway Caitlin informed us she has been right into Cross Fit and thats why she was so fit and able to carry so much and move so fast. In fact, she intends to get into competition when she gets home. Yep you guessed it, mind started ticking as she almost ran off down the track to book a bed for herself and her father in the L town – maybe I’ll get into crossfit competition when I get home (NOT!)

As we took the finally ascent into the L town I encouraged my beloved to go ahead and see if he could secure a double room as so many people were passing us again. When I finally crawled up the hill and down the road to the albergue there was Janice again looking bright and perky as usual. These Canadians are made tough let me tell you. Janice has had two knee replacements and is an ideal role model for any thinking of hiking the Camino. She doesnt over do it but she makes great time over long distances.

Husband fulfilled his directions and secured a room without speaking Espanol! We had a great room with air con, timber beams in the ceiling and a cute little tunnel window along with an ensuite and tv. This was in the albergue! We joined the collection of pilgrims in the bar and had a feed and headed off for a good nights sleep. At this point I noticed I was starting to collect some insect bites on my face and limbs and my feet were even itchy after their well deserved cold bath again. I did not sleep well and was up doing the blog early – ready for another interesting day.

At the top of the worst hill for the day – felt worse than this looks!

The L town in sight!

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