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 … Continue reading Via de la Plata day 16: Casar de Caceres to Cañaveral, 32.9 km →

Another short day, but not a great one personally, as I developed my second ever blister at the 5km mark. Go figure.... day 15 and 290 km completed! To make matters worse, our collection of 'toe socks' have morphed into a sticky, glutinous blob. The trusty sandals will need to be deployed instead! Los calcetins … Continue reading Via de la plata day 15: Caceres to Casar de Caceres, 12 km →

Cáceres was listed by UNESCO way back in 1986. The narrow twisting streets of the old town have escaped major modernization for a very long time. Unfortunately, many peregrinos only pass through without stopping, as the closure of albergues before and after the town make itinerary planning difficult. As I'd originally planned to spend an … Continue reading Via de la plata day 14: Valdesalor to Cáceres, 12 km. →

Not a fencepost! An early start to beat the heat, but it also meant beating the opening hours of all the cafes in town. The path was illuminated by the setting full moon, which was spectacular but not photo worthy. After about three hours a truck stop for the autopista provided the required sustenance of … Continue reading Via de la plata day 13: Alcuescar to Valdesalor, 27.1 km →

This is the village church in Aljucén. It's a late entry as it's the church of St Andres! Another pleasant day's walking through deshea forests, a lot of which is a park - albeit a working park as there were cows! Most of the trail is best described as 4WD track, although there were a … Continue reading Via de la plata day 12: Aljucén to Alcuescar, 20.2 km →

Acueducto de los Milagros (the miracles), Merida I pondered taking a rest day in Merida, but the town, despite all the history, didn't appeal as a place to relax for an extra day. And the albergue was quite basic, which made the decision easier! And anyway, a 16 km day is almost a rest day. … Continue reading Via de la plata day 11: Merida to Aljucén, 16km →

New superimposed on old, Merida A shorter day, but good as it allowed time to explore the Roman city of Merida. Founded by Augustus way back when as a site where retired soldiers were gifted land, it became a prominent city in its own right, and boasted the usual array of temples, forums, theatres and … Continue reading Via de la plata day 10: Torremejia to Merida, 15.6 km →

Hand harvesting grapes at night 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 … Continue reading Via de la Plata day 9: Villafranca de los Barros to Torremejia, 27.2 km →

Feria and the castle thereof A scenic day, but clearly not picturesque, as the above was only one of the two photos I took, and this is of a town far in the distance. Leaving Zafra we had a climb up to the Alto de San Cristobal in the dawn light, which gave us great … Continue reading Via de la plata day 8: Zafra to Villafranca de los barros, 19.7 km →

Plaza Chica, Zafra. Abandoned during daylight hours! Longer days = earlier starts. Beating the heat is probably the most popular topic of conversation at the moment, and it's forecast to creep back up to 37⁰ by next Monday. At least the Spanish have perfected beer consumption in a hot climate: ice cold beer poured into … Continue reading Via de la plata day 7: Fuente de cantos to Zafra, 25 km →