Today we finished what we started yesterday. A short 16 kilometres to Rionegro del Puente. We were able to stop for about half an hour in Villar de Farfón, to enable Ana Maria to rest her foot. Tomorrow we have to do at least 22 Kms and possibly 25kms before we find somewhere to sleep so we are hoping "her" foot will behave!
The path today was very pleasant. First a few kilometres steadily climbing gently up the side of a mountain to then descend on the other side towards the dam and reservoir of Agavanzal. What a beautiful sight. Also very peaceful. There were some workmen on the dam itself clearing the road that traverses it, of small shrubs that grow in all the little crevices. Apparently this is done once a year!
We then went round about 60% of the reservoir along a very nice path for several more kilometres! One thing we have noticed in various parts we have walked on this trip, but particularly today, is that there is some type of white fungus that is slowly killing off all the vegetation, including trees! We wonder if anything is being done about this. At the end of this we came across the tiny village of Villar de Farfón, where we stopped by the side of the church for about half an hour.
From there we started to climb cross-country, along a narrow but fairly decent path, lined mainly with shrubs a lot of them infected with this fungus. At the end of several kilometres we had climbed to 850m. In the distance we could see the town of Rionegro del Puente, which we entered four hours after leaving Olleros de Tera. We are staying at the same Albergue where we stayed five years ago. We have a funny anecdote of that previous visit. When we arrived there were two pilgrims staying. One was a young Korean girl who came up to us and in very bad English appeared to be saying that there was a big rat inside the drawer of a wardrobe on the ground floor. We thought this rather ridiculous and felt that she meant something else. On closer examination we found a HUGE rat in the drawer! We beat a hasty retreat and called the "hospitalera" who in turn called her husband who came with a burly mate to eliminate the danger, while we drank a couple of beers in the local bar! What had happened was that workmen had been working nearby on some drains and had disturbed the rat who fled into our building! This time round we have made sure there are no intruders!
This is one of the better Albergues on this route. It's on two floors, built in 2006 and can house 24 people in comfort. It has a kitchen, a lounge area, washing and drying facilities and a library. It costs 7 Euros per person per night. It contrast in style with the more colourful one we enjoyed last night!
Tomorrow we face a different challenge, that is to see if Ana Maria's foot can last at least 22 Kms. We intend to start early in the morning so that we can rest several times on the way. Fingers crossed!
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