Alcalá del Júcar

We decided to take a short day to this admittedly very touristy place, drop our packs in the hotel, and take another 10-12 Km stroll off-camino and along the gorge. It was very nice, and it’s incredible how much easier it is to walk without a pack, even one in the 12-15 pound range. By the end of the walk we had covered about 32 km, give or take, and that doesn’t include our afternoon jaunt up to the castle for another couple of K. So, as is frequently the case, short days usually wind up having as many kilometers as normal days.

The walk to Alcala from Alpera was all off road. All through ag fields. It was clear that the drought is taking a huge toll. We walked through massive fields of totally ruined wheat. Dead almond trees. The hotel owner tells us that no one alive in town can remember ever having a complete crop failure like this year. Now they’re just praying for rain so that all the trees don’t die — olives, almonds, and what I learned were pistachio trees.

Alcala del Jucar is built on the side of a huge cliff at a horseshoe bend in the Jucar river. We walked in from the opposite side of the gorge, and had some jaw-dropping vistas. Just gorgeous. Its castle is the 15th century replacement of the Moorish castle that was destroyed. Also great views from there as you might imagine.

Though it is a touristy place, the hotel owner sent us to a very good restaurant a little bit off the tourist trail. As luck would have it, the restaurant was Completo. But we were able to make a reservation for 330, which gave us an hour to walk around the upper town where the castle is. The streets are a total maze of curvy, narrow streets, connected by little narrow stairways. There doesn’t seem to be any camino marking, and I think the best bet for tomorrow is to just head up for the castle, and then look for the Camino behind it somewhere.

This seems to be a very popular place for the end of year trips that many Spanish schools take. Apparently there are camps in the area with capacity for about 1000 school-age kids. We’ve seen groups kayaking, hiking, rock, climbing, and just generally having a lot of fun. It’s really a beautiful place to do that.

Our punishment for having taken this short day and detour, and since Clare will be waiting in Monteagudo on Sunday, is that the next three days are going to be pretty long. The saving grace seems to be that there won’t be too much elevation, fingers crossed.Read more