We’re staying once more at hostal San Andrés. It’s the one with the swimming pool that Dorothy refused to go into last time around.

We started out very early this morning. Dorothy’s alarm went off at 5 am and we were on the street at 5:20. Today was scheduled to reach 33 degrees and we didn’t want to get caught without shade en route. Our first stop was the Irache wine fountain.

Unfortunately for Alistair there was no wine. I suspect that rather than allow tankers access during the night to siphon off thousands of gallons of decent wine, the tap is turned off and since we were there very early, perhaps we got there before the tap turner-on chap.

No matter. We soldiered on and at the fork in the road decided to take the slightly longer route through three villages, one of whom must surely be able to provide an early breakfast. Unfortunately, no such luck and it was 11+ km before an enterprising Canadian chap and three American ‘volunteers’ had parked up en route.

Not cheap, but most people stopped to pick up bocadillos, cans of drink, coffee etc- including us.

The remainder of the route to Los Arcos wound its way through huge km size fields of wheat and rapeseed. There were lots of butterflies and ants ferrying back and forth but these were restricted to the rough edges of the fields, perhaps a couple of metres wide at best.

Apparently the UK has the most depleted flora and fauna in Europe, but if this is indicative of Spain‘s agro-industry (and the south is far worse with thousands of hectares of polytunnels) they’re catching up fast.

We did see this impressive chap

And this stunning butterfly

I’m always impressed by the ability of poppies to survive on the poorest quality ground

Dorothy, Alistair and Rachel decided that reaching Los Arcos was sufficient exercise for the day especially as the temperature had reached 29 degrees and 33 was within range so they decided to book a taxi for the remaining 7.6 km. I’m made of sterner stuff, despite my non COVID (tested negative) coughs and splutterings, so I lifted my pack on my back and headed off.

The final stretch to Torres del Río turned out to be pretty easy, flat over most of the route with a gentle climb towards the end followed by a sharp descent.

Dorothy et Al had somehow managed to end up in the same taxi as María Carmen, the Spanish lady from our first day on the Camino. She had no recollection of Dorothy 😞. I suspected and this is probably confirmation that she’s experiencing some form of early stage dementia which no doubt explains her children’s reluctance to have her wandering on the Camino on her own. That said, everyone who passed her in Los Arcos said ‘hi’ suggesting that quite a number have ‘adopted’ her at one time or another so I’m sure that she’ll be safe.

I got to the Albergue only a few minutes after the others and we quickly signed in. We’ve showered, Dorothy is asleep from her exertions today and Alistair and Rachel were intending to use the pool. I’ll wake Dorothy shortly, we’ll pop down to the bar before sitting down to dinner at 7 o’clock. I suspect that we’ll have another early night before heading off to cover the 21 km to Logroño at the crack of dawn.

Buen camino

PS. Just heard that a 69 year old German pilgrim, fainted and died in the heat today between Villafranca del Bierzo and O Cebriero. He was apparently walking with his daughter when it happened 😞