My dogs are barking… And I don’t mean MacKenzie and Nui…but I somehow found it in me to walk to the ancient church in the little village I’m staying in tonight…60 people in this village, and still there’s gold in the church and storks nesting in the tower (which you see all over) you can see one standing watch over eggs/babies if you look at the top.

My friends were ready before me this morning so I told them to go on ahead.  And so I got my golden morning couple of hours to myself…it started to drizzle and did that pretty much all day. 

The walk to Villafranca Montes de Oca was very peaceful, with this interesting structure in the middle of a wheat field.  You can’t help but wonder it’s history.  So many little, strange, ancient structures in the middle of nowhere.

I met up with the Canadian women  from yesterday having coffee at a little cafe there.  And so we began the climb out of Villafranca together. See me looking more like a homeless person every day with all kinds of crap hanging off my backpack… I understand now why they do that, ha ha, it’s all about convenience.

The 1 kilometer climb, quickly turned into an 8 mile, muddy walk through a magical pine forest

Far now from the highway, we are once again serenaded by the birds as we dodge from one mud puddle to another.

My feet are hurting so badly that I can feel my gait is different in an attempt to take as much weight as possible off them.  They just plain need a break… Which we finally get as we reach San Juan de Ortega…a surprisingly small place, it seems to consist only of a monastery with a large albergue and a bar/cafe…we are so relieved to sit and have a cup of tea and some chocolate…only 2.5 miles (4 kms) to our destination for this evening…

The sun has finally come out and the path is just plain gorgeous, making this final haul on my wretched feet do-able…

Aaaaand….. The hallelujah moment

Great choice once again in this darling little village, and a clean, comfortable, well run albergue.  And since I made the reservation, I get the real bed… A real treat😄