27.8 km – 17.2 miles

6:10am to 1:45pm walking time

500 meters – 1640 feet elevation gain

I left early knowing that I wanted to get a longer day in. I had also heard about thunderstorms and rain for later in the day so I hoped I could miss that by leaving extra early. It was very dark once I left the city limits, so I needed my headlamp for the first 45 minutes or so of the walk. It was cloudy and I could tell there was a low haze. I thought this could potentially turn into mist even though the weather said it would be clear in the morning.

Turns out the thunderstorms started at 7am. First there was some pouring rain that started quickly enough that I got fairly drenched before I could get my rain gear out of my bag. I waited under a partial eve of a farm building and a gal from the Netherlands joined me there. Then the lightning showed up. We waited it out a few minutes and when it seemed like the lighting wasn’t getting closer, we headed back out.

After my first break the Dutch gal moved on and then the Annabel from New Zealand caught up with me. We walked a good chunk of the day together. I left her in the last town and headed on for my last few kilometers.

Today was definitely more scenic than yesterday. The mist after the rain made the mountains cool to walk through both temperature wise and for an enchanting forest. There were more hills than the last several days but my body is getting much more used to them. I also didn’t have the pain in my feet the last couple kilometers today that I had on the two recent longer days. Definitely nice to feel more in the groove of things.

I ended the last kilometers talking basketball with an Italian guy. Now I’m settled into my albergue in Agés and I headed a door down to one of the cafes for the menu of the day. It’s a typical 3 course meal with a choice of starters, main dish and dessert. The lady working here doesn’t speak English and I don’t know quite enough Spanish to fully understand what I ordered. But I did know I ordered soup and then chicken for the main dish and cake for dessert. It was a fantastic meal.

All that for 16 euros. After this I need to hang my laundry in some sunshine and just hope that it doesn’t start to storm again. On to Burgos tomorrow where I’ll take a rest day on Saturday.