Month: May 2012

4.5 Friday Fuente de Cantos to Zafra.
An unpleasant 24hrs with two of us with a bout of Franco’s Revenge. Both recovered enough to walk the distance today though (no taxigrinos here). Feet generally all round not causing complaints so walking even through mud and streams a pleasure. The weather continues wet in the mornings and dry and windy in the afternoons good for dryoing washing, though a close thing yesterday.
We have slept beneath storks for last night and tonight, to Betsy’s delight and in a convent to Tony’s (alas no nuns remain unlike Carrillon de los Condes on the Camino Francais).
The morning slipped by in an intermittant downpour, dodging puddles and crossing two streams on stepping stones just out of the water. When the sun did come out long views across fields and vinyards were very clear and marred only by the occasional pig production plant. The yellow arrows on this section quite adequate.
We pass through Calzadilla de los Banos which seems almost deserted but we know some stayed in rooms there last night.
We enter Zafra about 1.30 and meet Joe who has just checked into the albergue 200m down the street in the very nicely restored old convent. There has been a significant investment by secular authorities (as well as the enthusiastic Father Miguel) in providing cheap accomodation along the Via de la Plata, to encourage tourism, the 4 bed dormitory today has its own shower and the cloisters of the old convent are sensitively preserved.

Moist fronts.
3.5 Thursday Monasrerios to Fuente.
We are reluctant to leave Father Miguel’s albergue, partly because it is very good but also because the tail of the frontal system lashing the UK is producing heavy rain. But we set out anyway dodging waterspouts from buildings and find coffee and Tostados in an open bar at 7.15. When we exit it has eased a bit and so it remains most of the day never really stopping with bursts of heavier rain occasionally. The stream we follow for a km or 2 os brimming but the stepping stones when we reach them are still usable. The morning passes in a blur of wetness relieved only by a large flock of sheep grazing across the path followed by a man in a 4×4 who tries to sell us rooms in his hostal in Fuente.
Eventually after a couple of mules (smart beasts) in their shelters we arrive in Fuente just as the weather picks up. Our lodging is the Albergue de Tourismo a converted convent (no nuns alas) a very well adapted building with storks on the bell tower. The church in town not only has multiple stork nests with young but a protected colony of Lesser Kestrels.
A t least the weather allows us to wash and dry out.
20km 5hrs.

2.5 Wednesday. El Real de la Jara to Monasterio.
A very good nights sleep in the quiet lodging at Alofamiento Molina sets us up for a up and down route over the border into Estramadura. The pigs do indeed change colour, we see the soon to be familiar, ginger hairy pigs of this province instead of the bald black ones of Andalucia. Other than the usual herds of milking goats and sheep in the process of lambing with their large guard dogs one of whom is very officious, we see no other mamalian fauna. But the bird life as usual is prolific we see vultures, black kites, a shrike or two, skylarks multiple charms of gold finches and the bird of the day 3 or 4 Golden Orioles.
We approach about 2/3 of our distance down the good dirt track and see a large hotel in the distance, this is puzzeling in the middle of nowhere then we discover the motorway it is a service station and hotel restuarant complex, we have coffee and a piece of spanish omlette. The small shrine to Santa Isadore is on the island in the middle of the interchange, the route hops crash barriers to take it in, or maybe we get it wrong. After a confusing bit where we progress between the autoroute and the main road in a small elongated wood we hop some more crash barriers and join a local dirt track that gradually increases gradient.
There is a reasonably steep pull up the final slope to the edge of Monasterios, past pig and sheep farms and we are onto the town. We pass by both Hotels Moya and Pilar both advertising pilgrim rates and find the small but new and very comfortable alburgue on the left side of the camino route through town.
This albergue opened in Aug 2011 and is the baby of Father Miguel Angel the parish priest and hospitalero of the albergue, (a keen young man) he has a lovely old church probably going back to Roman times, certainly in masonary terms it is a patch work. Picture some pics on the wall of the 4 bed room we are in.
20km just over 4hrs with cool temperature and rain threatening all the way.

Link to where we are on Google Maps

1.5Extra.
A few more bits about the walk through the oak woods. There were two sizable farms on the yrack both with big dogs roaming free. The first advanced slowly towards us and we did likewise. He sniffed us, we declined to do the same but fondled his ears. This seemed OK and we were allowed through graciously. He then got a little more playful and pulled at a trouser leg but was easily discouraged and lost interest. Later in town we met Joe the Gibralterian, his experience had been similar, the dog basically friendly, however it had mouthed hold of his sleeping bag attached to the outside of his rucksac and run off with it as it came loose. Joe gave chase and eventually regained his kit, to the amusement of the farming family watching over breakfast. He got a cup of coffee as recompense.
As we passed the second farm we stood aside while the large herd of goats went to be milked and were impressed by the large numbers of black andalusian pigs on the farm. Tony says the colour of the pigs changes as we go over the border to Estramadura. He is unable to give references to this and as he may have written some Wikipaedia entries the rest of us have doubts. However there was a very hansome sow just below the castle close to the border, wat h this space!

1.5.12 Tuesday.
Yesterday we met a born and bred Gibralterian on Camino. Among the wealth of information he has, is the fact that the weather, having been dry, is now unseasonably wet which accounts for the large quantities of flowers just starting to bloom.
Todays wander is either short or too long. We are still within the Parque Natural Sierra Norte and the track we take within a km of town is undulating through managed cork and oak forest. It is rocky scrub at first but eventually a significant uphill, sorts sheep from goats, both of which are producing milk/cheese from forage acorns and scant grass in these woods. Hoopoes are hooping on either side and these occasionaly cross our path with the newly identified azurewinged magpies. The rough path settles to a good dirt track and descends into Real de la Jara having passed several pig farms of the black Andalusian sort for producing the cured legs the area is famed for. We are within sight of its old castle (to protect the village from Moors or Christians depending on point of view) by 10.30 and as we enter the village we are dragged into a hostal just past the albergue that is not yet open to view rooms. Competition appears fierce in the town for pilgrim custom. It is a Mayday holiday but we find further into town a room at hostal Molinas (which has more than one bathroom for 10-12 potential guests).
We would go further but the next stage to Monasterio over the border in Extramadura is over 20km and Betsy blames last night’s poor sleep in the albergue in Almaden for her lack of stamina after a mere 13km (and asked for a coffee free morning to be taken into consideration too!). We are all happy though, to stop early and have a look at the castle (and the storks).
The castle has been restored with an EU grant and was a significant fortification in the 13th C when it defended its strategically important hill against variously, Moors, Christians and the King of Portugal. The views are excellent over into Estramadura just a few km away over a river.

Link to where we are on Google Maps