Elevation gain 202

Elevation loss 311

Total distance walked 342 km

A short walk out of the city takes us immediately onto a track. It’s good that there have been no industrial areas to walk through either into or out of the city.

There’s a bit of up and down after a few kms, but largely this stage is pretty flat.

Nina is feeling much better as far as her digestive problems are concerned and,after a couple of days rest from walking and some decent food yesterday, she is walking alongside me today. But she’s still having issues with her feet – the upper outside of both feet are causing her pain.

We reach a village at 8:20, and leave 10 minutes later without finding any bars or shops open.

Looking across the landscape I see a chimney billowing a plume of white smoke – maybe in support of the new Pope?

A week or more ago, I broke the screensaver on my phone leaving a good portion of it crazed and difficult to see-through. I had asked in several mobile phone shops whether they sold replacements but had no luck, until yesterday in Zafra. There was no stock on the shelf but there was a laser cutting machine. The saleswoman dialled in my model details and off it went cutting to perfection and then she fitted it for me with not a bubble in sight, and all for €10

There are a few almond groves amongst all the vines and olives. And we’re actually seeing more pilgrims, though only a few. Again there is a lot of cloud cover, no sign of the sun peeping through yet at 9 o’clock.

The scenery has changed a lot now – less cultivation and more scrubland with a few herds of cows. And now the path has narrowed and has frequent collections of water to be navigated.

A lot of the olive trees hereabouts are obviously very ancient with huge gnarled trunks but with only a small amount of growth on top. Presumably if they were allowed to grow wild, they would be very large.

There’s very little bird song today.

We stopped at 13 km for a quick break, but are soon on our way again. At 15 km, having crossed some rail tracks, we have to spend a short while walking along the road before returning to track.

Villafranca de los Barros is a large town but like a lot of towns we’ve passed through, including Zafra, it’s oddly quiet. Very few people wandering the streets.

We have gone from one extreme (parador) to another (albergue) today. I definitely know which one I prefer! When we arrive there’s a guy waiting for opening time over an hour away. Nina and I leave our backpacks and find a cafe for a drink while we wait. When we return, there’s a whole line of packs stacked behind ours and so when the hospitalero arrives at 13:00 we are second and third in line to claim a bed. We’ve got a room with two bunks to ourselves and our washing has been taken for a spin. (€15).