We got up to a foggy morning, but it soon burned off. It was a great day walking.

The first major stop was Trillo, a touristy place for hikes to Las Tetas, and an extensive mountain biking park, as well as temporary workers at tge nuclear plant. We sat for quite a while at an outdoor restaurant near a waterfall and had a delicious second breakfast.

Then we stopped to see the church, where mass had just ended. Had a chat with the priest, who was from Rwanda but had been in Spain for 10 years or so. He is responsible for multiple parishes up to 50 km away.

On a lane approaching Gargoles de Arriba, a man stopped his car to chat. About 15 minutes later, when Laurie had moved ahead, he drove by again to hand me a gift of about a kilo of walnuts in their shells. Of course I had to smile and accept them. Which meant I had to carry a plastic shopping bag full of walnuts. At the church there was a nice shady bench where I determined that they were easy to crack by stomping on them, so I ate a few and stuffed the rest into my pack. Here’s a pic of the shelling operation later at the albergue.

A few km along was a solitary Ermita with a lavender field nearby. I managed to take a photo of the interior, through a small hole in the door. I was amazed at the result, because I don’t know where the light came from!

In Cifuentes we had a bit of trouble locating the key to the albergue. After the Guardia Civil had been engaged, and various phone calls made, the mayor zoomed up and showed us where to find it.

The bonus hike for today was a tour of town and ascent to the castle. I let Laurie go up to check it out while I took photos from below!