Camino Ingles Day 4: Beche to Ordes

We set our alarms early and were on the road by 8:30. Danny left his sunglasses behind but otherwise it was a good start.

Our continual conundrum is where to stop for food. Since we started early we stopped at the first roadside cafe/general store where we saw lots of other pilgrims.

When Danny ordered sandwiches the lady brought the whole giant loaf/ring of bread to ask how much we wanted.

This is a style of service I could get used to.

God knows how she works out a price for this.

She made us take lots of photos – of her with us but also of her with other pilgrims.

She had a box of little flags and things and even found me a tiny clippy koala.

We also spoke to an American man from Kansas who was in Spain for a couple of months and was on his fourth Camino of the trip. He started on the primitivo Camino but wildfires blocked the path so he changed and had been doing bits of several.

Eventually it was time to hit the road. Today is a 17km walk and by lunch we had done 12km. The afternoon was a lot of hot walking in the sun. I employed my festival survival hack and socked my cotton scarf in water. At one point I saved my giant ice cubes from a cafe and wrapped them up for my neck, which worked well.

A transfer station is an inspiring reminder of man’s ability to generate electricity. Also I know I look sunburned but it’s not as bad as it seems and I am wearing a hat and sunscreen all day.

A pilgrim bath that was the first we’d seen that actually looked clean enough to put your feet in, even though we didn’t.

Authentically Spanish afternoon snack;-)

Sitting in a dirty bus stop watching trucks go past.

My hip pain came back a bit in the afternoon but only in short spurts. We had our worst walking right before our hotel in Ordes, right beside a highway with only a narrow strip and heaps of trucks. It was pretty grim but the trucks very kindly moved over as far as they could, probably cursing us all the while.

When we got into the town we stopped at a pharmacy to buy ibuprofen and more foot plasters.

The towns seems to have some interesting street art.

Our hotel with generic tortured trees. Why do they cut all the branches off?? It looks awful and there’s no shade.

We arrived about 4:30 and decided to relax and shower before seeing where to eat this evening and do some laundry. Exciting stuff!

Action shot of our pilgrim passports being stamped. I don’t think I’ve mentioned them before. You have to get at least two stamps a day to prove you’ve done at least 100 for a certificate at the cathedral. We keep changing our minds about whether we want the certificate or not.

My room has a bit of a weird smell but whatever.

We went out to do laundry and have dinner.

An entire meal of salad was very exciting.

I took a photo of this bin truck outside the restaurant where we had dinner to remind myself of all the trucks they drive through Ordes constantly. I’ve never seen so many trucks in a small town.

A note regarding yesterday’s post, we discovered the tiny sheds on stilts were actually for storing corn.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler and we are going to set off around 8am as the hotel breakfast is at 7:30. it’s another day that’s just under 20km. It’s worked out well they we arrive at our destination in time to shower, rest, then enjoy the evening somewhat. I can well imagine that doing this for weeks on end would result in much improved fitness. Im not sure I’ll see any benefit but it’s nice knowing we are succeeding at something that seemed quite daunting initially.