Morella to Benassal Part Two (3rd blog today)

What did we decide to do? Climb, climb, climb. Like a Nepalese commercial aeroplane which has just burst out of the clouds to see a wall of Himalayan rock coming towards it at 197mph. But not necessarily with that sense of urgency. And we kept our waste in our colons, unlike the pilot in the example above. But we needed to climb.

Please girls and boys. Can someone please stop this idiot talking such……. waste? Maggie, Georgie, Toni, Jetty, Che, Susie, anybody who has the remotest influence over David Graham Smith. Tell him to stop using rude analogies. Now!

We were walking away from this barren plain and our priorities were to gain altitude relentlessly and find water.

We were only halfway to Benessal. Because of all the diversions and terrain issues we were way behind target time. Come on boys, raise your game. In fairness Gary completely ignored the pain in his knee by dosing on a combination of cocodamol and paracetamol, which made it easier but didn’t make it go away.

We made really good time up the mountainside, covering three miles in just over two hours. It’s the track surface that slows you down. As well as the heat and ….. etc etc.

But our water was low and at this farmhouse, which was here out of the blue, we were chased by a noisy dog. It retreated as we stood our ground, and we leaned over the farmhouse wall shouting for the farmer to appear. She appeared with a smile and I introduced ourselves with an explanation that we were stupid Englishmen who had walked a long way and nearly run out of water. Adding that it wasn’t this hot in England.

She took our empty bottles and brought them back full of cool, clear water. Water I tell you! We made a show of drinking her gift and groaning our enjoyment.

Then we headed off to find the next track, and it was purely guesswork. We guessed right. Down another valley and eventually up the next mountain range. Looking for these minuscule mural markings.

The sun was lowering by the time we reached Ares del Maestrat, with still a way to go. This is a punishing day, particularly with …. etc etc.

The route from here was simple but not easy. Climb up the next mountain and then follow the sun for several miles downhill. Easy. But by the time we got to Benessal it was nearly sunset and we discovered that our hotel was another two kilometres up another hill, even though it had been billed as Benessal centro. Gary was in serious knee difficulty by this time, having toughed it out on painkillers that were losing effect.

I flagged down the next car and it happened to be two lads, one who could speak English well and wanted to use it. Over the course of 2 kms we became mates. And they dropped us off right outside the hotel. Thanks lads.

We’d covered 24 miles in the most difficult and unseasonal of conditions, with Gary striding through injury. Amazing. I’m not a fan but for a big idiot he had performed magnificently.

The sun was going down over the horizon.

The hotel was deserted apart from the owner in her 80s. She was reluctant to serve us beer, but we’d earned it. She was happy to serve us a bottle of Rioja and a grilled rabbit with artichokes.

And we were happy to eat it!

Night night.