A Mattress in the Attic

Nothing like ending a long day of hiking with a downpour, full hostels, and an expensive mattress in an attic.  Yes, we have gotten used to our peaceful nights after long days on the trail.  Tonight we found that hostal after hostal was already full.  We ended up in something resembling the youth hostels I remember from my European backpacking days in the '80's.  Noisy, boisterous teenagers are having a great time in every nook and cranny. I'm not sure when I got so old and crabby, but we are on a mission to rediscover the road less traveled tomorrow.

We are in Los Arcos tonight - a decent sized medieval town with lots of modern amenities.  It's a far cry from the hilltop village of Lorca, where we stayed last night.  After oversleeping this morning and getting a later start than we had hoped, we put the pedal to the metal and cranked out 30 km - our biggest day yet.  It helped that we had some long stretches of trail through hills and pastures without towns, buildings or benches in sight.  If you've been walking all day, and you come across a bench, it's just begging you to sit down.  However, if there is no logical spot to stop and sit, we seem to just keep moving.

We paused for a breakfast break in Villatuerta before continuing on to Estella, famous for its church of San Pedro, its vineyards, and the wine fountain of the Bodegas Irache - dispensing free wine instead of water. 

Sadly, we were deeply disappointed to find the wine fountain dry. But, that didn't stop us from posing for a few photos anyway

Next we had to make our first real decision about which path to follow, when el camino split in two. We had the option of a shorter route of high meadows of lavender and hilly pastures, or a longer, flatter route through towns.  The difference was 1.5 km, and we had to weigh the fact that our remaining food consisted of one chocolate bar. We decided to starve and take the shorter route.  About 90 minutes later, we were rewarded with our first sighting of a bar/cafe!  We plunked down next to the closed pool (thunder had started to rumble), and enjoyed, yet another, lunch of cheese and ham sandwiches. I tried to dip my throbbing feet in the baby pool, but I was shooed away. 

After 45 minutes of rest and relaxation (and WIFI), we hit the road for our final 11 kilometers of the day. This was another straight stretch of countryside hiking through wheat fields and pastures.  Once again, the distance passed more quickly with fewer rest spots to distract us. Dark clouds and rumbling thunder probably aided in the effort as well.  Images of electrocuted children kept passing through my mind. With every crack and flash, my pace got faster.

When we finally reached Los Arcos, the rain began to come down in earnest. We were delighted to be finished for the day and happy to at least have a mattress under a roof on this rainy night.  I'm not sure whether it was a celebration of our success so far, or a complete lack of motivation on my part, but we actually ate in a restaurant tonight and enjoyed our first real taste of Spain - Paella. 

Everyone gave it a thumbs up, but, honestly, on most nights this crowd would give anything (except another cheese sandwich) a thumbs up.  Tomorrow...the road less taken.