There was breakfast from 5am in our albergue today which sounded perfect. Our hospitalario Josu was even up to prepare it for us. In reality it was bread and jam with a couple of cereals and coffee or tea. It wasn’t much but we weren’t going far and we could have second breakfast an hour or two down the track. So we placed our donation in the tin, had a photo with Josu (basque for Jesus) and we were on our way.

We left without speedy today and as we left the town it was like walking into a cave with a torch. It doesn’t get light until 7.30am and we were still keen to beat as much heat as was reasonable.

A short while after we had left the town a sign had been knocked down and we could see a pilgrim had taken a left but we walked back and forth with our apps suggesting it was straight ahead. Maybe it wasn’t a pilgrim. Husband whistled them and their light disappeared. We kept walking wondering where it went. These headlamps aren’t that strong – we may have just walk too far to see them or it may have been a farmer with a torch. Either way we walked on.

It was actually a rest day for us. This meant we weren’t going to walk too far for the next two days instead of staying in one place. It was early and the towns we were passing were very quiet. I was personally pretty keen to have a coffee and a toilet stop. The donativo coffee was too strong to drink and i had been keeping my water intake up and was keen to utilise a facility.

There was some beautiful scenery and again some beautiful sunflowers. We passed some hay stacks and some cute little towns but everything was closed for second breakfast.

As the sun slowly rose behind us, there was a steady stream of fast walkers catching us up.

As I walked over the ditch seeking a hidden refuge I fell awkwardly, twisted my knee and abandoned the operation. I could wait until our destination!

Then my knee started hurting with every step. I was worried something sinister had happened inside. It wasn’t crippling but it was painful. It slowed me down quite a bit and I was keen to sit down and attend to it. Just as we were coming into Belorado Speedy and another Australian who had stayed in the Parochial the night before caught up to us. Speedy decided to stay another night with us.

We took a room with 4 beds at the Belorado albergue with the poolfor 8 euro each including breakfast . It was quite comfortable with sheets and blankets but would have been better had they all been changed after the last visitors! I had my own sleep sheet so not a huge problem for me and the others were fine.

I had a dip up to my waist in the pool. It was freezing but was great for my knee (and my feet and hips) and sadly the day was the first day I would say was cool. The sun was still shining but a cold wind was developing and the forecast said it was going to rain.

Anyway because we arrived early after such an easy walk, we had a rest and all individually wandered into town to see what was happening. It was the fin de las fiestas day. The end of the festivals. It was also onion harvest festival and all the locals were out in force – each with there own barbeques. These consisted of mostly half 44 gallon drums along with the odd wheelbarrow.

Unfortunately it wasn’t something we could join in with because it was individual families playing games against each other like tug o war. They also had bright uniforms with pants that had different coloured legs.

I bought a callus shaver as Josu at granon had suggested I needed to remove the hard skin on my left big toe to stop a blister forming. I had a millimetre margin to work with between success and disaster. I succeeded and looked forward to being pain free on the morrow – at least with regards to the toe – the knee was a separate worry!

We all caught up for dinner at a nice looking bar that offered the pilgrim menu for 11 euros. Most meals were fine but mine was undercooked fish fillet so I was still a little hungry when I went to sleep. We took some wine back to our room and enjoyed a night cap in the best looking wine glasses we could find whilst we watched the rain tumble down outside!’

Buenas noches!