Our day started with a weather forecast of 80% chance of rain… We chose to think of it as 20% chance of sun… And other than a few spits here and there, we were right!!

   
The pics above are of Dan being protected by Sandra as the three of us tried to stay warm the night before in the women’s washroom… Which also held the dryer, and the only source of heat.. The pic at the top is the entrance to our Albergue last night…

Our journey took us up a hill ( about a 400 m vertical climb that Dan said “I laugh at your 400 meters”)… Not so funny as we were met with drizzle and a very muddy path at times…but the vistas were worth it!

  

As the sun came out, so began our descent from the mountain… Much steeper than the ascent, and the path was covered in rounded stones that were treacherous to walk on… Very slow decent, and very hard on all our feet… Especially Dan’s!

At the bottom we decided that Dan would go straight to the booked Albergue in Puente la Reina while the girls all took a side trip to an ancient Norman church built by the Templars for the pilgrims.  The church is 11th century and stands at the crossroads of the Camino Frances and the Camino Aragones( from the south east of France).  Although the church wasn’t open, we saw the wonderful carvings in the exterior which still remains today.

The path you see on the bottom left is the Camino path and yes, it is going up hill!!!

This day took us on wonderful mountain walks, listening to wonderful birds and watching spring bursting with all its glory!  As sore and tired as we were, we felt renewal at every turn!

 After more hills, we finally arrived at Puenta La Reina…. And finally an Albergue where we could book a room for just the 2 of us!  Washrooms and showers down the hall, and walls are paper thin, but for €17 a piece with breakfast we won’t complain!  We even have a wonderful balcony, if only we didn’t need to fill it with laundry!!! It all sounds wonderfully romantic, and we should have run  down the street to get a bottle of wine and enjoy the view, but my shopping trip included bandages, iodine and insoles for Dan…. Back at the room we were sharing a hypodermic needle (don’t worry, it was sterile!!!) to drain blisters before we bandaged them… Yes, today I succombed to my first baby blister…

With laundry done and set out to dry, we headed out for our pilgrim meal… Tonight was another lovely 3 course meal with wine (and lots of water)… Below is a sample of our starters…

Well folks, we’re “knackered” to quote Sandra!  I’ll sign off for now… Talk to you again tomorrow where we are heading for Villatuerta Puenta… And an Alberque that boasts massage and healing arts… It’ll be a bit shorter day, hopefully will let Dan’s feet heal a little!