Day 15: Hinojosa del Duque to Monterrubio de la Serena. 31km.
It was a long walk today so we didn't hang about once we got up. The breakfast was soon over, the packing done and on the road at 7:30am. We knew the route through town after all our wanderings around yesterday searching for a supermarket and were soon out in the countryside. It was cold and we were well wrapped up but the sky was clear when we started out and it promised to be a warm day. It didn't turn out that way, some light clouds stopped the sun getting through and once clear of the town and in open country there was a strong bitterly cold wind blowing. Moira wore everything, I managed without putting on my rain jacket but did wear socks on my hands all day.
As we left Hinojosa we could see a range of quite high hills ahead in the distance but the route then turned more to the north and it was flat as far as the eye could see. It looked very flat but this was an illusion, we had quite a few ups and downs which tended to make the walk more interesting. It was through farming country much like yesterday, crops being grown among the holm oaks, lots of sheep grazing and at one farm we saw chickens, turkeys and little black piglets running around the yard.
Our major problem with today's section was that we didn't know where we were most of the time. We knew we were on the Camino as the way marking was excellent but there were no villages to pass through to get a bearing and the route didn't tie in with Cicerone. We did get an Idea when we reached a tar road with an arrow for cyclists to take the road, the walkers the footpath; the bloggers had mentioned this and said it came at 15 km and the trail crossed a railway track 2.5km later. This we found correct but then on their account they took a different route along another road to cross the Rio Zujar by a bridge and visit the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Gracia de las Alcantarillas. We stuck with the yellow arrows and had to paddle across the river. We had two breaks today, one for a cup of coffee and a biscuit at the '15km' road, then lunch, bread and cheese and an apple after our paddle through the icy waters of the Rio Zujar.
All the 'routes' came together again when we reached the EX211 tarred road. Cicerone which also took the Ermita way said it was 8km on the road to Monterrubio de la Serena but where we joined was 2km shorter. It was a hard slog on the tar and soon we crossed the boundary between Cordoba province in the Andalucia region and into Badajoz district in the region of Entremadura. Cicerone said it was a pleasant walk slightly uphill and the wind is usually in your face. It was slightly uphill but the wind in our faces was now a freezing gale and it was anything but pleasant. The town was nowhere to be seen just moorland and we were back among olive groves. When Monterrubio de la Serena did appear suddenly we still had the long trek through the industrial area and as usual the church spire and town centre were at the far end of the town.
Eventually we were in the town and there was a notice board with a street map. There was an albergue on the map near the large church, we had seen from a distance, in the Plaza de Espana, this square was also where the Hostal Vaticana and the Hotel Coto de la Serena were to be found. It was a long straight street into the town centre but the place was dead, even a couple of bars we passed on the way were closed. In the Plaza de Espana the hostal and the hotel were both closed and no signs of life when we rang the bell. It was the same at the door of the house we were told was the albergue, locked up and no reply to knocking or ringing the bell. We asked a woman about places to stay and told the the Hostal Vaticana opened at 5pm but nobody had any info on the hotel or albergue. There was another place to stay according to Cicerone, Pension Balsara on Calle Constitucion, but when we got there, after another trek, it looked like it was closed permanently with a 'for sale' sign showing in the window. Back at Plaza de Espana there was still no sign of life, not even a bar open to get out of the cold wind. On the way into town we had spotted a tourist info office and went back there to see if it had opened after siesta. It had but it wasn't a tourist information office but an olive oil museum which fortunately had a ' information for peregrinos' sign outside. The woman wanted to stamp our credentials first, probably to prove we were genuine peregrinos, then she phoned about the albergue. She said there would be someone to open it at 6pm another 45 minutes. Again it was back to the Plaza de Espana and this time two men were waiting outside the Hostal Vaticana bar obviously waiting for it to open. At 5:30pm a guy arrived and opened up, we were straight across enquiring about 'habitacion' and we were shown a lovely double room. I didn't bother asking the price, just glad that we had a bed for the night.
The first thing we did was to have a shower, the water was piping hot and it got some warmth back into our bodies. Moira went to a small supermarket just outside the hostal where she got milk, fruit, coffee and a couple of cans of beer. We relaxed on the bed drinking the beer and reading until 8pm when dinner was served. We both had the same, soup to start and pork fillets with chips. Moira had iced cream for sweet and I tried the cream caramel. It was all washed down with a bottle of vino tinto. It was a 'peregrino menu' so not huge helpings and cost E8 each. The room was very reasonable as well, E35.
When we got back to our room we read for an hour then settled down to sleep. After the long walk and the frustration of finding a bed for the night we were dead beat and soon fast asleep.
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