At the Albergue on the reservoir

The reservoir where the Spaniards dam up the Tajo River before it gets to Portugal, that is. As you might imagine, this causes a lot of political disputes.

Today’s walk had two bad asphalt stretches bookending two lovely off-road segments. The first three kms out of Caceres are on the shoulder of a minor but very busy road. When I got to it at about 7:15, the cars were roaring by. The scariest part is always when you see a car coming towards you, and the one behind it pulls out to pass. At that moment I desperately hope for a safe passing maneuver and that the passing car has accurately judged the distances. So far so good.

From Casar de Cáceres (home of a runny smelly cheese that I can’t find a way to like) there are several hours through ranging land. No cars, no people. Though the scenery is getting more wide open, there were some amazing boulders ringed by wildflowers of all colors. And on that stretch I passed what seemed to be a junkyard of Roman milestones!

To get close to the reservoir we had to weave under and around the construction of the fast train from Madrid to Lisbon. Only thing is, the Portuguese seem to have backed out of their part of the deal and for now the train will stop at the border.

That part of the walk was also off-road up and down through rocky fields of wildflowers. I came upon two nice workers, whose job it is to maintain this short stretch of trail. Just some of the many people who make these Caminos possible, many thanks to them.

Then the last four or five kms, all on the side of a road ringing the reservoir but thankfully with much less traffic.

So here I am at an Albergue made of cement block in a modern style. It’s very clean and the rooms are for five only. Separate room for the three women—hooray!Read more