3/5 Tuesday Cornellena to La Espina 20km
As planned, last night Heike, Steffie and I headed out to the bar to eat.
Mike, from the USA, and Oscar, from Dublin, joined us. Heike and I shared a plate of fried chipirones (baby squid). Everyone else ordered cachopo which came as an enormous portion. I settled for egg, chips and garlic prawns which I rather enjoyed.

When we wandered back to the Albergue we had time to chat with the Spanish group- Veronica, Mingo, Lorena and Isabel before lights out.

In the morning someone was up at 6:30 but I dozed until 8am to find everyone else already gone! So I packed up and headed into the village for breakfast and bread for the day as the nearest next cafe was at Salas, 11km away.

The grey day started with a short but stiff climb up and then down out of the village. Then the walking was mostly through woodland and always gently climbing. I had a brief spell of sunshine mid-morning.

In Salas I was able to find a replacement pair of sunglasses having misplaced mine a few days ago. I also bumped into Heike and Steffie and walked with them for half an hour before deciding to stop and eat a sandwich as I'd had nothing since 9am.

Walking on alone I suffered from a persistent nose bleed. I'd had one almost daily for about a week but this one required rather a lot of nose bung tissues. The problem was clearly exacerbated by the strenuous uphill paths as the heart was obviously pumping blood faster.

Once on level ground I was able to dispense with the last bung but then at the Albergue I had another minor incidence. Action was required so I headed off the the pharmacy with my translation app handy. I managed quite well and was sold a solution "vasoconstrictor tópico en hemorragias de las mucosas". Time will tell if effective!

The Albergue here in La Espina is wonderfully quirky. It's run by a young Italian couple who offer a communal meal tonight. They have music playing upstairs and downstairs where there are cosy sofas and the family dog!

Amanda is here and several Germans but no one else I recognise. Dinner will be a chance to get to know folk.