Day 9 - Caude to Monreal del Campo

 I set off thinking it was going to be fairly flat and straight today as it was near an airfield and looked quite direct on the Garmin

How right I was.....  It was literally 29 miles of flat, long road with hardly anything of interest either side. The Spanish towns we visited were barely populated.

The highlight of the day was a lady in the first village who I spoke to about the walk and she was so kind and would not accept payment for our drinks...

I also stopped at another Spanish village where a man made me spinach to keep my stength up :)... It was very nice

There REALLY ARE some positives here as the people I spoke with seemed very interested in what I am doing and my reasons... For each person that I speak to and who shows an interest, it makes the journey even more worthwhile.

I did have a stupid moment and sat on a tyre that had a wasps nest inside... That was not fun....

Although this was a longer distance day, I still arrived at the hotel earler than previous days (I guess thats because there was a lot less to look at)

Today I walked another 29 miles... This makes the total 242 miles (approx 390 km) in 9 days ...

Tomorrow I head up to Romanos

 I also had some more fantastic news in the evening. We could be having somebody walking with me again during some of my French stages.... More details to follow when I know more details

Day 8 - Libros to Caude

Another night of outdoor living which was fairly comfortable considering and managed to get about 7-8 hours sleep... I am getting quite an expert with the tent now (dont laugh Michelle !! )

We had a quite snack and coffee before setting off speaking to some of the local people about the walk and my reasons for doing it. They took some information and I headed off on today's journey totally unaware of the wonderful surprise that was to follow.....

Once again their was some lovely unspoiled Spanish country... Each day seems to bring new surprises

My next surprise was amazing.... As I was walking around some of the country roads, a white car stopped at the side of me.... It was two of my friends from home, Linda and Barry Hall... I could not believe it. They had driven about 4 hours to get to see me :)

Linda walked with me for several miles and also allowed Michelle to walk a little more too as Barry took her back to the support car afterwards

We stopped for a drink and a little bite to eat before they headed off... I am still smiling about this... I am so blessed to have such amazing friends that would do this for me

At the bar we stopped at, we also had more opportunity to talk about the walk and left them with information too... Somebody once said to me "They dont care about parental child abduction and parental alienation"... I totally disagree.... When they are AWARE of these, they DO care... That is why we need to keep trying to raise awareness and keep trying to stay positive!!

I finally arrived at my destination earlier than expected. I was intending to take it quite easy today but Linda and Barry's visit put an extra spring in my steps...

That is now 213 miles (approx 343km) in 8 days...

Day 9 will take me to Monreal del Campo
 

Day 6 - La Torre to Landete

Today was a rest day.... When I say rest day, I mean that I only had to walk 23 miles to reach my scheduled destination.

I was actually quite surprised when I woke from the tent as it was only 14 degrees. MUCH cooler than it had been previously. However, it didn't take that long to warm up as by lunch time, it was 36 degrees...

Michelle has taken to the role of support driver really well simply driving a mile or two ahead and then stopping where she could find some shade to update photos and videos on her Facebook. She even tried to walk a little with me when the car was parked... Only within view though for safety reasons.

It was lovely to receive a couple of calls from the reunite office who were asking if they can do anything to help and as a result, they have advertised on their facebook page for anybody that would like to help with affordable or free accommodation for us on the journey. Thank you for this.

So far I have only had a few aches and pains... One of which is my left shin which feels like I've been in a 50/50 football challenge with one of my friends from home Shane North... (The rest of the lads will know what I mean about that!)

However, the pharmacist has given me some miracle cream and it seems to be helping...

Once again, I saw some lovely areas of Spain but very few that were populated today couldn't speak to many people about what I am doing and why.. The people I did meet though were lovely ... You would expect that of the Spanish people.

Tomorrow I will be walking to a small village called Libros. I think we will be having fun and games with the tent again

Day 5 - Los Pedrones to La Torre

Day 5 didn't start the way I expected with my support driver announcing that he had to return to Italy. We thanked him for his help over the previous 4 days and said our goodbyes.. Plan B had to be put into operation. Michelle driving the support car. Obviously, this was disappointing for her as she wanted to walk with me again but as always, she stepped up and put her own feelings behind the support needs of Walk Across Borders

Today's journey took me to La Torre near Utiel. Once again I saw some beautiful country.. I fall more and more in love with Spain and the people every day. 

We stopped off at a lovely little bar (La Brasa) at lunchtime where they made me some pasta and chicken soup. I am finding breads and dryer foods difficult to swallow during my walk. Gracias Christina...

In the later stages of today I started to feel some soreness in my left shin. With some light strapping I carried on until I reached Utiel where the pharmacist recommended creams and medication .. 

The evening we spent in a tent in La Torre.. Surprisingly, I got a full 8 hours sleep... I had bought a 2 minute tent for the journey .. 

Day 6 takes me to Landete...

Day 4 - Ayora to Los Pedrones

After first saying my goodbyes and thanks to Alison Shalaby from Reunite International, I set off from Ayora into the hills. Unfortunately, Michelle couldn't walk with me today as she had damaged her knee on yesterday's walk but she has done fantastically well in the 3 days she has already done.

My support car (Maurizio) went off to drop Alison at Valencia airport so we didnt really get to see each other until a considerable distance into the journey... But when we did meet, it was very welcomed as today was almost all up hill and was very hot.

I actually kept a good pace on my first solo day and completed 26.2 miles in total. We found a little hostel in Los Pedrones so that gave us a place to stay. We havent had to use the tent yet.

Day 5 will take us to La Torre...