We started before the crack of dawn as it was forecast to be a hot day. Fortunately we determined that the local cafe opened at 0530, so we were suitably caffeinated for the day ahead. We did miss a fork in the road in the dawn light, but the result was seeing grape harvesting by headlamps just as dawn was breaking. Our deviation only added 500m to our day, so no harm done.
The challenging section of the route was the 15 km straight – presumably built on the old Roman via augustus from Seville to Merida – and best tackled as a robot putting one foot in front of the other! And anyway, how often do you get to walk for three hours in a straight line?
The scenery was great. Although reasonably flat, there are prominent hills on two sides, and the vineyards and all the harvesting activity made the day interesting (although being passed periodically by tractors and bins of harvested grapes on a dry, dusty road was not altogether pleasant!)
The town of Torremejia definitely doesn’t classify as interesting however. All the commercial activity borders the highway, and vehicles barrel through in an understandable hurry to get somewhere else. We did get good advice to eat with the locals at a nondescript restaurant, where we were served a three course lunch with wine and coffee for €12 (CAD 18). The albergue is a bit rustic, but it’s the only game in town, and there’s only 6 peregrinos here, probably due to the challenges of finding accommodation in the last town, Villafranca.
2saunter 