Almost the entire albergue was up early in an effort to beat the heat, but that meant the first few kilometers in the dark. It also meant starting before cafe opening hours! Where the path crossed the road the gas station has a cafe attached, but for some reason I was the only one who sniffed out its presence!
Today’s walk was very pleasant – trails and farm tracks through the “dehesa”, a type of mixed use forest and farmland, where the spacing of the oak and or cork trees allow for animal grazing, while the cork can be harvested, or the pigs eat the acorns. I walked through one large herd of cows, amongst which was one bull, which had me pondering the wisdom of choosing a red backpack. The area has been recognized as a UNESCO world biosphere site, and according to my guidebook, these woodlands have been managed in a similar fashion since neolithic times.
While the town of Guillena wasn’t too appealing in terms of scenery, something that was appealing was the music that woke me at 0130. Going up to the albergue roof, I got to enjoy the beautiful group singing and rhythmic hand clapping that seems so typical of Spain. I was tempted to get dressed and go to the plaza, but I was unsure whether I could get in and out privileges at the albergue at that hour!
Tomorrow’s section is classified as “very hard” in the guidebook, so all the peregrinos. The rating is due to the absence of any refreshment opportunities en-route, so combined with the hot day forecast, it’s going to be an early start. At least today was only 4 hours, meaning that we arrived in town at a time that it was still appropriate to order cafe and tostada!
2saunter 