My guide describes today’s stage as “very hard”. Had the weather not been favourable, it may have warranted an “extremely hard” rating. After overnight thunderstorms we enjoyed cloud cover except in the early morning, where the moon helped light our way. We departed the albergue at 0700 – about three hours after the Italian couple who apparently want to walk to Santiago in the dark. Unfortunately we are in the next albergue with them tonight, and they look prepped for more camino by headlamp.
After publishing yesterday’s entry, we were treated to a parade – in honour of the patron Saint of the local church, but the town’s people who weren’t in the parade, were watching. It was quite the scene from our second floor dorm. And it was amazing how many strollers and pregnant women were present. There must be something in the torte de queso that the town is famous for!
The morning was great walking, working our way up the hill following the path of the Roman road, and at times walking in what is left of it. There were a number of milaria, but for some reason they have been relocated from their original positions. There were many weird and wonderful naturally eroded rock outcrops as well – see photo above.
The original course of the Roman road was drowned when the Embalse de Alcántara reservoir was created in 1969. It’s one of the longest in Europe, but it means that the Camino is forced onto the road for several kilometers in order to cross the water hazards.
The clouds gradually changed from being our friends to being enemies, and as the skies darkened the tired legs were not up to the task, and we got caught in a brief deluge. The bright coloured poncho kept me dry, but this being Spain, walking through a large herd of cattle with a bright red cape was not on my wish list for the day!
The town of Cañaveral is another older rural community whose fortunes probably dwindled when the new motorway was opened. There’s no shortage of ‘old geezers’ playing cards in bars, and we got a good meal (even though it felt like we were doing the Florida special by eating at 8:30 pm), but there can’t be too many opportunities for you g folks
2saunter 