And the Lord said, “Go forth and multiply”. And only the midget was awake that day. And he took upon himself the responsibility for all the world. And he went forth and he multiplied at a great rate. And he came to the Lord and said, “Lord, we have multiplied but we have nought to eat”. And the Lord heard and he thought, “Oh, the midgets have nought to eat”.  And so he sent pilgrims. And then were the midgets thankful, and they did eat well of the pilgrims, who suffered the indignity of midget attack, and did swear, even to the dismay of the Lord. Just as well they had “Pardon to the end of the Camino”, having crossed over the Alto del Perdón yesterday.

The morning had promised rain but we got none. In fact, it was a perfect morning for walking. Cool but not cold, overcast but bright. A Goldilocks day. Except for the midgets. They came in clouds as we walked through fields of flax. Then the track left the flax fields and the midgets disappeared.

There are water fonts along the route at fairly frequent intervals, so that you can top up your reserves. But just outside Estella, there is a wine font. Yes it’s true. A font where you can stop and have a glass of wine, (indeed, I suppose you could fill up your bottle if you wanted). It’s there, free for the drinking. We were not greedy. We had a glass, (actually a plastic), and we moved on. It was very nice by the way.

The only way I know, the only proven scientific method, the only system that has been carefully tested, in controlled conditions, to stop the rain, is to put on all your wet gear. Yes, this method I have used many times and can vouch for it’s effectiveness. So when it started to rain, we stopped, took off our fleece shirts, packed them away. Took out our waterproof leggings. Put them on. Took out our raincoats. Put them on. Put the rain covers on our rucksacks. Picked up and reset our rucksacks. Took four steps, (the actual laboratory test says, “Up to ten steps”). The rain stopped. We kept everything on for about twenty minutes but it got too hot. The procedure was reversed.  Strangely, it did not start raining again.  We were happy, until we saw what lay ahead.  Up, up, up.  Tired and sore we climbed, until finally, happy again, we arrived at Villamayor de Monjardín, our stop for the evening.

No dinner served at this albergue, so over to the shop to get something to cook. I took one look at the woman behind the counter and said, “She’s a sister of the woman who ran last night’s albergue”. “Excuse me, are you a sister of the woman in the last albergue?”  “Yes, I am.  Why do you think she suggested this town and this shop as a place to stay?”

There’s no answer to that!  We had dinner with some friends we met along the way. Good food. Good wine. And we played Farkle. I lost!  Both games!