Tuesday morning started with a bright and early 6:30 goodbye to Bea as she left for her bus. It then started again with a bright and less early 10am checkout after we all fell back to sleep. Olga would be leaving us at this point so we all piled out to the nearest coffee place and chilled for half an hour before she jumped on “black panther” and wobbled off into the distance.

I have no idea where she was going because the Camino went in the opposite direction. I could have said something but it was funnier not too.

Anyway, she will be missed.

It was back to team Jack ‘n’ Jenny so, true to tradition, we started our daily walk at about 11am. 

The itinerary consisted of a short stop at the supermarket for some supplies then a quick jaunt up 450 meters of poxy mountain. 

Jenny “stamp hunter” Newman was in her element because we actually found an open church for her to get a stamp.

I stamped my final stamp of the passport I first got at Irun. She looks so pretty all full up. I will miss stamping on her though. 

By the rate I’m walking I’m going to have about 15 of these passports filled up before I get to Santiago.

Jenny will probably have 150.

The hill climb was really quite tough. I kept waiting for people to abseil past me on their way down. 

It was the highest and steepest since Makina in Basque country. That was 3 weeks ago so my little old legs were not quite used to it! 

We smashed it though and had some lunch at the top. 

On the way down we both took pleasure in calling the cyclists obscenities. They have it tough on the way up hills but they have a great time on the way down. Us proper pilgrims (sorry Olga) have it tough on the ups AND the downs………and the flats too to be fair. 

I talked about the way relationships are built on the Camino and meeting beautiful people and having immediate connections but after that mountain it made me think that maybe we all get trauma bonded and I’m mistaking it for actual connections. 

The evening was fast approaching and we didnt have a place to stay (as usual) so we did what we did best, give that problem to future Jack and Jenny and concentrate on finding a bar first. With a calimoacho and a beer nestled within our sweaty hands we started looking. 

Fortunately there was an albergue about 4km from where we were and they offered a taxi service from the bar we were at! 

The lady came and picked us up and we had a ride to the albergue that Lewis Hamilton would have been proud of. 

Seriously, if any F1 driver scouts are reading this then I recommend you get in contact with a 70 year old lady that runs an albergue in the arse end of nowhere. She will smash everyone else on the grid.

There was one other dude at the hostel. Swedish lad, can’t remember his name but the three of us had a lovely dinner and ended the night sharing a bottle of wine round an unlit fireplace. 

Then it was time for bed and some dreams about mountains chasing me.

We awoke at 7 for some brekkie, coffee and a massive adrenalin boost from the taxi back to the bar. It was still dark. It’s been a while since we were outside in the morning and it’s still dark but I guess you have to do the pilgrim thing every now and again on the Camino. 

The walk this day consisted of a much smaller mountain to navigate. Still, it wasn’t easy. The walk was really nice though. No main roads and some really cool stuff to look at. 

Jenny “where’s my fucking stamps” Newman also had the chance to add to her pilgrim passport. 

She also had the opportunity to have a go on a swing.

A little while ago we were dicking about on a kids playground and a couple of American pilgrims we had spoken to walked past and said “you might do more kilometers if you stop messing around” 

I took it as a bit of fun but I’m not sure they were joking.

The days destination was Gijōn. Another unwelcome concrete jungle. The place was alright but the hostels and Albergues were really pricey. We went to our favourite thinking place (the bar) to work out what to do. 

While we were there Chrissy messaged and it turned out she was a 4 minute walk away from us. Qué another round. 

She was taking a bus to Salinas to do some surfing. I checked out the route and it was the next stop on our Camino. After doing some research we found out that it was essentially 15km of road walking through an industry area. 

Don’t tell anybody but, with the courage that a couple of beers can give you, we sacked the entire section off and jumped on a train. 

Then, with the disorientation that a couple of beers can give you, we got off at the wrong stop and ended up getting a taxi for the last 4km.

I do not regret this decision. If I said to you “fancy a 15km walk through an industrial estate” I think I’d already know the answer.

We checked in to a place in Salinas and revelled in the warmth of a mid day check out time. Albergues usually kick you out at 8 so the extra 4 hours felt as good as being given a free accidental pint from a hot bar maid. 

After waking up and checking out at 11:59 we went to get a bit of grub and started a 19km walk to the next place at about 2pm. Probably a bit late to be starting a 19km walk but, as I have said before, we are shit. 

The actual walk today was relatively uneventful. Jenny told me all about Harry styles and the film frozen. I’m happy she did because now I don’t have to watch it or listen to Harry. I told her about a machine that sorts tomatoes with puffs if air and showed her a video of some robots. Needless to say we ended the day by just shouting “NEEEEEEEERRRRRRD” at each other. 

It was getting late and we had no where to stay. I found somewhere along the way but it was still 3km and we were tired. Fortunately an army of mosquitos decided to appear out of no where and start savaging us so we got a bit of a wriggle on. Turns out it isn’t just horses that like Jenny. It was brutal. I haven’t been bitten like that since I stepped on my old dog by accident. 

I didn’t count but I think I swatted approximately 900 of them. 

Anyway, we got through the fog of parasites and made our way to the albergue. It was shut.

I called the number and a Spanish man answered who I didn’t understand and who didn’t understand me. I hung up and felt like crying.

“But wait!” I thought. “I know an amazing Spanish girl, I’ll see if she can help” 

Within 5 minutes of texting Bea the situation she had called them and text me back saying “you have two beds, he will be there in 5 minutes”

Honestly, if my phone would have let me I would have kissed her through it. 

All settled and showered we head out for a bit of grub and a wind down from, what I like to call, the night of the mosquitos. 

I’m currently in bed now finishing this little blog off and I’ve noticed there is another mosquito hovering about. I’m going to go and find it and make it pay for today. 

BUEN CAMINO