I had one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had since I’ve been in Spain. Comfy beds, quiet room and I had a pilgrims blessing off a monk last night so I’m pretty sure that helped.

I had already heard that the next stop in gernika (19km away) was completely fully booked. The whole city had no where to accommodate us but that didn’t stop us starting our journey. I had already walked 98km with a stupidly heavy tent on my back and I hadn’t used it once. Today might be the day!!

I met up with a German girl called Jenny who I had briefly spoken to on my first day and Micheal. They were both having some breakfast so I thought I’d wait and leave with them. Then I got bored and left by myself assuming they would catch me up.

As I was walking along on me Todd a Canadian girl called Jessica (who also had a bad knee) and German dude, who’s name I didn’t get, walked up beside me and we chatted for a few hours. He had blisters on both his feet so I whipped out my first aid kit and helped a fellow pilgrim. I can do the entire trip now knowing I’ve done my part.

The German dude shot off at lightning speed after we helped him. I take all the credit for his recovery.

As we were getting up Jenny strolled round the corner. She had blitzed the first few days and done here knee in so she was as slow as me now which was nice for me although I think Jenny would have rather not had a bad knee.

We had about 20km to tick off the list so we got up and started moving. After a few hills that a tractor would have struggled with we found a cafe and sat down in the sun, shoes off, drinking coffee and eating all the stuff that was on show on the counter.

Feeling replenished we got up and shot off with the speed of a thousand severely wounded gazzels. Jenny the limp, Jessica the knees and Jack the slow would make it to Gernika, knees or no knees.

We got there in, kind of, one piece. We found a cafe in the middle of the town and unloaded, sat down and I ordered myself an ice cold beer. After the walk it felt like an elixer. Micheal was on his way. He said he was having a lazy day and taking it easy so we sat and waited for him. 4 hours later he wandered around the corner and joined us so we could plan what the hell we were going to do in a fully booked town.

We ended up continuing the Camino through the city and headed about 200m from the city exit before diving into a field and finding a place to camp. We picked a spot under a bit oak tree with a small stream bubbling next to us. It was a very peaceful evening apart from the fact I’m sure I heard footsteps around the tent in the middle of the night but hey, I didn’t get murdered so it all worked out.

BUEN CAMINO