As the group in the alburgue had been out socialising the night before it was probably no surprise that most people slept through the usual early rising time of around 5:30 am, but by 6:15 many of my room mates had at least walked to the bathroom and some had started to pack up their bags for the day.

I was aiming at a distance of slightly less than the 25 km to Leon this day as I knew I would be staying there for two nights and then joining my amateur radio friends on some SOTA activations on the following day.

On the subject of farming I recall being puzzled when in the first year Latin class, I was taught that the Latin word for “farmer” was agricola (f). The teacher could not explain why it was a feminine noun. Later in life I figured that the reason was that the people doing the work on farms were actually female and the men were all at the forum playing cards or stabbing each other. (Ref Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, etc). You may think I’m joking… but not.

During the walk I encountered two French walkers who were very friendly and were happy to share some details of their life. Patricia and Nicolas were walking together, in step, Patricia leading and Nicholas following. Nicholas was holding what appeared to be a long walking pole but on closer inspection it was a cane of the type used by blind people. And indeed, Nicholas was blind and Patricia was his guide. They were in perfect step with each other. They said they met and married only 6 years ago.