Oh dear. We awake to rain. (Jeri; I actually had my hand on my tights and rain pants, but no! In a surfeit of optimism I don’t wear them!!!) It will be our constant companion until the afternoon, cool but not cold, but we have to trudge on. Walking conditions are similar to yesterday; road and forest track. We pass two small churches today, both closed, and any number of public water spouts. Some of the public water has signs that the water is drinkable but in this weather we are not in need so we pass them by. There are also large (12’X20′?) square reservoirs whose purpose is hard to determine, maybe a watering trough? We’ve seen them everywhere and they have the look of public laundry or washing pools, but they also look like they were built in 1940 so that is uncertain. We also passed at least one old mill. Some towns have refurbished the waterways and turned the old mills into public parks or rest areas, but you can never see inside. Even without rain there is a lot of water in northern Spain.

At noon, after about 3.5 miles we find a cafe packed with walkers and everyone is soaked through; we sit at a table in a semi-private area and admire the graffiti. A few miles further on we find a shelter where we can all sit and eat our lunch out of the rain; fellow walkers join us. Today’s big surprise is that in addition to ham and cheese (which seems to be obligatory) the hotel included a kind of omelet sandwich. Very tasty! We grind on through the rain and mercifully it lifts after 1:00pm. The good news is that the precipitation in Spain falls mainly on the flat areas. *

By 3:30pm we are just two miles from our hotel so we sit down in a bar to enjoy our usual menu items; Aquarius lemon soda for Katie and John and beer for Tim and Jeri (no sangria today). Our hotel is in a semi-rural area but seems to cover all the essentials. We set to work trying to dry our clothes. Good news of the day – Padron peppers are on the menu tonight and there is a large sofa.

Here is the map for June 6, 2025;

• Harrison 1964