Stage 3: September 26, 2017 - Robliza de Cojos to San Muñoz (21.6km)

The day started with the story of the bats but we were on our way by 8 o'clock, having to retrace some of the latter steps of the day before. The mornings are cold at this time of year and gloves wouldn't have been out of order but later in the day we were complaining bitterly about the heat.

Single farm where there was once a community with its own church

As was the case yesterday we walked through pleasant agricultural land and saw very few people indeed. The handful we did meet where either on tractors or some other sort of vehicle. We seemed to be in a bull breeding country and passed many of them in the fields. We also came across a couple of large flocks of sheep. I presume the farms are very large as we saw very few farmhouses.

Just after passing the bulls our instructions were to open a gate and enter a field, although there was a "private" sign just beside the gate. We were a bit perturbed to find ourselves walking along a pathway inside the field which had plenty of evidence that it had been used for cattle of some description in the recent past.

The heat of the afternoon made walking difficult and finding that we had to walk two kilometres more than anticipated, added to our woes. As the albergue was at the far end of the town we then had another kilometre to walk.

Albergue at St Muñoz

The people of St Muñez, however, were very good to us. The first person we met made a few phone calls but to no avail. He pointed out the direction in which we would find the albergue. Next we met a woman who asked us to follow her. She introduced us to a neighbour who lived some 50 metres away. That woman was a key holder and she went round the corner to find the man who would open up the albergue for us. I am writing this seated on a large settee in a fine sitting room, an unusual convenience in an albergue. 

By the way, the man who delivered us here stopped at a pub en route so that we could order dinner for the evening. The pub was on the same street as the albergue, although some distance away. The meal was good, and great value. The bar owner also made up two large bocadillos for our lunch the following day. It seems that in a Spanish bar there is never any question of not being able to meet the needs of the customer. We are certain that the bar owner's wife left the premises to obtain the makings of our bocadillos

We thought that Marius might have checked in ahead us but he hadn't. He had planned to leave the albergue at 9:00 but didn't pass us. We assume he took to the fields using a compass as he said that was how he travelled from Salamanca. He didn't have any maps or guidance notes, only the names of the towns along the Camino. Perhaps he carried on to the next town.

Hayrake exactly like one I often saw in use in Donegal 50+ years ago

More straw than they will have a use for