El Calatraveño to Alcaracejos 20km

We left early, desperate to get away from the place and get to the next town for a shower, we didn't even eat any of our own food for breakfast, we thought that it was safer to eat it somewhere else, since it was clean in our bags it would be more pleasant to eat it somewhere on the camino path.

The path was good for walking, mostly hard packed gravel, and as the guidebook stated, the first 9km were mostly downhill. It also said it was only 16.5km to Alcaracejos, and not far from the albergue there was a sign to that effect but after we had walked for a few km we came across a sign that said it was 18km. When we got there my fitbit had logged 20km, either way it was definitely more than 16.5.

The more downhill we went the more the path degraded, and it turned out that whilst the overall trend was downhill there were quite a few ascents. The quality of the path varied the more we walked, the last 4km were on a fairly level but uphill section. By the time we got the the town my blisters were making their presence felt, I was desperate to sit down in a cafe or a bed!

Naturally, when we arrived in the town we stopped at the fist cafe that was open and had a coffee - sadly, they didn't do any food. as we carried on through the town we found another cafe but their kitchen was closed, so we had some cold drinks and found out what time the kitchen opened.

As it was a Saturday, we assumed correctly that the supermarket would close at 2pm, so we went there next to get some supplies, we had a good chat with the owners, who gave us directions to the albergue. we walked down to the albergue and got the phone number to call the hospitalera who arrived within 20 minutes, she got us settled in. the municipal albergue is only €10 , it was very clean and had a great shower, a decent kitchen and a washing machine with a good drying area out the back. We quickly showered and got our washing done, the kitchen opened at 4pm and we were hungry. Just as we were about to leave, an Austrian lady with a much younger Italian man in tow arrived, we gave them all the info about the hospitalera and the cafe meal times and then left. We had a really terrific dinner and then returned to the albergue to escape the 37° heat. It was great to be in a clean albergue having had a good meal... it's the simple things that make a difference, and so we went to bed happy.Baca lagi