A valley trail, some road walking and topped off with a brisk climb to a lovely farming hamlet!

Starting off in the dark with a couple of other pilgrims, we made steady progress along fairly quiet local highways and slowly – almost imperceptibly – the valley floor began to climb away from Villafranca.

A mix of paths thru the morning with some tree-flanked local roads, main streets of small villages and the odd spot of gravel paths. Some incredible views of some pretty amazing motorway viaducts in the distance, with the A6 autovia snaking a route above, around and right thru some of the hilly terrain.

Finally, the small town of La Herrería marked the end of the valley and the start of the climb. After a slightly dodgy patch of narrow highway – thankfully little-trafficked, though did trigger some PTSD from the merciless road slog up from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles – the Camino turned off the tarmac and entered some lovely woodlands.

Steeply climbing thru agéd stone walls and banks of Spanish chestnuts, the path swiftly gained several hundred metres and before too long opened up into the small town of Le Faba. More stone-built homes and farmbuildings, perched on the side of the hill, and a great little cafe that provided a coffee and an Aquarius.

Back to the trail, now clearing out of the trees and into misty open tops of farms and hedgerows spilling over the mountainside. Pausing to allow farmers to drove their stock, shortly arriving in the teeny town of La Laguna and home for the night.

Three other pilgrims arrived later on horseback. I didn’t even know that was an option.

Stats for today:

• 24.8km
• 781m ascent
• 118m descent
• 7 days remain until Santiago