A short day on the trail but a full day walking. The trail was unremarkable, farm roads and asphalt through villages. I took a short day today for two reasons.

1. The slogging through mud and high grass yesterday wore my legs out and I felt the could do without a long day carrying a pack.

2. I heard of a few things in Espinosa to see and do and wanted extra time to do them.

Left around 0815 and got into Espinosa around 1000hrs completing etapa 3.

There’s an albergue in town – well 1.8km from in town. I decided not to stay there as there were things in town I needed to do. Ends up it would have been fine. I ended up at Hostal Sancho Garcia which is central to what I needed.

I grabbed a late breakfast in town and looked for the parish office to get my credential stamped – I’ll go back tonight when the priest is there – hopefully.

Then I looked for a cab – the taxi stand was just outside and there were two there before breakfast and none there after. So I called. After a few back and forth on the phone and WhatsApp, I got one to come in and hour to take me to Ojo Guareña – an elaborate system of limestone caves about 12km from town – on the way to Santelices.

I was really hoping to spend several hours there but due to schedules, etc only the Ermite de San Bernabé was open and only by tour – one that lasted 45min. This could easily have been seduced if the information online was easy to find. If I knew that, I would have included it the etapa to Santelices.

The other bit of things I needed to do was my laundry. I asked around and the common answer was in La Colada – 19km away. Food think my clothes are merino wool and don’t get smelly…

So while I walked around just under 15km in tidal, I spend much of the day sitting around and taking a nap.

Observations:

Really the only one I have is: go see Ojo Guareña on etapa 4. It will only be about two hours of time – get there on the hour so you don’t have to wait around for the tour. If you want to see Cueva Palmera, call ahead several days – if not a week – and book it. There are two tours 3 and 4 hours. I would recommend staying in Espinosa and taking a cab there and back or walking there and back without a pack.

Now for some pics…