Pinos Puente to Alcala la Real

Pinos Puente to Moclin 17kms

 Spencer woke up feeling a bit under the weather, and no wonder, with all that we have been through the last few days. In the course of one week we have managed to pack up a house and life of four years, say goodbye to new friends, hello and goodbye to old friends, travel half way across the world and begin a long time dream. Oh.. and walk in 30 degree heat for 5 hours with a heavy pack. I think he has developed a bad chest infection. Fortunately I have an extra course of antibiotics in my first aid kit but I didn’t think we would need it so soon. Spencer wasn’t feeling too bad this morning when we left. We left quite early, 6:30 am. It was a gorgeous sunrise as we left Pinos Puente. We followed the route along the north side of the river and ambled through olive grove after olive grove.

 The route was well marked with golden arrows. The last bit of the walk was a bit of a grind though, 300 metres, almost straight up from a village called Los Olivares to a hilltop village called Moclin. 

Moclin is on the top of the hill in the background

This little village is stunning, perched on a hilltop, all under the protection of an old guard castle.

 Upon arrival Spencer went right to bed but I wandered the village to look at all the for sale signs, fantasizing about how I could live here.

We are staying a small accommodation called “Las Brisas which is run by 2 lovely women. When they found out Spencer was sick they literally offered us every remedy under the sun. They have also said that we are to stay here for free until Spencer is better.  It was a custom in the medieval times that if a pilgrim is sick he is allowed to stay another night in the refugio, otherwise one must leave the following morning.We'll see what tomorrow brings.

 Sunday, May 27th -  Moclin to Alcala la Real (should only be 24 kms but we made it about 28kms)

Today was nuts!!!! Spencer woke up early and said he was feeling OK to walk. So, off we went, again leaving before the sun came up. The morning was stunning and the view leaving the hilltop village of Moclin was impressive. This time of year is so beautiful as all the spring flowers are in bloom, there are red poppies and white daisies everywhere.

All was fine until we entered the olive groves and soon lost the comfort of the guiding golden arrows. They were nowhere to be found, but we were too far in the groves and too stubborn to turn around, so we bush whacked our way up a hill, only there to find 2 arrows, each one pointing in a different direction. We went with the one that had a newer look to it and this led us to the major highway. All was fine until we made another error. We thought we would take a short cut to make up for lost time. Ha!!! Did we ever take the long way round. We ended up taking refuge from the hot sun at a petrol station, at which a man felt sorry for us and drove us to where he knew the camino was. I think this must have been an old, poorly marked camino because within the hour we were lost again. 

Walking into Alcala la Real

 Fortunately a biker pointed us in the direction of Alcala la Real and we hobbled into Alcala la Real on a bike path, not on the camino.

We learned a lot today. All the while, Spencer was feeling sicker and sicker. Hopefully after a good meal and a good rest we will continue tomorrow, wiser than the day before.