Day 17: Castuera to Campanario. 20km.
We heard lots of cuckoos today.
The impression I got from reading Cicerone was that Campanario was just a little place, it described as being a small town with shops, bars and banks but no official accommodation. In fact it was a large place. As usual on entering in was through an industrial area then the outskirts until we came to a plaza with the church, shops, a bars and two banks. We were then making our way expectantly out of town and towards the railway station 2 km away where the albergue was situated. This wasn't the case, whereas the area we had gone through was deserted and dead like most of the Spanish towns we now entered a bustling high street with lots of busy shops and people and traffic. As we made our way along this street I spotted the Guardia Civil offices and remembered that the guide book said that the woman in the house opposite had rooms for peregrinos. It was supposed to be No 55 and when I looked it was 55. As we were looking at the house a woman asked if we were searching for 'habitation' and rang the bell of the house. A woman appeared eventually and apologised for the delay in coming but she had been busy painting as we could see, she was splattered with it. The rooms were above and she had five of them, all with two or three beds, it was E30, so we decided to stay here rather than going another 2km to the albergue.
Our walk had been very good. We left at our normal time of 8am after managing to get the Internet in our room for the newspaper download and to listen to the news on the radio. We followed Cicerone through the town to a roundabout at its end where it said there was a plane in the middle as a monument, it must have been removed as we didn't see it. At the main road it said Campanario 17km, then arrows that directed us to a gravel track where a sign said Campanario 20km. The track was smooth and flat, the weather this morning was perfect, the wind of yesterday gone and blue skies overhead. It was now a pleasure to be walking and we seemed to be making excellent time. Soon we reached a river, Rio Guadalefra, beside a large metal railway bridge, that we had to paddle. Shortly after this we reached the old railway station that Cicerone said was an albergue but the bloggers said was now closed. There was a notice saying albergue but no sign no life. The annoying thing was that the guide book had this station, Quintane de le Serena, at only 6km from Castuera; we had been walking briskly for 90 minutes by this time and I was sure we had further.
We continued at our nice fast pace for another hour and had a stop for a cup of coffee. The weather was really lovely today, a bit chilly in the shade but with no wind it was a big difference. The landscape now seemed better when we could look around not having to bend into a gale. The winter corn was well on here and had a vivid green colour growing among the holm oaks. The large meadows with the oaks made a beautiful picture.
When we got going again after our break we seemed to make good time as we reached a bridge crossing the railway earlier than we expected. Cicerone said from this bridge to Campanario was only 3km. I don't know how they do their measuring and distance estimation but they get it wrong, it took us an hour to reach the town. It had now become quite hilly and we expected to see a conglomeration of houses as we crested each rise and turned every bend, but it was the usual long slog.
After settling into our room and dumping our rucksacks we went out to find a place to eat. There was a bar opposite but they only did sandwiches. We didn't know which way to go so I asked three women 'restaurante'? They had a discussion amongst themselves then a man passing joined in, it seems to be turning into an argument when one of the women indicated to follow her. We did and it was only a short distance down the road and on the left. We had the 'menu del dia'; after a green bean and ham dish which we both had and was very nice we waited in anticipation for the next course. We weren't sure what we had ordered, one dish turned out to be pork and chips, the other a mixed seafood. Moira wasn't having the seafood, there were octopus in it; so that was mine and I found it very nice. Moira had iced cream again and I had a cream tart. We asked for vino tinto to drink but he came with a carafe of what looked like rose, it was all right. As soon as we finished the carafe he immediately replaced it with a full one.
After all the food and wine it was time for a lie down in the room. Moira went for a shower first but the water was cold. So no showers again, we hadn't had one last night, if we don't get one tomorrow we will start to smell. At least we got some washing done in the cold water and hung out on a line in the sun to dry. It had become bitterly cold outside when the sun went down. We didn't move from our room but spent the rest of the day reading and I managed one of the crosswords from the 'Telegraph'. It was early to sleep tonight after a sandwich and a beer.
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