We’re back on the Camino. We left Oxford on schedule …

We walked quickly up to headington, hung around for a while …

waiting for the bus which took a rather meandering route along the M25, off the M25, back on again etc, but eventually we got to Gatwick.

Breakfast at Wagamama broke the monotony a little but Gatwick was buzzing by 03:30. We left on schedule, the flight was uneventful and we arrived safely. The airport bus to Santiago leaves every 10 minutes or so, so getting to the main bus station was a doddle. We grabbed some food in the station and caught the ALSA bus to Villafranca. Phew!

This is where we finished last time.

Coffee and a poorly chosen patatas bravas followed

Fully replenished we headed out of Villafranca and back into the Camino path.

On the bridge out of town stood this cheerful chap.

The first 7km runs alongside the road usually separated by a metre high barrier. It’s boring but safe. (This bit wasn’t).

There are lots of somewhat dilapidated buildings along the road.

But the doors to some of their buildings are works of art.

There are some quite beautiful trees alongside the road

And plenty of gloriously coloured flowers

More dilapidation

But the sun was shining, it was 26 degrees and we were back in Spain, land of bocadillos, tortillas, bull running and eucalyptus trees – yup, lots of them.

The Albergue we’re staying in is nice, slightly odd, shared bathroom but we had a decent communal meal at which we were joined by an environmental engineer who gave up their job to come on the Camino, a South Korean web designer who did likewise and an Ecuadorean lady, whose name was indeed Lady who recently graduated as a graphic designer. In the following photo the Korean girl is on the engineer’s immediate left, the Ecuadorean to her left. I’m the chap with the slightly quizzical expression on the far right 😉. Dorothy, you’ll probably recognise.

We’ve showered, been fed, we’ll be up early tomorrow and all being well, we’ll aim for Fonfria, up and over a mountain and 32km away. We stayed there last time we passed this way but it was April, there was a metre of snow on the ground and it was the hardest day of any we’ve experienced on any camino. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier.

Many thanks to Eleanor for the pictures, good to see the dogs are happy.

Buen camino