Today was a lesson in not trusting maps. After a very pleasant breakfast, I looked at the map and saw that to get back to the camino I would have to walk two sides of a triangle, first West and the North. However there was also a direct path that was very clear on the map. My mind was set on this path.
The warning signs were there at the outset. Having to untie barbed wire to get the gate to the path open should have indicated that this was not much of a thoroughfare. Still, ever onwards. Until a herd of semi-wild cattle, complete with calves, blocked the way.
I've been a country boy my entire life and I have a healthy respect for cattle. They can do some serious damage if they decide to mob you. In Spain of course it's all a bit more dangerous still as they are carrying horns. This lot were running around and the bullocks were clearly at that teenage, excitable stage of life. So, to walk around them seemed sensible.
Which was a lot harder than it looked. The area was mostly wooded with a few clearings and then fenced to the west by a fence. No paths. So after about thirty minutes of hacking through the undergrowth, I came to part of the fence that could be breached. Then I found an abandoned railway track which was a least easy to follow as it took me out of the unintentional prison.
After the excitement of the cows, it was a fairly simple hike across the plan to that night's lodging in a small town called Villanueva de Campean. The hotel - the only accommodation in town that I could see - was Posada Real del Buen Camino which was a very cheerful name and in a pleasant location right next to the church.
Still no danger of sunburn on this camino.
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