Day 3: Urda - Los Yebenes (28km officially, 27km for me due to some bushwacking)
I was the only hotel guest at the Casa del Medico, so I was surprised when an incredibly rich breakfast awaited me at 9am, including queso con membrillo (soft cheese with quince jelly). Freshly fortified and in a good mood, I left the hotel at 10am in 4 degree celsius and went to a supermarket to stock up on provisions, as today's stage was without any food options.
As soon as I left the town centre, I had network coverage again. That was important, of course, because otherwise I might not have found my way without the Buen Camino app. At first, I walked along a dirt track next to an arterial road. My destination was the N-401 to Toledo, which I had left yesterday to get to Urda. Urda is actually a diversion, I realised, you could also walk directly from Fuente el Fresno to Los Yebenes.
Soon crooked mojones appeared next to the dirt track, the sun was fortunately already shining strongly and there was hardly any wind, so I didn't need a hood. Unlike yesterday, this time I didn't have to walk on the less busy road; about 4 kilometres before the junction with the N-401, the Camino turned right into the fields. This section was very nice to walk, firm ground, the range of hills on the right and every now and then a farmer on a tractor waving.
Buen Camino, however, made no sense to me, the app showed a strange spike that I ignored. Every now and then there were yellow arrows. One clearly pointed to the right behind a gate with a sign ‘Vaca sueltas’ (free-roaming cows). I opened and closed the gate, the landscape was now characterised by trees, an arroyo flowed to the left and the path became increasingly grassy. I dodged a few cow pats and then, around a bend, there they were: the vacas sueltas, in the middle of the path, looking at me challengingly.
Fortunately, I know what to do in such situations. I took a deep breath... and heartily sang a Dolly Parton country song ("Joleeeene"). It worked, the cattle made way and I was able to pass unscathed. Dolly Parton always works with cattle. The path was now almost enchanted and I passed a ruined castle crumbling away on the hill to my right. Then I came to a fork in the road and two arrows that contradicted each other. One (a sticker on the back of a sign) pointed left across the arroyo, the other, on the style of sign on the other side, pointed right further along the ridge.
I consulted Buen Camino and realised that I should have been walking much closer to the road already for some time. So I turned left, hopped over a few stones across the arroyo without falling into the water and felt good. But…. “That was a bloody mistake” I shouted to some young cattle just 10 minutes in. I was standing on a grassy area at the edge of a dug up field, the path had disappeared. There was a fence to the right, the arroyo behind it, another fence to the left of the field, and behind that, undergrowth and the road. According to the app, the Camino should run here, but there was no sign of it. "What do I do now?" I asked the cattle, who showed me their rumps and ran off northwards.
I walked across the field and examined the fence, it was 2.50 metres high, tightly knotted wire and not under power. What would Dolly Parton do, I wondered? As a patented country girl, she would of course have a pair of wire cutters in her handbag. I followed along the fence and was lucky, after 10 minutes someone (a desperate pilgrim?) had actually cut the fence open so that I could easily hop into the knee-high bushes behind it. After a few minutes of bushwacking, I was finally on the N-401. There was plenty of traffic here, but a one metre wide shoulder. According to the app, the Camino would cross the N-401 in 2 kilometres, so I continued on the road, watched by a huge statue of the Madonna on a hill to the left.
After 2 kilometres I actually found an arrow that sent me left onto a dirt track. But even here the path disappeared after a while and I had to fight my way over a scree field with lots of stones. As my trail runners are already quite worn out, I felt every stone and got annoyed. And again I was fenced in, running on an area to the left of the road that was perhaps 50 metres wide and fenced in on both sides. A path appeared behind the left-hand fence, but there was also a sign warning me that ‘Toros Bravos’ were waiting for me behind the fence. Does Dolly Parton also work with bulls? I'd rather not find out.
I realised that I was making better progress along the fence on the right-hand side (i.e. towards the road) because there were fewer stones there. An hour later I came to an open gate, beyond which was freedom, the road! But a big yellow arrow pointed to the left and I dutifully followed the now more passable path. At some distance from the road, I continued northwards, Los Yebenes had already been shining in the sun on the hillside in front of me for some time. I, on the other hand, was walking in the shade, as quite a few clouds had gathered in the meantime.
For the next few kilometres, I had to cross the road again and again as the Camino happily jumped from dirt track to dirt track. About 6 kilometres before the village, I came to an end and joined the road. Buen Camino still indicated a path on the right-hand side, but I didn't see it. I now marched at a brisk pace towards Los Yebenes, which was only approaching very slowly.
When I reached the exit from the motorway to my destination, a white car suddenly stopped, a man in a yellow high-visibility waistcoat jumped out and shouted across the road, asking what I was doing here. Fittingly, I was only 20 metres from a ‘No pedestrians’ traffic sign. I shouted back that I had lost my Camino and wanted to get to Los Yebenes as quickly as possible. He kindly let me move on. After leaving the N-401, I discovered a parallel dirt track on the right-hand side and took it. The last few kilometres dragged on endlessly, especially as the road was now constantly climbing slightly, as the town is located on a slope. At 4.45pm I reached some farms and was greeted by an orchestra of barking dogs. The gates were open twice, but thankfully the dogs didn't get as far as the path.
At 5pm I reached the industrial estate and ten minutes later the first residential buildings. I was overtaken by some joggers and noticed a huge deer statue. I bravely fought my way up the hill. At 5.20pm I was standing in front of my hotel, Casa Apelio (30 euros, booked directly via the website), in the town centre. As on the previous days, there was no one there, a sign informed me that it was siesta time between 4pm and 6pm, but there was also a telephone number. I rang and was let in a few minutes later. Later I ate in the restaurant. There were only raciones, bocadillos and hamburguesas on the menu, and every second dish contained venison. So I ordered venison in monteña sauce, which tasted fantastically tender.
Conclusion: An unexpectedly challenging day that showed me once again that you can't rely 100 per cent on apps. Actually, adventures like this mostly happen to me when I walk a path in reverse. But common sense (and Dolly Parton) helped me over critical sections today. Tomorrow is the shortest stage, 18 kilometres to Sonseca, which leads over the only significant hill of the entire Camino. It also offers a town halfway along the route. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Camino Manchego continues.
To be continued...