The Parador de Corias has a special room set aside for breakfast and, being an ex-monastery, even a special offer of eggs Benedictine.
Our MapOut app came up trumps again with a route showing the national hiking trail GR203. The contour lines clearly showed the path on one side of the path quickly rising, with that on the other side climbing gently around the hill. The easier path ran through a small hamlet and followed the course of the river. In this rural location we were not expecting much in the way of urban development, but the hamlet seemed to have a good mix of everything: ruined houses, a recently renovated version of the odd ‘granary store’ style building, a posh house with large electric gates, a shepherd looking after a tiny flock of sheep and, to top it all, a medium sized school with a large playground.
The path was clearly marked and we met several walkers coming and going. The tarmac gave way to well maintained gravel (courtesy of a €27,000 EU grant) after a kilometre or so and then wound round the hillside, with small streams crossing occasionally. The signs continued to point to El Puelo, but as we rested on a bench with a panoramic view of the valley but nothing else in view we decided to return. A total of just over 4 miles with a climb of 126 m felt very satisfying.
Still trying to figure out the best meal times and combinations after nearly 2 weeks we enjoyed a very satisfying guacamole and smoked salmon on toast in the bar, with another glass of Corias – our main meal for the day. Some restaurant staff arrived in the bar bearing an Irish coffee style drink and some chocolate biscuits, placing them on a table in a dark corner of the room and trying to take a photo with a mobile phone. Seeing that they were clearly dissatisfied with their efforts I offered to help. We found a lighter space outside and I took a few shots, showing them to the manager later with a number of processing styles and crops. He was delighted as the Parador was entering their coffee creation for the weekly Parador newsletter competition.