Villaharta to El Calatreveño 18km

I had a restless night, i wasn't cold but I wasn't warm either, Ken was also very restless and shouted a few time in his sleep. Despite our worries about the walk today, as it turned out, most of it was quite pleasant. We did have some long but not steep ascent, and one or two steep but short ones. The last few km were more difficult because of the terrain, the path was mostly uneven, and covered in loose stones. However, I didn't think it was any more difficult that some of the dried up riverbeds we walked on in the first week.

We had planned to stay in an albergue that had only opened up the previous year - that did not mean that it was brand new, rather it was more likely that the owners of a house were cashing in on the fact that the only alternative was to walk, not 18km but 38km. Unfortunately, that turned out to be true.

The albergue was in an old farmhouse that was slowly being renovated following a fire in 2021, two brand new cabins for pilgrims were also being built on the land, but sadly not yet finished. The called the number we were given and were told where to get the key, the hosplitalero would be along later to take our money etc.

When we got in, we were quite shocked and disgusted at the state of the place, there was a layer of grime over everything, it was unbelievably filthy and dark. twe had been told which bedroom to use and fortunately it was a little bit better. The shower was upstairs and there was a small dining area and another modern and brand new bedroom, I guess that's where the renovation effort, and money went. We checked the fridge and it was full of out of date food, like the cream cheese that had expired 10 months previously.

Another disturbing feature was the three dogs, two of them were alsatian type breed and the other, which was clearly the leader of the pack, was a mongrel, muscular and vicious looking. Although they were not aggressive, I don't like dogs, I have been attacked several times, and actually I am allergic to them. It was also obvious that they had the run of the house.

We got our washing done and hung out on the line and waited for the owner to arrive, which he did a few hours later. As the house was in the middle of nowhere we had to pay an extra 10€ each for dinner, which turned out to be a bowl of watery soup and a pan of fried sausages, that was it. It was one of the worst dinners we have ever had, on grimy dinner plates, and the dining tablecloth was so dirty it looked like it had not been cleaned in years.

We were astounded to discover that the owner and his wife actually lived there, although as soon as we have finished our dinner the guy left and never came back.

When we got up in the morning all the dirty dishes were still on the table, we could not wait to leave, it was the worst albergue we have ever been in and at 25€ each for the night plus dinner, it was daylight robbery.Läs mer