El Palayo to Tarifa, June 05.

 The difficulties of yesterday—namely not being able to reach El Palayo, had me worried about the route FROM El Palayo, because worry is what I do well.  Firstly, el taxista arrived late, but show up he did and he left me off in just the correct place at 6:50 a.m.  After striding down the first bit of path, I heard the voice, "You are not on the path...."  Backing up, I espied a little gate to the left, read Guy's instructions; the gate, and the steep, narrow, descending path fit with what he described, but the voice was persistent, "You have left the rou+glottal stop." I continued anyway and got to the promised stepping stones—not my favorite thing, but I managed.  Continuing, the path was still consistent with Guy's description, which included a second crossing on stepping stones, and then, what do you know?!  "You are back on the rou+glottal stop."  

Hard work leads to rewards:

The first third, or so, of the walk was difficult.  The impediments in various combinations were:  steepness, surfaces on which you can't get a grip, not being sure of the path, narrowness of path, erosion, being very high up—no  space for errors—boulders to wend your way through or over—YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLIP OR TRIP— all this made the going very slow.  

A little bit later:

After some time the way became easier before it got harder again!

I just gotta say that cows with horns like this make me nervous especially when they are not, like this one, behind fences!

There were sections that made me feel as if I were in a Western, The Old Chaparral and all that:

And some sights that were weirder than the canoe parts back on the Monarch Butterly Path:

This was the worst sight of all.  (I hope it was not the cow the bearded guys in cammo were searching for yesterday): 

This was the best sight of all.  I swear it is not photo-shopped:

This horse, OTOH, was scratching a fearsome itch as he was blocking my way through that gate:

Sometimes you don't feel bad when you miss a turnoff—they can be subtle—as this sign—"Yoo-hoo,"  it screams, Over Here"— demonstrates:

Coastal walking has a unique set of challenges, which demand full concentration.  I was happy to complete this section; it twas rewarding, but would not like to repeat it.  

Approaching the  Port of Tarifa: