Three ants met on the nose of a man who was asleep in the sun.  And
after they had saluted one another, each according to the custom
of his tribe, they stood there conversing

I slept well and I wasn’t sick… all great news.  We decided that today we should walk again.  We hitched a ride to Montamarta and started walking at around 8.30 am… ooh it feels good.

We walked past a dried up reservoir… I’ve seen photos of it full so it looks so very different now after summer.  I can’t imagine how much water it holds… it seems to go on forever.

On we walked and the path looks very familiar.  We’re not a million miles from Astorga and this looks so much like the Camino Frances.

The sky is heavy with grey clouds but we managed to catch a slither of a sunrise… but the horizon is so far off that we almost missed it. The air is cold but it’s not unpleasant… it’s nice not to be hot.

It feels good to be back.  Gone is the noise and bustle of the city and we’re back to the sweet grass and bird song. Soft red soil underfoot and wide sweeping horizons ahead.

We stopped by some comfy looking rocks for a mid morning snack and socks off… I’ve been saving a peach over the last few days and today I decided was the day… ohh it was lovely and sweet and just the right level of ripeness. Ahh the simple pleasures of the camino.

We passed workmen retarmacing a road… one waved and blew a kiss… so we enthusiastically waved back and blew kisses back… and so did they.  It kept us amused for a few minutes.

We walked on past an old fort.  It’s not often a pilgrim walks off the trail but this looked interesting so off we went. We ambled around this amazing ruin and sat and munched on a banana and enjoyed the fabulous view.

Then boots back on and back on the trail. We came to a village.  We hoped for coffee but the bar was 400m off track… sadly that was too far for this pilgrim; no coffee for us.

On we walked to the next village.  All the while captivated by enormous ants nests… Everywhere.  (The nests were enormous not the ants).

Riego del Camino primised a bar… there was a bar but pilgrims…never ever go there.  It is the grubbiest of grubby bars ever on the planet… and the most miserable of miserable people behind the bar.  I could go on but I will just say… DO NOT STOP.   Having left the devils lair we walked out into the street and into a biblical plague of flying ants.  Clouds gathered in the sky and birds filled the air.

Apart from returning into the devils bar we had no choice but to walk on.  Mouth closed… Molly up… it was Flying Ant Day but on a Via scale.  Am I the only one that knows about Flying Ant Day?

The last 6km went quick…. I hate ants now almost as much as bulls.

We’ve arrived at Granja de Moreruela just before the rain started.  There is so much I could say about today but to be honest… it’s late and we’re in the bar with Ruth… a new pilgrim from Ireland… and we’re talking way too much… Bjorn (a vegan cyclist from Germany) and Renalta (the handsome Brazilian) have joined us too… so the stories will have to wait for another day.

I thought of calling this blog… NOT SICK… then ANT ATTACK…  or CREEPSVILLE… but instead it’s called End of the Road because tomorrow we say a sad gooodbye to this majestic beautiful crazy path.

The Via goes onward to Astorga but we are heading west to the mountains of the the Camino Sanabrés to Santiago.

It was a good camino day.