Mérida

Even though it was a short walk today (15km) I got up early simply because I was awake and I've never been good at just lying in bed, I like to get up and get on with things. I had paid for breakfast so I went down to the café and had my usual breakfast: café con leche caliente grande, tostada con mantichilla y marmalada (that's not marmalade - I'm allergic to oranges, marmalada is the Spanish word for jam). Before long other peregrinos arrived, and because it was a short walk today I took my time, had more coffee and stayed and chatted with some folks. Then, as if by some silent, secret signal, a whole bunch of us got up at the same time and set off together.

From Torremejía the camino follows the road for about 7 km before heading off into the countryside, again the path was fairly level and well marked, it was hot but a bit cloudy so we didn't have to cope with baking sunlight. The six of us were from Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand and the conversation flowed as we walked. It was unusual for me, because for the most part I had either walked on my own or with people who preferred to walk rather than talk.

It felt like we had only just got into our stride when we arrived at the great Roman bridge in Mérida, 1800 years old and still in use today, although it was closed to motor traffic a few years ago.

The albergue was exactly as I remembered it, but I had to wait an hour before it opened which was fine, I just pulled up a chair on the terrace, took off my boots and sat in the sun - the hard life of a peregrino. The albergue is pretty standard, a dormitory with 10 sets of bunk beds in a row, a shower/toilet for the chicos and one for the chicas, and a small kitchen with no utensils or pots and a sink for washing clothes with no plug, fortunately, I had remembered to bring my own plug and a few clothes pegs.

I followed my usual routine, got showered, washed my clothes went to a supermarket. I walked around the town for a while and took a few photographs but I was here for 2 days in 2018 so I didn't feel the need to explore too much. By the time I was hungry a lot of the restaurants had closed and the ones that were open didn't have a menu del dia. However, thanks to Google I found a Domino's Pizza just 2km walk away, I was the only sit-in customer and the pizza was great.

I had an early night, listening to some music and reading, then it was lights out ready for the next day.Read more