This camino is marked with yellow painted blazes: on the roadway, on the sides of buildings, on the backs of road signs, telephone and power poles, curbs, guard rails, trees, rocks, wherever. It's great training in mindfulness; we're learning that the pilgrim must be always vigilant and watching because it's easy to miss a key marking and turn, and lose one's way. Before the picture to left, the path took us up a driveway, then between two houses and continued up the steps into a garden (note yellow arrow in front of Dan).
After about 5 km, the path took us onto a fairly new paved bike path which worked its way from village to village for much of the today's walk. The good news is that it was easy walking; the bad is that we were on pavement (rather than dirt) for most of today's stage.
We'd planned a lunch stop in the town of Santa Maria del Cami, but it turned out to have no bars or restaurants, nor even a spot to buy food. Fortunately we'd picked up a baguette in the morning, which we enjoyed in the shade of a small 12th century church.
After Santa Maria we had some dirt sections, then finished with about 5 km of steady uphill along a roadway to the small town (population less than 100) of La Panadella. Although small, La Panadella is a highway junction and common stop for motorists (gas station), and boasts two restaurants and a hotel. We went into one for our mid-day meal, and were soon joined by three men who have completed many pilgrimmages, on foot, bicyclye, and horseback (it seems to be their annual vacation). There are no albergues (pilgrim hostels) in this area, but we'd read that the hotel gives a special rate to pilgrims, so here we are, with our own room, a shower, even wifi.
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