Malpartida de Plasencia

I had a really comfortable, and cool night - thank you ceiling fan - it was dark when I left about 0530 but already 18° but the forecast was good, it was expected to be cloudy with sunny spells all morning with a light breeze, good walking weather.

The walk to Galisteo was great, I had hoped I might get a coffee there but it was too early. The rest of the walk was not so great, it was 9 km on the tarmac with no verge. Fortunately it was a very quiet road and also Sunday and so very few cars passed me. It was however, tedious and eventually sore on the feet. My Salewa boots are terrific but they are designed for walking off-road, not on it, so I was glad to arrive in Carcobosso. It being a Sunday the town was dead, everything was shut except for a cafe with a private albergue attached, the albergue was fully booked but the cafe was open so I had a fab coffee and tostada. I went along to the other private albergue, which was also closed but the owner had a bar next door so he let me leave my mochila and I went back to the cafe.

Once I got in the albergue I had a shower, washed my clothes etc. did all the usual stuff then went to look for a shop, but every shop was closed. To be honest Carcobosso looks like a place on its way to extinction, it's very run down looking, and I have no photographs of it, because there was nothing to photograph. Speaking of run down looking the albergue had a very 'Bates Motel' feel about it, but it had a good toilet and shower and the owner was friendly enough. A group of French ladies were in the kitchen making dinner and they invited me to join them, I thanked them but declined. I was going to the cafe for dinner and I'm glad I did, the food was very good, and I was able to buy some cake for tomorrow.

When I got back to the albergue I discovered that the American man who hated everything about Spain that I met in the bus station on Cáceres was my roomate. Apparently he had also been in Riolobos the day before but had arrived late, having gotten lost - he didn't have a camino app, or a guidebook or map of any kind and always walked on his own because, he said, for some reason people didn't like him - who would've guessed. He kept getting lost, and he genuinely had no idea why, and my suggestion that he should get a guidebook or download a camino app seemed ludicrous to him. I had to endure a repetition of everything he thought was wrong with Spain, and of course why I was wrong about every single thing. The next morning I left before he was awake and never saw him again. I shed no tears.

It was noticeable that there was a larger number of peregrinos than is usual for the VDLP, and it was becoming necessary to book a bed in advance where possible. In Carcobosso, three peregrinos had to sleep on a bench outside. The next day I met a girl who had been on the bus to Cañaveral but who had gotten off further up the road at Grimaldo, she had been unable to get a bed in Riolobos, and Galisteo and Caparra and ended up getting a bus to Plasencia well off the camino, and then getting a bus back to Galisteo the next day.

Tomorrow I will be walking to the Roman arch at Cáparra, but there is no albergue open on the camino between Carcobosso and Aldeanueva, however, thanks to Rita I knew that the Hostal Asturias some 10 km further away would pick you up from the Roman arch. From the Hostal there's a direct route to the next town on the camino, Aldeanueva del Camino. So, that was my plan.Read more