We left together after coffee at Las Cazadores.

The first point of interest was an abandoned car plonked in the middle of a large plowed hillside – front bumper hanging, driver’s door open, but nobody seemed to be around. It was too far away to see details, but we managed to have extensive discussion about it!

Then came upon some nice lagoons – a bit of a surprise in this otherwise very dry environment. We had no hydrologist or geologist among us to explain. The little rain that has been falling comes in short thunderstorms, so it just runs off in flash floods that don’t help crops. Somehow that rain must still feed these lagoons.

Nice walking all day, through two villages that had no bars or stores. At one point we passed a sign that indicated a “provisional diversion” to the Camino route, but gave no explanation or date. The reason became apparent a km or 2 later, when we had to walk across a plowed field to rejoin the rote.

Finally entered Cuenca from the top, modern part, and descended into the older famously scenic part. Tomorrow I’ll post some photos of this.

The three of us are staying in different places. I’m at the Posada de los Tintes, which is very nice, quaint, has good restaurant, and reasonable prices.

Tomorrow we are taking a “rest” day to see the sights and maybe also rest! The excitement for me is that I will discard my old shoes and take my new ones out of the bottom of my pack, to be worn for the rest of this trip. Aside from having the fresh cushioning, which breaks down by about 500 km, my pack will be 500 g lighter and less full! The new shoes are the ones I almost left behind. I wore them while travelling but then changed to my half-used ones for the first 200 km of walking.