Camino Mozarabe Day 19: Don Benito to Santa Amalia.

Day 19: Don Benito to Santa Amalia. 16km.

It rained all day today.

We had a choice of routes, one going directly from Medellin to San Pedro de Merida via Yelbes and the crossing of the Rio Bordalo. Although this was a shorter route Cicerone seemed to indicate that the river could only be forded in the dry season of July and August. We chose the longer option, 7km longer, which was through the town of Santa Amalia where we intended to spend the night.

As today's walk was quite short we had thought about relaxing this morning and leaving a bit later, but after the terrible night and we had given up trying to sleep it was a quick breakfast and off at the usual time. I dosed myself with a Voltarin anti-inflammatory suppository that I have found deals quickly with my sore back. It wasn't feeling too bad this morning but I wasn't taking any chances.

 It must have been raining all night as there were large puddles everywhere as we made our way out of the town. It was still coming down quite heavily, happily we had come out prepared in our wet weather gear. Moira in her wanderings looking for me had spotted the Camino Mozarabe signs to the exit from the town (though not the ones going back to find me) so we began following these. We reached a t-junction and there was no indication on what way to turn. A road sign for traffic said to the right was to Villanueva de la Serena. I consulted the map, in Cicerone and that town was behind us. We turned left. At another junction the road signs showed Medellin to the right, that was where we were going so headed that way and eventually picked up a yellow arrow.

Once out of town we were on the EX206, it was as straight as a die to a pointed hill about 8km away. This was another hill with a fortress castle on top and below was the town of Medellin. We were on this road, not very busy, until we crossed the bridge over the railway. On the other side there was a Camino sign on a muddy gravel track that pointed back the way. We took this track and in turned at the railway line and ran parallel with them track.  It wasn't very nice, full of potholes filled with the rain, muddy and slippery and it seemed to be going in the wrong direction. We came to a junction of paths and there were three choices, none of them had even a yellow dot of paint to help us decide. In the end we turned round and headed back to the road, at least we knew that was heading for Medellin. 

After about a kilometre on the hard shoulder of the EX206 more arrows appeared directing us to a path running parallel with the road. Even though the road wasn't busy we thought it would be safer on the path. Unfortunately it was hard going, it was very soft mud in places and lots of puddles to try and dodge; it wasn't helping my back which had been fine so far. At the first opportunity we went back to the road and walk on the tar until we reached Medellin. We could have gone into the town to pick up the route but when I consulted the Cicerone map I found that the marked route came out the other side of Medellin and joined the EX206, so the decision was to continue on the road. It turned out quite well as the road ran round the foot of the hill with the castle on top; we were rewarded with great views of all aspects of the castle which appeared to have been well preserved.

The road bent round in a large viaduct as it crossed the Rio Guandiana and we could see through the trees an old bridge where the road and Camino left the town. Where they joined we picked up the signs and arrows and once again tried the official route. It followed the line of the road but it was mud and puddles again. Eventually the track reached a minor tarred road, this was the route to Yelbes and the river crossing, we turned the other way and back to the EX206. There was an arrow on the highway for this alternative route, but only this one at the start. We didn't see another waymark until we reached Santa Amalia. It was a pleasant enough walk and flat going, my back was feeling fine now. The fields here had small trees in full leaf, row after row; at first from a distance I thought they were vines but closer I found they were small trees. We couldn't figure out what they were.

The rain had continued relentlessly all morning and it was a relief to find that our bed for the night at the Hostal Caribe was on the outskirts of the small town. It was near the junction of the EX206 with the busier N430 and Santa Amalia was on this highway. Here the registration system was old fashioned, a pen and paper, and much faster. We were soon in our cosy little room and I had the cooker going for a cup of coffee. We hadn't had a break this morning because of the rain and walking on the road there hadn't been any bars or cafés to stop at. There were also good WiFi that didn't require a password, so I got the radio on right away.

We went down for lunch at 1:30pm and we were the only ones in the dining room. One of the tables had 'reserved' posted on it, maybe they expected a big crowd to arrive; in the time we were there nobody else arrived. The meal was much better than last night. We had the 'menu del dia'; to start we both had different types of soup, my choice was the normal chicken noodle but Moira ended up with a sort of thick vegetable. For the main course we both had steak and chips, very nice; and to finish Moira had her usual iced cream while I tried the rice pudding. We had the house vino tinto to drink and all for a total of E16.

It was a lie down when we got back to the room and we listened to the radio and read the newspaper for the rest of the afternoon. late afternoon Moira went out into the town to get money from a bank machine and reported back that the sun was shining. Hopefully it will be nice tomorrow.

I had a late shower today and then it was time for bed. After all the noise of last night this hotel was very peaceful and we both had a very good night' s sleep. The clocks go forward tonight, so in theory we will later starting our walk in the morning.