Woke up to a cold morning after a very good night, again with sheets. Had a banana and joghurt I had bought the evening before and set out at about 8:00 am. Since we had spent the night away from the Camino, needed to get back to it this morning. It was 6km to get back to it. Three Spanish peregrinos had arranged for a local person to take them back there in a car and had one seat empty. I went along with them for a Eur 2.00 ride and it saved walking back the 6km from yesterday.
The weather was once again cold in the morning 4°C or 39°F as I set out but the sky was clear and the sun warmed nicely. There was however a cold north wind blowing against us for most of the day kept fleece and jacket on most of the day.
First I came to the remains of an old Roman town, established in 74 AD. Not much is left except the arch. It was a station on the Via de La Plata.
There were also some excavations that showed the outline of several houses but not enough to make it worth waiting until the information office opened at 10:00
Then onto the Camino again a beautiful walk through meadows and across streams. Streams were the feature of the day with many of them crossing the path and too wide to jump over. Different methods had been put out to try and help us cross them with dry feet. Some of these were better than others, while some needed a certain balancing act which is not so easy with a heavy back on your back. Also you can't jump as far as usual with this.
Here are few examples but there were many more during the course of the day.
The simpler one
More challenging
And quite an adventure! The stream was wider than it looks in the picture
There were many more but I managed to get across with mostly dry feet. Others told me later they took their boots off and went across in bare feet but then there is the problem of drying your feet again since wet feet in boots lead to blisters.
Another feature was the view of the snow covered mountains that came ever closer as we walked along. I think we will pass them tomorrow. It has been interesting to see them getting closer each day almost since I started from Mérida 8 days ago.
Each morning the cuckoo greets in a friendly way and has not missed a day yet.
Also the storks have built their nests on many of the poles and towers. You can just see their heads peeking over the top as they try and stays out of the cold wind.
It is really beautiful countryside but must be very lonely for those living here. Today I walked 24km without passing another town or village, just one or two farm settlements.
We spent quite a lot of the day walking along the old traditional routes that were used to drive sheep and cattle from the summer grazing in the north to the winter grazing in the south and back again in the spring in the Middle Ages. The original Via de La Plata became this route. In the 14th century these routes became legally protected with definitions of the rights of people to use them and their width. They were to be 90 Castillion Ellen wide, (about 75 meters).
Here is an example of one with the stone walls on either side.
They are called Cañadas. Cañada Real is a royal one because of its importance at that time.
Some are still in use today and often footprints of the sheep traveling through can be seen in the mud.
Finally after a very interesting day I arrived at the town of Aldanueva del Camino. A small town that looked deserted when I arrived.
I found the albergue but it was closed with a note to call number if closed. I called and after trying to communicate in Spanish found that she also spoke german. She arrived in about 5 minutes and let me in. It is again very nice.
I was early enough to get a lower bunk, so showered etc. and went out for a beer. Soon others arrived, several of whom I knew and we plan to go out again later for dinner together.
The little food store opens at about 6:00pm and I went to get some supplies for tomorrow, mainly for a snack while walking. They didn't have much and were almost completely out of fruit, no bananas even, but I found enough to take care of what I will need and tomorrow the route goes through another small town after about 10km so I should be able to get some more for the weekend since everything is closed on Sundays.
Went to a local restaurant for dinner. We were six people, 3 Germans, one Dutch, one Korean and me. A good time and back to the albergue. Forecast is for rain to come tomorrow afternoon so an early start would be good. Also tomorrow will be hilly. I hope it is not as steep as it looks on the map!
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What a wonderful combination. Roman ruins, beautiful countryside and charming towns.
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