Our farm road continues straight until we come to a large roundabout, right at the entrance of Cortes. Finally, our route angles off away from the train line and take us further and further away from it, toward the first farms, which indicate we are in the vicinity of the town of Cortes. We keep walking, with the rail tracks on our right.

Cyclists can, from this point, continue along the dirt road. At the end of this section, the dirt road that is always parallel with the railway reappears. Pilgrims on foot take a different route: they can follow the road straight ahead which runs beside the railway line, although it does become a bit lost along this 200 metre stretch. You can continue alongside the tracks until just after the bridge, and the road appears again, still parallel to the train lines.Īfter another two long kilometres, cyclists have to let the road take them almost one kilometre away from the railway line, until they see a very clear intersection to the right which takes them back to the same pilgrim’s road that we were walking along, near to the railroad. There can be no mistake, because there is a large factory, and at a distance of about 200 meters a bridge can be seen. After about two kilometres, the road turns at a right angle and begins to separate from the rail line. Always on our left, it will be our trusty guide. A kindly traveling companion, the “iron road” will take us some 10 kilometres, until we reach Cortes. When we come to the train line, we turn to our left, without crossing the tracks. The same street by which we enter the town leads us directly to the train line, which goes through the centre of the town. Leaving the canal behind, we enter Ribaforada. On our right, we take the first bridge that crosses the canal. If up to this point you haven’t been using a hat, we recommend that you put one on now: there aren’t many trees in this part of the Camino! And we have 5 kilometres ahead of us. Right after crossing it, we take the road to the right, a wide path that leaves behind us the buildings of “El Bocal.” We continue walking, following the course of the water, which is always on our right. The road continues, with the waters of the canal on our left and the train line on our right. We then come near to the Canal Imperial, which we will follow as we go on. A little later, we come upon a road, which we take to our left. Our route continues straight ahead it is wide and without turnoffs. The train line, always on our right, accompanies us until we come close to the main door of the “El Carrizal” ranch.

Afterabout one kilometre, a paved roadway appears. Once we have left that bridge, we come to a crossroads where we take the road to the right, which takes us close to the train lines. Staying on the wide path, we reach the asphalt road, which we pass under by way of the bridge over the train line it takes us the long way around. As we progress, we leave behind farms and small villages.

Our route is wide and continues straight ahead, without difficulty. We cross the bridge, and just as we come down, we take a road to the right, which curves backward and leads to a power transformer station. In these early morning hours we take the route of the sun, which is rising over the distant Mediterranean. Next to the bridge there is a small path leading to the same bridge which enables us to cross the tracks. We follow the Street Camino Caritat, to our left and head to the bridge over the railway lines.

Triple colloquy