KEMBER CAMINO: Cuckoo, Cuckoo!

I can't believe it has taken me so long to mention the Cuckoos! I've yet to see one (a rare occurrence we're told) but they have been our intermittent traveling companions for the last 20 or so days. They always sound exactly the same distance away, and it seems the same bird is following you for hours at a time with "cuckoo, cuckoo".

We might have been a bit cuckoo today, as we chose to take the 'hard' (not the extremely hard) option to our destination of Los Herrerias. I don't even have to tell you what Simon has nicknamed this town! So we set off, the wrong way and quickly had to retrace our steps to follow the path less travelled. We walked 85 mins non-stop up to the alto, with the first 30 mins almost straight up. (For all us Khandallahites - think Jubilee Rd hill)! So often in life taking the hardest road brings the best rewards and we loved the amazing views of the valley below, the tranquility of walking mainly by ourselves and the beautiful chestnut orchards and scenery once at the top. This is where we met today's cuckoo.

Our kiwi 'number 8 wire, can fix anything' attitude came in handy today as well. We met a farmer wrestling with a scary looking piece of machinery that he was having trouble getting to do what it was supposed to do. So we stopped and with no useful Spanish (us) and no English (him) we offered to help him. A lot of brute force and a few farm tools were needed and the 3 of us had success in the end. (Not helped by my hammering the mallet onto the poor farmer's finger)! Simon was much more useful and if it wasn't for us walking past, he would probably be still trying to fix it or be sleeping next to the machine having siesta after a pint of vino tinto!

What goes up must come down and it was a pretty treacherous descent to rejoin the trail below. We loved the rest of the walk; up along the winding river valley with little villages dotted every 2 kms or so until we walked into our home for the next two nights (rest day tomorrow) and was welcomed by Gerard waiting for us with a large cold beer for Simon and a rosé for me. What a gentleman and my hero!!