Day 6 - Pretty Tough

Thu 21st Sept., Monesterio to Fuente de Cantos, 21klms

I think that "pretty tough" is an Aussie colloquialism. We'll add the word "pretty" to pretty much anything to give it that little bit of extra oomph. But it's pretty inconsistent. If someone tells you that they are "pretty good", it could also mean that they are OK, but only just so. So context can be important.

So when I say that today was "pretty tough", I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to figure out my mixed metaphors.

Our accommodation last night was odd. The room at the Hotel Moya was perfectly fine, but the establishment itself reminded Janet of the hotel in "From Dusk Till Dawn". The chap who checked us in was certainly friendly enough, but the whole place seemed stuck in a series of time warps, with no clarity as to what services were offered when. As it turned out the bar never did open for dinner, nor for breakfast. From around check-in time onwards (around 3 pm) we never saw another soul. No vampires though ...

First actions today were coffee up the street, buying some fruit from the supermercardo for desayuno, making an unsuccessfultrip to El Correos where we were at least assisted by a fellow customer who spoke excellent English and translated for the chap behind the counter, and then we were on our way.

It was a very pretty walk out of Monesterio, lots more of those "country lanes":

Oak forests and stone walls

At about the halfway mark the countryside opened out - far less trees

Tonight's town appearing mirage-like on the horizon, taunting us with a visible 5/6 klm slog ahead of us. Pretty though.

Beautiful hacienda obviously with a Camino orientation. And below, thanks very much ...

The last hour or so we were chased by a chill wind, and the occasional rain. Past a sizable pig factory with assorted pig noises emanating, and a bunch of obviously breeding sows who came to check us out. And the occasional quite insistent guard dog - the guard dogs we've seen so far are pretty big.

No evidence of any other walkers today. 6 (I think) cyclists.

We lucked out with our accommodation for the night, a three-bedroom apartment in the middle of town for the princely sum of €55. We did pretty good to get it. Excuse the untidiness ...

Big day tomorrow.