Well that all passed off peacefully.
I do recommend Barrio El Tubo. Very busy from 20:00 onwards with a good mix of traditional and more inventive bars and restaurants.
29k to Alagón today. Inevitably flat, the route follows a river and train line, with mountains in the distance to the west and a high escarpment to the east.
The weather’s excellent, cool in the morning, although I’ve been walking into a steady wind all day which does slow me down and is very dehydrating.
Saw two German peregrinos in Alagón, but that’s it. Lovely really.
The villages en-route are typical small-town Spain, quiet but with sufficient infrastructure. I managed three sellos en-route, although other enquiries drew a blank. The route marking is sparse but sufficient if you’re happy to follow your nose and have the ‘Camino sense’ to recognise a likely path when you see it.
Alagón is splendid. Large by local standards, but with a sense of calm and order. I’m in the ‘Los Angeles’, which is clean and simple. The restaurant is well regarded, so I’ll put that to the test. In the meantime I’m having a few scoops at the Bar Riga, in shorts and a t-shirt whilst the locals are dressed for the arctic.
A slight mishap en-route as I thought it was time for a ‘nice sit down’; which together with infinite tea was my paternal grandmother’s idea of a day well-spent, but I digress.
What appeared to be a nice soft friendly plant amongst the twigs and rocks, wasn’t. It’s highly evolved method of seed distribution involved detaching hundreds of the damn things with adhesive and micro-hairs. It had obviously been waiting years patiently for some idiot to sit on it, and wasn’t going to miss the chance.
So, my arrival in Alagón required an emergency visit to the Pharmacist for a pair of eyebrow-tweezers and a solid hour extracting spiky seeds from my shorts and my ‘person’, for want of a better euphemism. It’s a good job I’m still reasonably flexible and I packed my reading-glasses.
All well at home, which is as it should be, Henry the Actual Dog in the dog hotel - slightly more expensive than my accomodation; and Mrs HtD continues towards full recovery; no doubt with the heating full-on. A small price to pay for being let off the lead on a regular basis.
Gallur tomorrow where the El Colono awaits; then the distance steps up.