Clearly my organizational skills have diminished as there was a rush for the door before 0500 of those determined to secure a bed at the small albergue recommended as the end point for today’s stage. We left at 0700 after first having made coffee in the kitchen!
The first part of the day was the last gasp of the dehesa landscape,but with the added bonus of vast stretches of drystone walls. It boggles the mind to think of the time and effort to gather the rocks from the fields and to build the walls.
After the last of the oak trees had vanished behind us, it was rolling hills of wheat, and although they have been recently harvested, giant bales of straw break the monotony, as did the shepherd with his large flock of sheep. The other thing breaking up the landscape was the construction site for a massive solar farm which took half an hour to walk through.
Tonight we are staying in a town not usually an overnight stop for the camino, but at least we have beds, which wasn’t guaranteed at the albergue. Fuente is a town of the past. Its businesses are clustered along the highway, but the addition of the autostrada means most traffic bypasses the town, and the restaurants and hotels/pensions are mostly closed. There are five of is peregrinos staying here, but we had to summon the owner from somewhere else to unlock the door, and the supermarket provided both lunch and dinner for us. Feels more like the via francegina than the via de la plata!
I’ve now also discovered that there is one stage where both albergues are permanently closed, and yet a different town that won’t be able to accommodate our randomly compiled group. Booking dot com here we come!
2saunter 
Cool photo of the wheat field.
Are you having fun? Cheers Jamie
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I’m not entirely sure that fun and camino should be used in the same sentence! That said, I’m enjoying this camino very much!
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