This morning we had to make some route decisions. Laurie was keen on a track she found that claimed to avoid all highways. I was more interested in reducing distances and hills in the upward direction. So we diverged early, and Laurie went off into the forest on the left, while I took the road. I even got to sit down for a rest before our paths converged and she caught up.

Laurie was happy with her off-road track, so we continued on it. Well, it certainly avoided highways, by taking us over hill and dale, scrub, rock and streams, without obvious paths. Furthermore, the GPS resolution was not great, with too many straight lines. We knew we were aiming for a gorge, so I suggested that we should get down off the hills before we approached the region with closely spaced contour lines on the map. With that brilliant plan and Laurie’ GPS track, we succeeded without incident. But it was a good reminder that any random GPS track on the internet should not be trusted.

Back to civilization…

Into the Desfiladero de la Yecla… At one point my backpack was too wide to pass, and I had to remove a water bottle from the side pouch

Arrival in Santo Domingo de Silos, famous for its monastery…