I was prepared for this. Unbelievable so early in the morning and you do pass the odd pilgrim darkly hidden on the roadside. How they found their way without a light is beyond me. Of course I know there is a torch on my phone but….battery and all that, I need to. Be prudent, with or without a support charger.
Paul was the beacon, it was amazing except when he turned his head to look at the side of the road, the light moved too and then we stumbled into total blackness. Out of towns and villages is not that brilliant so I was happy to wait for a stealing dawn around 7 before the sun was really up at about 7.30….At this time of year anyway. ?
Even though the road was long beyond imagination, we decided to stop every 2 hours or so and pace it. But I had left without breakfast so after an hour and 20 we stumbled on a village. All quiet…surely everyone is in bed…its still dark. We see coloured fairy lights in a garden and a sign, roughly written that said OPEN. Of course this could have been the Spanish way…we trek round…a lighted kitchen and a man making coffee with hot Tortilla…mmmm Heaven. I laughed because the first thing we did was get our feet out and dress our toes..in the cafe!!! Something I would never do in England. We walk on,…this time in the cool of the morning with a path that led up….and up…and up. Don’t they always!! Up and up…you pant for breathe but its beautiful Oak woodland. Scraggy poor Oaks line the path with patches of alpine heather…Spanish heather of course.
After hours, Paul happily looks around with his beaming smile and says we have done 6 hours walking and there is only another 3 to do!!! But we don’t complain…we enter Atapuerca a small small place that had a famous battle there..it was between 2 brothers, one the king of Navarre and the other the King of Castile….in 10 hundred and something…..and Atapuerca man, father of mankind…some sort of Neanderthal man…must look it up but its now a UNESCO heritage site because of that.
The village EVENTUALLY slips into view. I cant believe it…9hours and 10 minutes on the 11 th day. A tiny farmhouse with old polished wooden steps darker than the morning road and uneven so I couldn’t even climb the stairs!! Everything creaked but it was friendly and so much better than Pension Toni!!! We meet JP and Marie-anne, with Alain and Regina and Jan!!!….our Parkinson man whom we helped on the road. We are a group. I’m savouring it because after tomorrow they stay over and I am left alone. TOTAL FEAR grips me.