Cañaveral | Taking Our Time

May 5 – Twelve miles planned for today and rain in the forecast. We had our coffee and toast with ham and cheese breakfast at the hostal, and were on the road by 7:15. We climbed a mighty big hill as the sun came up.

At the top of the hill was a shady wooded walk. We haven’t had too many of those in Spain. Very nice.

Then the rain started, first just a drizzle, then it poured down.

Mist on the hills:

The sky cleared by noon, then got breathtakingly beautiful.

While we were admiring the clouds, we missed the turnoff to Riolobos. We are so used to following yellow arrows that we didn’t realize this road would not be marked. We saw the town get closer, then get farther away! By the time we were sure we had made a mistake, we’d walked an extra two miles, then had to reverse course and retrace our steps to the turnoff.

16 miles walked today. An extra four miles, and I don’t get to subtract them from my total. Drat. And now my feet are sore.

407 miles to go.

May 4 – So, as we planned our hike forward, we encountered a little glitch in today’s walk. The alburgue in the next town of Embalse de Alcántara, about 10 miles north, is permanently closed, and there is no other place to stay unless we walk another 10 miles to the town after that. Twenty miles is not a problem for the robust young hikers who whiz past us every morning, but for us it is too far for a day’s walk. We looked on the online Camino forum, and saw that several folks had success in getting a taxi to take them the ten miles to the Embalse (reservoir), then walking the last ten. This sounded like the plan for us.

We asked the lady who rented us the apartment yesterday how to arrange for a taxi in the morning, and she stopped us in mid sentence. I’ll drive you to Embalse, she said (in Spanish of course). Would you prefer to ride down the road, or take a 4×4 Jeep down the actual Camino so you don’t miss any of the sights? We asked for the 4×4, and she agreed to pick us up at 8am. Another adventure!

She picked us up promptly – Jim rode shotgun, and I sat in the back with the packs. We passed the other peregrinos who were just leaving town. We waved at Carolyn, our only American friend.

We had to stop while a shepherd drove his flock across the road.

It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.

The Camino passed through several farmers fields, and Jim volunteered to jump out to open and close the gates so the Jeep could drive through.

More peregrinos! They must have gotten up very early this morning. We passed about two dozen total. This Camino is getting popular.

Our host stopped to show us some ancient Roman stanchions.

After 45 minutes of driving, including several miles of highway, we reached the reservoir.

Our host pulled right up to the yellow arrow and pointed the way, assuring us that we would have all trail and no road walking to get us to Cañaveral.

We walked on old Roman road, past Rio Tajo, and through some pretty mountains.

The Hostel Cañaveral is a real treat, modern and colorful, and has its own restaurant where we enjoyed a scrumptious menu al dia. The town is small and quiet. We walked past the closed church and admired the mountains beyond.
417 miles to go.