Day 2 Guillena to Castilblanco de los Arroyos – 19km

I woke up in the early hours to the sound of heavy rain. The forecast predicted it would lighten around 9 a.m., so I turned over and went back to sleep. I forced myself to stay in bed until about 7:30, then finally went downstairs to look outside. I was pleasantly surprised to see the day brightening up—perhaps the weather forecast wouldn’t be so bad after all! I saw Andy getting ready to head out, so I wished him a good day.

I checked my hiking shoes, as I was a bit worried about them. The evening before, I had tried to dry them out on the electric heater in my room. At one point, there was even a smell of burning rubber, and I feared I might have overdone it. Thankfully, when I checked them this morning, they were still in one piece, and as a bonus, they were dry!

I set out around 8:30 in just a T-shirt, as the chill from the previous morning was gone. I must have taken a different route from Andy because, after about 40 minutes, I saw him walking on a parallel path. We soon met up and walked together for about an hour. 

The dirt track was tough going after all the rain during the night. It was slightly uphill, and with the mud clinging to our shoes, it was hard to get any traction. Once we reached the top, though, the terrain and track improved, and walking became much easier. Andy started chatting with another walker who had stopped, so I left him behind and continued on my way.

Soon, I entered a protected park area, which was absolutely lovely. There were oak and olive trees, and lots of spring flowers in bloom. By this time, the sun had come out, and the clouds had given way to a bright blue sky. I wound my way through the park for a couple more hours, gently climbing all the while, without seeing anyone else. Eventually, just after leaving the park, the track joined a major road, and in the distance, I spotted John’s bright yellow backpack. After about 30 minutes, I caught up with him, and we walked together into Castilblanco.

John didn’t have a reservation, so he decided to come with me to my albergue to check if they had any spaces. He was lucky—they had just one spare bed, so we both booked in together. Fortunately, he was happy to take the top bunk—or at least, I think he was!

We’re planning to grab a meal in the town this afternoon. The restaurant closes at 4 p.m., so we’ll head down around 3 and see how we get on.