Day 5 ~ Uterga to Lorca

My alarm went off at 6:30, so I was able to get into the bathroom area and finish my morning routine just as Bill entered. The lights had come on in the dorm room, so everyone was starting to stir.

We sat down to a lovely breakfast of 1 egg, 2 pieces of toast, coffee, juice, and some watermelon. We don’t usually get more than toast and coffee, so this was awesome. Once again, Christian was very attentive and wanted us to be happy and full.

I’ve been having issues with a blister on the outside of the ball of my left foot right at the base of my big toe. Can’t figure out what’s going on. Is it a sock issue? A lacing issue? No idea, but I put some Compeed on the drained blister and was ready to go.

We left a bit earlier than 8am and had a lovely couple of hours in the cooler temperatures. I finally had my pack adjusted correctly, and my feet felt fine. We came thru a town that was a bit bigger than Uterga that had some beautiful Albergues, but they were all closed.

We had decided that we needed to take more frequent breaks. So, once an hour, we stop, take off our packs, stretch a bit, have a sit, and a drink of water, maybe some snacks, then we are off once again.

Along the path, I saw two women picking things off of some plant. I asked what they were picking, and it was wild fennel. They were eating the flowers. So, I tried it and it tasted like fennel. Or licorice, if you don’t know what fennel tastes like.

We stopped in Puenta La Reina for a coffee and second breakfast. I wasn’t sure what the food situation would be later in the day and I didn’t want to run out of steam like I had the day before. Next to us sat the two fennel picking women. One was from Finland and the other from Italy. They met on the Camino had been walking together for a couple of days. The Fin elected to stay behind in Puenta La Reina for another day to do some shopping and let her feet rest. The Italian, Sabrina, had a schedule to keep, so they parted ways. We would run into Sabrina periodically during rest breaks, but her goal was to be alone for her journey. She owned a tobacco shop in Italy, and was trying to quit smoking. It wasn’t going well, but because she was having a difficult time finding cigarettes, she surmised it wouldn’t be long until she was forced into it.

We left Puenta La Reina by going thru a gate and a bridge that had been ushering peregrinos along their way for over 1000 years. We started to see more vineyards with grapes ready to be harvested. We did nab a few grapes to try out, and they tasted like…..grapes. Not sure what we expected. Chianti maybe? There were also some fantastic gardens with all sorts of vegetables: artichokes, peppers, tomatoes, string beans, kale, etc. I wanted to nab a tomato or pepper, but decided the fence was to keep people like me out.

We started noticing snails on the plants. And then we saw a bunch of snails everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It seems they like fennel. It was the strangest thing to see. Now, we don’t even notice it.

Sometime after 1 or so we came up to Cirauqui. A picturesque town up on a hill. Very steep roads in this town. And no restaurants that were open because of Covid. Actually, because there were no peregrinos, because of Covid. We found a tiny supermarket and bought some ham, cheese, avocado, red pepper, and fruit for lunch. We hiked thru some sort of town party where everyone was sitting in their social groups, an appropriate distance from one another, drinking wine and having a great time. We found an alcove of some sort out of the sun, and conveniently located near a bathroom and ate our simple lunch.

Leaving Cirauqui, we travel along the old Roman Road. Across an old Roman bridge that looked like a troll should live under it, and thru some old olive vineyards. Someone was trying to make a neat rest stop with a few items of interest. There were several book cases with books in them, and other donated items, including an orange, an apple, and a bunch of grapes. This was the only shade we could find, so we stopped for a breather.

My feet were absolutely killing me. It felt like I had another blister. I thought that’s what the Compeed was supposed to prevent? First thing I did when we got to Lorca was to check. Yep another blister. I need to get this figured out.

Bill and Bruce were at a simple albergue. I hit the jackpot with a fantastic hostel. I had the whole place to myself. It had a great kitchen, so that’s were we made dinner. Once again, no restaurants were open because there was no business to keep them open. So, we went to the mini mart just 50 meters up the road from my hostel to get stuff for dinner. The owner was very nice, and was chatting with Bill and Bruce when I walked in. He knew I was the sister, and told me that his sister owned the hostel I was staying in. Small towns. News always travels fast. When I brought the boys back to my place for dinner, the owner comes up to inspect them to make sure it’s all legit. She says we all have the same eyes, which is all she could see, so they passed muster and she left us alone.

Tomorrow is an easy day. Only 5 miles, so we are leaving at 9. Which is giving me time to get caught up on this blog.

14 Sep 2020 ~ 33,928 steps ~ 13.9 miles ~ 88º F