Cuenca

Justin (Australia) and Han Korea) fixing dinner the night before walking to Cuenca with help from Maure (Italy) 

Maure is on his way to be hospitalero at San Anton. 

 A wonderful group of pilgrims, these were the Three Amigos. 

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That night two more pilgrims arrived from the Canary Islands. 

Tenerife, I believe. 

Photos of them tomorrow. 

The young leaves are red to attract the heat of the sun. 

That tiny speck is Justin up,ahead of me. 

And these two specks are Maria Jesus and Jacinta. 

The remains of the old castle made a perfect place for storks to nest. 

Then came 10 Kilometers of this -  giving me my first blister!

The Bar was honoring Santiago. 

It was a holiday, Mother's Day, and so we ate well. 

Paella and Bacalau. 

 Another great Albergue for €6. 

I even had a private room!  I'll post photos from home later. 

Today was perhaps my favorite stage on the Madrid route. The canal walk was just so uplifting.

There are some notes for those walking. If I already posted these, I apologize


Leaving Medina de Rioseca you must pay close attention because there are three routes. To go to Cuenca ...


Leave the convent and go straight through town. As you reach the edge of town there is a park on the right. You will see arrows pointing straight and also to the right. If you want the most beautiful and shortest route, go to the RIGHT.


FOLLOW THE CANAL. It is beautiful. It does not matter which side you walk on, but I walked the right side and there were no resting places. I did see picnic tables on the other side.


You just follow the canal until it basically stops and takes a sharp turn to the right. There is a big building there and plenty of signage. Now you continue on straight and just follow the arrows to Tamariz. There is a bar there. On Sunday it was not open until noon.


From Tamariz you have two choices. Follow the arrows out of town and to the left to the highway. At the highway you can follow the Camino signs to another small village and then around to Cuenca. 4 k road walking and 8 k on track for a total of about 12.


OR turn right and follow the road to Cuenca. 8 k of road walking but 4 k shorter. This was the choice I made.


On that road, you can watch the signs count down the kilometers and after you are down to one, you cross a highway and continue straight on a dirt road. There are no arrows and the village appears and disappears but eventually you reach another road. Turn left and walk into Cuenca.


The road splits. Take the lower road (see the arrow to your left on the tree after you turn). Walk all the way to the main square. Across the square and to your right is the Albergue Bar, where you get the key to the very nice, big,well-equipped Albergue. The hospitalero comes by later to collect €6. There are two dorms of beds and at least one room with two beds. Two bathrooms with two toilets and two showers each.


Having trouble with wifi. Will post photos tomorrow.