Apparently I look a little worse than I thought. In addition to the black eye, the wind and rain  from yesterday’s storm chapped my nose and face to a lovely Rioja red.  Great.

 At this rate I’ll be entering Santiago with a bag over my head.

When  I checked into the inn last night, the Señor (who spoke no English) looked at me with a concerned, questioning face. I was too tired to do anything other than pantomime the truth and showed him my hiking poles.

He tried not to laugh and then went over to the bar and poured me a tall draft beer…on la casa. 

 Edit  

  

   

Another lovely walking day. I’m still in the agricultura area –  fields of wheat and peas instead of vineyards. And extra fun today was spying some stealthy truffle (?) hunters with their dogs, trowels and baskets. 

  

  

The path wound up and over the pine and oak laden Montes de Oca (though “mountains” is stretching it). Heading west, ash and juniper lined the path downhill until it was time for for a cerveza break in San Juan Ortega ( St John of the Nettle — why all this itching on the Camino?).

  

  

I had planned to stay at the monastery in San Juan but as I walked into the village someone with a bugle started playing a mournful “taps”.  It gave me the serious willies so after my beer I kept on walking. 

  

Staying tonight in Agés, a very small funky village. And based on the villagers I met, ( ok I met only two of them) they are a smiling, happy lot. And I had the best lentil soup ever. A total win of a day.

Bed is at the albergue San Rafael – 5€ for a mattress in the attic, showers, wifi.  (It’s actually a lot nicer than it sounds.