Never Eat a Big Bowl of Artichokes!

Well today started with such good intentions. We had purchased a heap of breakfast food intending to have a picnic breakfast in the beautiful park next to the albergue, but as we approached our perfectly selected bench under the light, a flock of geese came from nowhere, eyes glinting like that of the devil, racing towards us with unknown intentions. What is it about me that makes animals rush towards me in chase?!! Then the sprinklers came on!

Anyway, as we sat there, Colleens’s stomach started to rumble and she had to make a dash back to the albergue. We figure it was the overload of food intake from the night before. She ate an enormous bowl of artichokes and her stomach was rebelling. We waited a while, but she decided to push through it and we began walking at 8.20 (which is a really late start).

Our reward was a beautiful parting view of sunrise behind the Roman aqueduct!

5 kilometres later and Colleen was in trouble. We had gone too far to go back yet we still had a long way to go! She was breaking out in a sweat and stopping every now and again with stomach cramps. No bushes in sight, no villages in between and nowhere to squat and the phrase of ‘never trust a fart’ came up.

We came over a hill to find a Roman built reservoir and an aqueduct that ran 10kms. Breathtaking views.

She soldiered on and the scenery was beautiful but we walked slowly as she was feeling proper poorly. We had lots of breaks to sit and rest. At the last part was a long long never ending gravel road, made worse by the fact thatColleen was feeling so unwell. However we did find a moment or two for silliness and we filmed Colleen’s shadow-looks like she is wearing flippers!

However, we made it and as the Camino provides, we are now installed in an absolutely stunning 4star casa rural, thanks to her husband Gerry who is our lifeline when in times of trouble. Thank you Gerry!!💜

This place is an oasis. It is set up like a Roman house. It has a large pool and garden. There are lounging areas around the garden, beautiful music playing and it smells of incense. If you want to eat or drink here, you are given Roman robes to wear and you can sip wine from goblets. We chose not to do that but I have just come back from a wonderful massage and Colleen went into the Roman baths.