Albacete to La Roda 40kms

Albacete to La Roda 40kms 

Started at 0720 and arrived at 1500 after a shot stopper for a coffee at La Gineta. 

Albacete was a typical Spanish city in that there is no suburb - you go straight from the city to farmland. Pity about the open drain, that used to be a river, on the way out. An Europe had the cheek to call UK "the dirty man of Europe!!"

Simple well marked track out of town after getting over the rail tracks. Mainly dry to start with but it gradually got damper until after 2 hours I had to put my poncho on. Then kept raining to rest of the way. As recommended in my Spanish guided I had phoned the AdP the day before. When I found it there was no sign or any info about access. So I called the same number again and was told he be over in 40 mins. Lovely to hang around in the rain and it was only 10 degs   He did turn up as promised and explained that all the beds had been taken! By now there were 3 of us as 2 German ladies had arrived who are walking the Camino Levante and the 2 routes cross here - which is why it was busy.  11 people and only 2 of us are on the Sureste. Fortunately, they had some spare mattresses- one look and the German ladies left! I did not fancy wandering around any more so I grabbed one and got on with it. The AdP is fairly basic and a bit of a mess. The standards on the Sureste seem a lot lower than on other routes. I can understand for the Sureste as it's not walked often, but the Levante is much busier.