Even though we had our own room, bunk beds just make it a more difficult night for me. I seem to wake with each turn of Nedjo above and it is hard for me not to be able to sit up to read if I wake up early. But, I also don’t love clambering up top, especially as in this albergue where there is not a ladder of any sort. We were also right next to the bathroom, so I was woken in the night and then again early in the morning.
We had a good spot, though, for preparing some morning fruit in the little kitchen before heading out for coffee and toast on our way out of town. The Finns were long gone by the time we were up and about, but we were starting to get used to being the slow pokes.
The air was lovely and cool as we started our day and the town quickly changed to countryside. We passed the ruined tower we had seen from the castle the day before and enjoyed making good time for the first ten kilometres on the broad and fairly flat dirt road with dehesa on both sides of us.
The day was starting to get warm as we abruptly came to busy roads. We took advantage of the water filling station at the ham shop we passed then stopped for a very refreshing juice at a restaurant. Breaks like this hadn’t been common, and so it felt like a real treat. Luckily the route took us under the freeway and then was well marked where we needed to cross the highway. For a while the path ran between the freeway and highway, so not the most scenic or quiet but at least there was some shade. Then eventually the path crossed to the far side of the highway and then onto an old road. There was a long final climb into Monesterio and we were very happy to discover that our hotel was just as we arrived on the edge of town.
We opted for a late lunch at the hotel and after the very delicious and generous lunch in the quite fancy dining room, we enjoyed a well deserved siesta. The hotel was a real 70s throwback but with a great shower and our first double bed of the trip.
We enjoyed a lovely walk around town in the early evening, decided against needing anything more substantial to eat and settled on some snacks and cards before an early bedtime.