Day 34 Embalse de Alcantara - Grimaldo

Last night we sat outside the Albergue with Norbert from Germany, Claude from France and Katrin, watching the sunset.  It was a very pleasant evening and one to note - we have now done 400 miles.  Only 500 more miles to go!

We set off at 0720 hrs on our way to Grimaldo via the village of Canaveral.  The path climbed among the hills following the Calzada Romana, the old Roman road.  Our guide book offered two routes .  One to go into the village itself or to carry straight on and get water and provisions at the railway station buffet.  Once again, our guidebook proved to be wrong and added another kilometre to our walk, quite apart from the fact\that we were not able to buy any provisions!  The guidebook "Via de la Plata", Guia del camino mozarabe de Santiago published in 2009 by the friends of the camino in Seville has proved a great disappointment.  We elected to bring this one as opposed to a choice of two others we had bought in the UK, because we had been assured that it was up to date.  It isn't!  It tells you that there\is no Albergue where there is one or vice versa, it is lacking in detail and generally it has been of little use.  For example the station buffet this morning had been closed since 2008!  The guide is prepared by volunteers so I guess one musn't grumble too much!

The station master, Teodoro, proved to be a really nice person.  He insisted on sharing his own coffee with us and showed us photos of his grandaughter, Natalia, a beautiful girl.  When I thanked him for the coffee he replied, I wish that wherever you walk you will always find someone willing to share a cup of coffee or a cigarette or a glass of wine with you.  God speed!  It is good to find such nice people along the way!

At the outskirsts of the village we came across Katrin once more.  She had gone into the village itself and has offered to share her tomatoes with us tonight!  We carried on climbing to Puerto de los Castanos (about 1400 feet) by which time we were quite tired and the sun was beginning to burn.  There we met Luis, a 78 year-old from Grimaldo who was on his way there and insisted on showing us a shorter route.

This turned out to be a mistake which added another 2 kms to our day!  It was also quite funny.  It appears that Luis loses his way quite often and has to be rescued by the local Guardia Civil.  Today was no exception and a passing driver who saw us phoned them and they came to collect him and also to point us in the right direction.  Tonight this is the talk of the village of only 80 inhabitants and we have become the butt of many jokes!

The last two kilometres of our walk was through delightful corkwoods emerging later in Grimaldo via a rickety old wooden "bridge" and a narrow rocky path.  The Albergue is free, quite basic but has a washing machine!  Tonight and tomorrow we will be able to wear very clean clothes, something we don't often achieve!

I forgot to mention that a few days ago we got a message via the blog from our friends and travelling companions, Johan and Karin from Sweden who are now two days behind us.  Today we had another message this time from Sergio from Barcelona who came across our blog and is following it as he and his girlfriend are thinking of doing a bicycle ride along the Via de La Plata.  They are finding the blog very useful and have even offered advice on blisters!  It is good to know that so many people are reading our blog.