Elevation gain 120 m

Elevation loss 166 m

Total distance walked 322 km

I hit a dirt track immediately on leaving the village which is good, but am immediately bombarded with pig smell which is not so good.

Well, I stand corrected. I have just had the most wonderful experience – being greeted by three beautiful friendly piggies who were in a field of grass. They rushed up to the fence when they saw me coming. They all wanted contact – to touch my hand with their snouts (and who was I to refuse). I dallied for quite some time – they were delightfully friendly and had obviously been well treated by their humans. I hope they remain in that happy state in a field for the rest of their days.

When I tear myself away I pass olive groves and cereal crops.

Again I’m the only pilgrim on the trail, which suits me just fine. I don’t know how many people are walking at the moment but they seem to be able to melt away en route

I see many vineyards alongside the path, also cereal crops and occasional olive groves. I come across a few water features on the track which need to be negotiated with care. I’m glad I wasn’t walking along here a week ago during the rainy days – I’m sure it would’ve been much worse.

The barbed wire fencing has put in another appearance, but in these vast areas of crop fields I guess there wouldn’t be enough stone around to build the walls. I can hear a faint ringing of cowbells in the distance but no view of any animals or any people for that matter. The sun has come out and it’s a lovely temperature at the moment

Luckily, I’ve only got 18 km to walk today. Nina is on the mend but still feels it wise to take the bus into Zafra today so I shall see her there.

I actually saw a zitting cisticola today as it flew past singing her happy song. Although she was ever present for the first many days, I haven’t recorded her much recently. We have a new bird recording today – the European Bee-eater.

I won’t be taking any food breaks en route today because I haven’t got any food. At Pensión Rodríguez where we stayed yesterday (which is really a truck stop) I was rather put out to say the least in the restaurant. I asked about food and was presented with the menu. I chose a mixed salad and then the waiter flipped the menu over so that I could choose my second course. I didn’t want a second course – I don’t eat a lot during the day. A small salad was duly served, it was good enough and hit the mark. But when I went to pay he wanted the full price of a three course meal. I argued him down from €9 to €7 but still thought he was ripping me off. I was determined not to eat there again in the evening and so ate almost everything I was carrying in my pack, which probably wasn’t a bad thing as some of it had been travelling for quite a while. Today all I have are two small Biscoff biscuits, a third of an apple and a pot of very very salty almonds. I’m not going far and I’m sure I will survive.

As I’m about to cross a road cutting across the track a big lorry pulls onto the narrow path ahead of me. It more than fills the path and I’m glad he’s in front and not behind because there’s nowhere I could go to let him pass.

Walking past an olive grove I hear a sound like a farmer hoeing the ground or the snap of someone pruning a tree. When I look I can’t see anybody but I can hear the sound coming from different directions. So I decide to turn on the bird app and low and behold it was a European Stonechat and indeed the sound was similar to tapping two stones together. I’m really enjoying this app.

There are a lot of existing and new plantings of vines and olives.

I reach the village of Puebla de Sancho Pérez at 15 km and stop for a rest and a quick drink. The final few kms are on a mixture of busy and minor roads and then track until reaching the residential outskirts of Zafra.

Nina meets me at the Parador. Lap of luxury could well describe our accommodation – a fabulous room with beautiful bedding (so welcome) and big fluffy towels. We wander around the historic quarter for a while. Nina buys herself some new walking shoes and we get a couple of drinks and a tapa before returning to the parador where I indulge in a luxurious bath – I can’t remember the last time I had a bath – probably ten years ago.

We booked the room ages ago for a very reasonable ‘early bird’ price. And we decided that we must do something similar towards the end of any future caminos we walk.

I’ve actually stayed in this parador before – in 2001, under very different circumstances. But whatever the circumstances, it’s most definitely a wonderful treat.

Zafra is extremely quiet, hardly anyone around. And the weather is very dull which is a shame.

We wander out again in the evening to get a bit of shopping for tomorrow. We stop at a bar/restaurant for supper but when we enquire about food we are told that the kitchen wouldn’t open for more than an hour. We turn to leave when the owner stops us. He has brought the chef with him and says that if we choose something simple it can be prepared for us. We thankfully accept and have a lovely meal. The first time we have eaten properly for many days. It was fab. Then we returned to the parador and treated ourselves to cocktails. What a wonderfully indulgent day.

Birds of the day…

Crested Lark

Corn Bunting

European Bee-eater

House Sparrow

Cetti’s Warbler

Common Quail

Common Nightingale

Zitting Cisticola

Eurasian Collared-Dove

European Stonechat

Thekla’s Lark

European Greenfinch

Iberian Magpie

Spanish Sparrow

Common Wood-Pigeon

European Goldfinch

European Serin