Escamplero to Dorigo

We woke up fairly late, the Hungarian woman had already left before sunrise, and the Czech girl was just leaving, so we ate our strawberries and yogourt and set out into the mists along country roads, medieval and roman pathways. We took a detour to see a church with attached roman baths and a closed bar, and went on to the Villa Ppalatina hostel where a friendly owner gave us lunch ( steak, chips and salad), and said to phone him if we ever had any problems!

After lunch we had a reasonable stretch on roads by a river being overtaken by the Scot and later by the German with whom we chatted on the way into Grado. The town centre was pleasant, but we went through to the church and had coffee and pastries at the nearby bakers. Leaving Grado, we headed up into the hills on old roads, with a total of 330m up and 450m down. At the top of the pass, there was church and a telecoms technician installing optical fibre! The way down was not so pleasant as the way up, with a steep gravel track, but this later turned into a medieval track by the side of a stream with a ruined water mill. Emerging at another church, we found a bar offering pilgrim accommodation, but when we enquired of the jovial landlord, he said he didn't have any rooms. Or at least we think he did, because we couldn't understand him.

Seeing how exhausted we were, he carried out a complicated mime, and showed us a cabin outside with two bunk beds and a double bed. He then mimed a lot of other stuff, and we ended up drinking beer and eating yesterday's left over stew which he warmed up for us. He did offer us a slice of an animal's leg he had attached to the bar, but we declined. As far as we understood, we should help ourselves to breakfast the next morning and shut up the bar when we leave!