Day 4 Alcalá la Real - Alcaudete

 


23.1 km   5:33 h without the pauses and not calculating the additional time when Andrea waited for me to catch up with her. Total time including pauses 8:35 h

Average speed 4.2 km/h        418 m up    and    643 down

Today we managed ourselves much better than yesterday. However no matter what at the end of the day you just want to arrive. To begin with our camino went a long way round a hill  - on the shady side! When coming into the sun it was extremely hot, except that we were lucky and most of the time there was a pleasant breeze. We came through one village and the bar was shut, always shut on Tuesdays! And there was Ilka sitting on a bench in the shade. Yesterday’s only bar had been shut because it was Monday. So I thought, with luck, tomorrow’s midway bar will be shut because it will be Wednesday! No, it will not  - there is nothing midway, nothing at all on the way to Baena! As we were talking with Ilka the mayor of the village came and suggested we sit at a table of the bar which was shut. And apologised for the noise made by the blowers with which the dead leaves were being blown away “We always have this done on Tuesday when the bar is shut!”

Of course there are still olive groves wherever you look. Today I noticed that there were lots of small tractors pulling water containers watering the olive trees which leaves large circles round the trees, first wet and later in the day you notice the debris from under the trees left in circles. These trees sprout three trunks - sometimes one is cut, leaving just two. Or even only one....

We arrived just after 4 pm and, as before, I had a good solid sleep before doing anything else. Get the photos sorted out for the blog, a short walkabout, a light meal sharing a table with Ilka - we had walked together on and off during the afternoon and she is staying in the same hotel as we are. 

And now it is 11 pm gone and I need to go to sleep urgently.....







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