The Energizer Bunnies were off, leaving me and another Canadian in the dust. The only reason she was back with me was that her ~20 kg backpack was slowing her down. We were warned about the early, very steep ascent, and it was. But really quite enjoyable if you go at the right speed and don’t try to talk.

Going up!

As expected, having gone up, we had to come down.

Fortunately there was a wide path with switchbacks that just required some slaloming instead of the jump turns of yesterday.

See my walking friend down below

At the bottom there was a coffee stop literally “on” the camino. We squeezed by a parked car and were welcomed into Faustina and Arturo’s (I’m not sure of their names) weekend house (her childhood home). After coffee and photos we moved on, encountering a family member coming for a Sunday visit.

Back to the river. For. Hours. We didn’t feel our feet had another 8 km on them, so stopped in Ocaña. There is no official bar, cafe or tienda in this village but the seniors’ centre (for which I am well qualified) sold us beer, frozen pizza and potato chips.