Day 6 - Puenta la Reina to Lorca -14 km

Last night I was at a restaurant and met some great ladies, Sheila from France and Janice from Key West Florida. We had dinner together and shared many 'life' stories, but I ended up staying out way too late. They lock the doors at the Monastery at 11:00 so I had to run to make it through the doors in time. Then in the morning these crazy Pilgrims were packing up and making all kinds of racket at 4 a.m.! I got a late start this morning and got on the road by 8:30. I do understand why they want to start walking at such a stupid hour. We've been having unbearable heat by 10 a.m. And it slows me down to a snails pace, especially going up and down the hills. for example, I start up the side of a mountain, moving very slowly and being very careful not to slip on the rocks, with blazing heat burning my skin, and there's a sign "Puenta la Reina 13 km". I think that doesn't sound so bad, and 1 1/2 hrs later there's another sign at the top of the mountain, "Puenta la Reina 12 km". That's when I think "I'm going to die, right up here on this mountain.

It was today that I gave up on the concept of destination planning. I knew that I would not be able to go as far as the schedule in the book suggests. So now I'm on Catherine's schedule, which means at some point I'm definitely going to have to take a bus for a little ways to make up time. No problem though. Once I got rid of this idea of destination I had a much better day and saw a lot more. I even allowed myself the luxury of a bit of shopping and bought myself a Camino necklace and bracelet. Here is a picture of just one of the many beautiful views I had today.

I had walked 8 km and it was 11:30 a.m. when I arrived at Cirauqui. I felt I couldn't go on so left my pack outside of the Albergue and went shopping for food. Most of the Albergues don't open until lunch, so I had a plan to have a picnic in the shade. I felt great after eating my amazing picnic of olives, bread, prosciutto, cheese, orange, cucumber and water; so decided to walk to the next town. My destination for the day is the place that I ended up; Lorca. I like it here, and I have a bottom bunk!