This was a day mainly along a Vía Verde – a railway route (apparently never used as such) converted to hiking, biking, etc. There was no actual train track, but we went through 20+ tunnels. Some were lit, but even so, it was hard to see and balance in the dark after entering from bright…

A reasonable distance, cooler weather, nice variety of walking, another hilltop village with castle to visit, and a Michelin listed restaurant. All in all, a very good day! First, some agricultural highlights… Olvera was a nice town… Hostal Medina… The very delicious meal…

We had a bit of uncertainty about the route out of the city, but sorted it out. First destination was the Roman ruins of Acinipo. (For Laurie, it is not enough to go from A to B, if there is also A point C within striking distance.) We couldn’t figure out what inspired the Romans…

I was quite fine in the morning, but the planned distance included some ups and downs in the second half. Given my exhaustion yesterday and a very convenient train schedule, I decided to save my energy for the second half, which was the approach up to Ronda. I got on a 7:30 train for 10…

First half was a rather strenuous hike through a canyon. Second 45% was lovely walking. Last 5% was 1.5 km walking steadily uphill to the white village of Jimera del Libar. A bonus 1.5 km off the Camino. Well, my body was out of gas when that last slog started and it took me an hour…

I didn’t like typing “21 km” since Laurie and I agreed that it (and we) deserved a much higher number. I was concerned about the elevation profile with today going up to 30°C and the uphill parts being at the end of the day. See the profile. Sure, it wasn’t Mt Everest, but more than…

This was supposed to be just 18 km, but add on a piece at the start, a piece at the end, and a detour in the middle to avoid a bramble patch, and we are up to over 24 km. The stage was very pleasant –  country roads and green fields, curious cows, and avocado…

First day with a pack and I feel it in my hips and legs. And feet. Since each of us walked to San Roque yesterday, we got a taxi to there and started walking about 8 a.m. The weather was perfect, and we were soon into the countryside, although there was some single file road…