27th Sept. San Estaban to Santo Domingo de Silos

Walked in two stages today from San Estaban. The first 8kms was through wheat fields. Not a soul around. If you got injured you would be hard pressed to get help if you were solo!

Our first town was just a workers hamlet where someone liked to sculpt wooden characters.we saw pretty kittens in a ruin. People feed the cats and you often see trays of kibble and bowls of water outside in the street. Karen met us here and we drove to our next staging point. Along the way we had our third deer scare. They are like kangaroos and jump across in front at the last minute! We expect it so no problem but you need to be aware. Later we saw four or five grazing mid wheat field. I have never seen so many deer on a trip before.

Alcubilla de Avellaneda is a wine town on the wine route in Riberia with an oenology museum. Needless to say it was all closed as was the Cafe! Only Andy and I walked this stage as it was hilly and Peter doesn’t like hills!

Rolling hills, oak forest and quite isolated. We are crisscrossing the El Cid route again and there have been big signs up. It is a shorter walk which might be popular with hikers though not at this time of year! Still haven’t seen any other walkers except the one guy a few days ago.

This time Peter and Karen met us for the last two kms. We had a rest outside some bodegas where there was a communal fire and tables and benches. No matter how small a place is there is always a communal square with a bench at the least, or a few meeting places. It is an aspect of Spanish culture I find very attractive.

Our destination town was a bit more substantial and I was delighted to see a magnificent black horse walking untethered and unaccompanied behind a car that it was following. I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture, but it was being taken somewhere. That image just stuck in my brain all day. it was glossy black and well groomed with a yellow face halter. Gorgeous.

Shortly after that we were distracted by the loud horn of a truck. It was the fruit and vegetable man. People come out and buy what they need. The bread van comes to the villages too. No internet accounts needed. I was eager to get some fruit and delighted to see an avocado! You don’t pick the fruit yourself. That is bad manners. But the man was so kind , he picked an avocado that was soft for eating but as it was a bit softer at the top he didn’t charge, nor for the nectarine that was a slight bit crinkled. Both pieces turned out to be perfect inside (despite my scepticism).

We collected the car and headed through amazing rugged, rocky canyon country to Santo Domingo de Silos. What a contrast to our walking terrain!