July 2, 2011

Ken´s cold is much worse today – we need to find a nice spot to take a couple of days rest.

It is another hot day with yet another mountain to climb.  It is like an action replay of yesterday – we climb over a pass at 860 metres and then run along a ridge, up and down, until we run into the large town of Manresa.  This turns out to be completely devoid of any hostals or hotels.  The only place we can find is the local youth hostel – a new experience for us.  I did have the foresight to go into Malaga before we set off on the trip to enrol with the Youth Hostelling Association.  This turned out to be a waste of time, since the woman in the office put the date we took out the membership on the cards in the ‘Valid until’ section, so they were out of date the day she gave them to us.  Fortunately the nice lady in the youth hostel in Manresa lets us in anyway.  As you might imagine it was full of spotty teenagers and, now, two spotty pensioners!  Manresa might have been short of accommodation but it didn’t lack anywhere to eat.  We leave the centre of town, where the music is blaring out and the locals are dancing in the Plaza Major, to return to our dormitory.  It is like being about 10 years old. 

We decide that this is not the place to stay for a spot of rest and recuperation – looks like we will be on the road again tomorrow.