A leisurely 08:00 am start to this relatively short day. The first couple of hundred metres were on the road, although we didn’t follow the prescribed route because that would have meant doubling back into the village. We picked up the Camino within ten minutes. We were first of all walking through working farms with all the pungent smells that you might expect to find around a dairy farm. The tracks were wide and sandy and very comfortable to walk on. The cows were eating their breakfast as we passed and took very little notice of s couple of pilgrims walking by. We came upon the village of Villanueva del Duque after just 4 km where I spied a stork at home atop the church tower. A short distance outside the village I became caught up in a traffic jam, and one of the commuters stuck her tongue out at me – how rude! Mind you, I did bleat back at her. Next along the track I saw some horses, appearing very well looked after, the greys’ coats were shining silver, obviously recently groomed. I have seen a lot of hoof prints on the tracks over the last few days, but haven’t come across anyone riding as yet. There were a few water features to ford, but without any mishap. The lush green meadows that surrounded us were tinged with red, or purple or yellow, changing colour one after the other. The trees were holm oak again and the land surrounding them was often cultivated with a cereal crop. We passed free range chickens, goats and beautiful cows. And then we came across the escapees – a group of ten little squealers who had crept under the farm gate onto the track to forage on forbidden fruit, but as soon as they saw us they turned tail, kicked their heels and headed back to mum. George thought it was hilarious, and I caught the scene just at the right time. Although the tracks were being kind to us, my feet were rather tender from yesterday’s efforts and I made fairly slow progress, but that meant I had all the more time to appreciate the beautiful surroundings and the fabulous sky. We took a break in the second village we passed through, Fuente la Lancha. George was hoping for a coffee, but the bars were closed so we sat in the church square and I ate the remainder of my supply of nuts. The next stop was towards the end of our walk at a ‘zona recreativa’ an area with children’s playground and picnic benches. We then had a couple of hundred metres on the road and a long walk behind an industrial area until we reached the outskirts of this large town. The first area we came to was a bit dubious, obviously a very poor area, but a guy struck up a conversation about our journey. As we neared the centre of town it seemed very strange – just like another ghost town. All the shops were closed and very few people were around. After a long walk towards the church square I could suddenly see why the town was so quiet – everyone was gathered in the square to witness the parade of the town bands and the icon of the Virgin saint emerging from the church on the shoulders of the chosen few. But for a few moments it felt as though the band was playing and the bells were ringing to welcome us to town (yeah, right!) It was all very nice to see, but it gave us a problem. We needed to contact the townhall or the local police to get a key for the municipal albergue, but everything was locked up for the fiesta. The sounds from the bands, the church bells tolling non-stop and the rockets being fired was deafening and I knew it was not a good time to make a phone call. So I patiently waited for the parade to move on before phoning the police. The guy who answered was obviously at the business end of the parade with all the noise going on at the other end of the phone, but I managed to tell him what I wanted and he told me he would come. The trouble was, I didn’t know when – I didn’t expect for a moment that he would leave his parade duties to tend to a couple of pilgrims and we settled on a bench to wait for who knows how long. But luckily, it was less than 30 minutes before we saw a policeman, who waved out to us while he was doing his duties, and soon came over and showed us to the Albergue which was just around the corner. It is a lovely, shiny, newly decorated albergue with four sets of bunks, a nice bathroom, a meeting type room with microwave and a reception area with a sofa. Very nice. All the townspeople are dressed in their very best, all looking extremely smart and as soon as the icon was returned to the church they piled into the bars surrounding the square to eat and drink. Don’t the spanish know how to enjoy themselves en masse? I love to watch them socialising like this. I have just eaten a good lunch of loin of pork and salad, and checked that the bar will be open again this evening, as there are no shops open to buy food for self catering. No wifi here though, so I shall have to visit the other bar in the hope, and it will be necessary to have another drink whilst I am there – who said a pilgrim’s life was uncomplicated? ……well, fortunately a good wifi signal is available in the other bar and food is served, so here we are again. This lovely town is the last stop over in Andalucia, tomorrow we cross into the province of Badajoz, in Extremadura. Because it is fiesta time, not only are no shops open today, but they will not be open until too late for us in the morning. However the waiter has just told us that the bar will be open at 06:30 tomorrow and we can order some bocadillos, which is very good because we have 31 km to travel with no shops between here and there. Distance according to wikiloc (my own recording) 23.2km, mapmywalk 24.9km, Fitbit recorded steps 30,867

Accumulated elevation uphill 144 metres Accumulated elevation downhill 201 metres

Total distance walked 342.2 km, average 26.3 km per day

Today’s spend – lunch and drink 6.30€, tinto verano 1.20€, dinner and drink 8.90€.  Spend for the day 23.40€

Thirteen days total spend 329.40€