Everybody in the albergue, aware that today was a long 29km hike passing through no towns or villages, was up early and out. We decided to treat ourselves to a bar breakfast. We brought some stocks from the UK, including some packs of instant porridge to have for breakfast but decided to treat ourselves to a bar breakfast. It was a good decision – 1 euro 50 for a cafe American and a tostado with fresh tomatoes and olive oil. Tastier than porridge! Our bags are not too heavy, perhaps about 6 or 7 kg, but after 15 km walking any thing feels too heavy. We need to eat our food stocks fast, or at least the unnecessary luxuries. Back home,on realising we had some spare space in our rucksacks, we stupidly felt the need to fill it with emergency rations and treats. We were carrying 2 packs of 500g wholemeal pasta, 1 pack of 500g cous cous, an assortment of Schwartz sauce packs (2 chilli, 2 balti and a chicken chaucer) a mini spice palette, 3 walnut whips, powdered milk, coffee, a handful of herbal teabags, olive oil and9 packs of porridge!) Barbara almost chucked her jeans out yesterday in an effort to lighten her load, pausing when we established that just one pack of our pasta weighed 150grams more… The jeans would stay! The pasta would go! Last night’s chili was served with pasta twirls.Maybe balti and a chicken chausserpasta twirls could work too!

The first part of today’s hike was a 16km walk along a fairly quiet but fairly fast road. The views were pretty and we could see the hills we would venture over later today teasing us in the distance. But for the next 4 hours…. the road! As roads go it wasn’t too bad for the first hour or so, there was a narrow sandy track to the side and the countryside around. By the time we had covered 7 or 8 km though we had had enough of ‘the road.’ We each sought refuge in our own podcast worlds to seek some mental stimulation. Eventually, the 16km slog was over and we spied our left turn, past the giant pots and through the gates in to the beautiful National Park – Parque Natural Sierra Norte.

The palms and luscious shrubs looked almost architecturally placed. It could have been the entrance to an (exotic) stately home. This designed theme continued as we happily hiked on, with the flowering shrubs seeming to have been positioned with intent – bright yellow next to vibrant pinks next to delicious purples…. There was a beautiful delicate flower with paper thin petals around a yellow centre that was a recurring theme – the Cistes or Rock Rose. We regard any bird that is not a pigeon worthy of admiration and spotted some fabulous storks and flutter gliding swallows and swifts. The track narrowed and we found a clearing to have our lunch – veggy cous cous. Very tasty and healthy!

A few of the hikers we had met at the albergue this morning passed us over the day – there is Martina and Inga, 2 middle aged friendly Germans from Dortmund just out for 2 weeks, an Estonian named Markit and the grumpy coffee demander from Day 3.

A steep climb took us over the hills and afforded us magnificent views all around. Sierra Norte is beautiful, stunning, luscious and green. A fantastic hike today.

We made our way down in to the town below – Almaden de la Plata.

This tiny town has a choice of 3 albergues, 2 private and the municipal, all priced between 10 and 12 euros a head. We opted for La Casa del Raloj. This small family run place is directly on the Camino, on the left just past the quirky purple towered town hall. It is a large open plan first floor room, divided in to sections – 2 sleeping areas accommodating 4 or 6 pilgrims in each, a basic bathroom and laundry, and a cosy kitchen-dining area. It felt like a little home! There were just 7 pilgrims here for the night including ourselves – 2 noisy Spanish guys, a hairy, quieter man (possibly Italian) and Markit from Estonia. Markit thought she had met me before and it turned out we had both walked Camino Frances at the same time so it is entirely possible. She is quiet and polite and kind, with a smile that tells us we will like her! Myself and the folks found the nearby supermarket and bought some supplies for later. Barbara headed back to our albergue to read her book for a while and Tom and I took ourselves to the bar on the village square for a couple of jarras, catching the last of the evening sun.

Back at the ranch I made a tuna pasta salad for tomorrow whilst Tom and Barbara prepared a very odd but strangely satisfying meal – pasta twirls with stew vegetables and white beans cooked in the chicken chauser sauce… It was quite nice, or maybe I was just hungry… Tom ate his walnut whip (there will be trouble tomorrow when I eat mine in front of him – he suffers from food envy…) We caught up with the blog over a bottle of vino tinto and headed off to bed by 9pm as did Markit and the hairy guy. The noisy Spanish blokes arrived an hour later and kept up their noisiness, even when asleep. Wow, one of them can snore! Incredible! They also managed to make a racket during the night with frequent trips to the bathroom, various coughs and splutters, and other mysterious noises that I can only guess at…