First day of NOT walking the Levante. I reckon for reasons unknown this Camino is an elusive one . Maybe it’s the Camino Improvisado? ( a makeshift, improvised walk?). Here we are, my camino mate Elaine and I in an hotel of faded grandeur in Torrijos, a 34 km walk from Toledo. A 20 minute bus ride.

After all that re-packing , after all that careful discarding of assorted heavy items in my pack: like running shoes ( an older pair to change into , but they weigh), squeezing out toiletery items , hurried read of the current detective story filched from a pile left in accomadation. All for the walk that never happened .

I’m not at all chastened or embarrassed. In fact it’s been an interesting day, visiting the Toledo Cathedral this morning and seeing the El Greco masterpiece in the sacristy, along with some of his other paintings.

An enormous, cavernous , dark Cathedral with lots to see .

Then we did the walk around back to our hotel …..,, it’s not a twisted ankle or a fall I have to avoid, it’s the traffic squeezing down the narrow streets and alleys, creeping up behind ; the odd motor bike and skateboard zooming past, while the next rush of people following determinedly behind the leader who wields an umbrella above his head. The path is blocked.

We collected our packs and made for the bus station , intending to get the bus as far as Rielves and then walk the remaining 15 km to Torrijos . The later bus we eventually found did not stop on the way. Express to Torrijos .

So here we are in this strange looking hotel. With the lovely name La Salve . 27 km tomorrow . We’re taxiing the first 5 km.

Look what we found walking around a town which seems a bit ghost-like. The gothic style church which is really beautiful. It has a softness and a worn beauty that the Toledo Cathedral did not have., for me anyway..

That’s life . That’s making it up as you go. Thats improvisado.That’s a sort of fun.