Our son James is a keen and accomplished mountain climber. Today I remembered the three rules of mountaineering:
"It's always further than it looks, It's always taller than it looks and it's always harder than it looks"
These rules could well have been applied to our trek today. It all started badly. Last night we had a full complement of seven people filling our small albergue in Escalona. At 8:00pm the temperature in the sun was 42C degrees and 31C in the shade. The albergue was like an oven and it was impossible to sleep. I reckon that Ana Maria and I had about 3.5 to 4 hours sleep!
We therefore set off feeling pretty tired. The first five Kms by road to Paredes de Los Vidrios where we had hoped to find a bar open for breakfast. No such luck. Breakfast in the village square of a banana, a few "paciencias" ( lovely chocolate filled biscuits) made by Mari Mar, and water!
The next stage was a beautiful but very hard walk up the mountain side always climbing, over large rocky paths, with stunning scenery. This went on for some nine kilometres by which time we were pretty exhausted. We stopped several times to tend to our blisters which were suffering from the harsh conditions underfoot. Once out of the mountain paths we then had to endure a climb of some 8 kilometres up a secondary Tarmac road which took us nearly two and a half hours. Every time you thought you had reached the top, another climb beckoned round the next bend in the road. Had it gone on for much longer I don't think I could have made it to the top!
We arrived at 11:10am, a total journey time of 5 hours and 15 minutes, which given the conditions was pretty good going, at least for us!
This evening we decided to reject the offer of free accommodation in the local Polideportivo and opted instead for a very nice but inexpensive Hostal, complete with swimming pool. Unfortunately we don't have swimsuits so we've had to forgo the pleasure of a dip! Tonight we met up with our Belgian friend, William, who is staying at the Polideportivo, for a couple of beers!
Cadalso de Los Vidrios has an interesting past having been one of the major manufacturers of fine crystal in Europe. Sadly no more! We understand that examples of their wares can be found in the Monastery of El Escorial and in the British Museum in London.
It's just gone 8:00pm and we are off to bed to see what adventure awaits tomorrow. Just before we go, "por favor, dos cervezas más, y media racion de queso y jamon"
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