Camino Mozarabe Day 3: Moclin to Alcala la Real

Day 3: Moclin to Alcala la Real. 25 km.

March 13. 2014.

I was awake early, at 5:30 am but waited for another half hour before getting up and making tea. We lay in bed until 7 am reading and drinking tea before getting up for breakfast. We were packed up and on the go at 8 am this morning. It was another good looking day with a cloudless blue sky, there was no wind so it didn't feel as cold as yesterday but we both had our leggings on again.

Alojaminto Rural La Lola

The route was well marked as we climb further up through the town eventually reaching the top of the hill where we had magnificent views of the castle above us and a tremendous panorama of the mountains in front of us. It was a steep downhill on a track of loose gravel and where we had to be careful not to slip. It didn't go down as far as we came up yesterday and soon it was fairly level as we reached the fountain, Fuente del Malalmuerzo. Here the guide book said to stay on the road keeping right but the waymarks pointed to a gravel track to the left, that was the way we went. This route avoided the Cordel de las Gallinas noted in the guide book but took us to a tarred road where we turned left and met the N342 a few kilometres later. 

Rolling countryside descending from Moclin

One of the many watchtowers on hills

When we reached the N342 the road signpost said Alcala de Real 17km, meaning we had covered 8 km in 90 minutes, a bit unlikely. We were on the busy road for only a short distance before we were directed by a yellow arrow to another gravel track. This was quite broad and smooth initially but then changed to a rough farm track through olive groves. At this point there were about four or five brightly painted yellow arrows on posts and rocks. The track began to climb steadily but no more waymarks, we thought they might have run out of paint with all the previous arrows. At the top of the hill at last a solitary arrow pointed straight ahead but it was on the dried tracks of a tractor as it had gone through mud. Eventually the track disappeared and there were no signs of 'yellow' anywhere. I checked the Cicerone guide while Moira looked up the blog on the iPad. The Cicerone was useless, I think it had gone a different way but the blog helped. They had run into the same problem at the exact same spot and had scrambled up the side of the hill to the right where they reached a path and found arrows. We did the same going to the right and heading for a white building we could see on the ridge above. It was a tough scramble but eventually we reached an obvious track and followed it to the building on the ridge. At this big white barn it joined a gravel road and with a sigh of relief there was a yellow pointer directing us to the right. Somewhere we must have missed a turning or the waymark on the stone at the top of the hill could have been moved, maybe when the farmer was ploughing.

One of the communal laundries

 The gravel track now wound its way down into a long valley with outstanding views of the surrounding hills and the green olive groves that ran down the length of the valley. We found a sheltered spot near a power mini-sub station where there was a place to sit and brew up some coffee. After our break the track led us to the N432 again. The distance figure displayed now said 11 km to Alcala de Real. We had covered a 6 km 'equivalent' in 90 minutes this time but with a coffee break and getting lost. We had about 1.5 km on the highway before we were directed onto a gravel track that went up a steep climb to the little town of Ermita Nueva. We carried on through the nice colourful houses and came across a shop with a sign ' information de peregrinos'. It turned out to be a cheese factory shop; the woman didn't know anything about the Camino but did stamp our credentials and gave us a free tasting of her cheese. The town was widely spread out and eventually we cleared the houses and onto a gravel track again which led us to the N432, now only 5 km to go according to the road distance sign.

The guide book said that we should walk along the busy road for a short distance then take a track running from the other side into the countryside. We didn't see any track or way-marking directing us to one; later when we checked the blog they couldn't find it either and like them we ended up walking all the way to Alcala de Real on the hard shoulder of the highway. There was a cafe/bar a few kilometres on but it was closed, we sat in their carpark and had lunch anyway. I made coffee and Moira spread cheese on some rolls she bought last night. After that it was a just 3 km to our final destination.

We picked up yellow arrows again when we made our way along the main street, Avenida de Andalucia. We stopped at a 3 star hotel, Torrepalma, but they wanted E60 for a room. Further along, as we came into the old town, we tried the Hostal Rio de Oro but they were full but the woman directed us to Hospederia Zacatin where we got a room. This was where the people who wrote the blog we were following stayed but we paid E5 less, E40 for a nice en suite room.

After relaxing stretched out on the bed for an hour we had a shower then went for a wander around the town. There was a tourist info office close by where we got a town map and also other maps of the Camino route through various towns, always the difficult part, that we come to in the next few days. The guy was very helpful and spoke excellent English. This was another town with a Castle on the hill above. We walked up the hill to the walls and walked round the outside, the Castle closed for visitors at 5 pm, we were just too late. From the surrounds of the Castle we got a wonderful view of the countryside and were surprised at the size of the town stretched below. The houses seemed all cramped together with narrow lanes in a maze connecting the streets. On the way down we followed signs to the Eglise de San Juan. It was an old 15th century church but unfortunately it was also closed. As it was beginning to cool down now we headed back to the hotel, on the way we found a supermarket now open with the end of siesta where we got bread, milk and fruit; also a couple of beers.

The Castle above Alcala la Real

Back at the hotel we sat and read while drinking our beers and eating peanuts until the restaurant downstairs open for dinner. We went down at 8pm the usual time for the Spanish to start eating. The tables in the restaurant were all set ready for meals but there was nobody else there. We sat down and eventually a waiter appeared and started rabbiting away to us in Spanish. He either said that they didn't serve until 8:30pm or that they were closed for the night. We went out to find somewhere else, it was bitterly cold now and we were attracting attention in our shorts. This was the first town in Spain where the main   street wasn't lined with bars and restaurants. At last we spotted  a cafe/ bar in a park area opposite. We just looked in the door and a waiter appeared and ushered us to a table with the menu; this was how a business should be run. We just ordered one plate each and shared; fried chicken breasts and a mixed salad. When he brought us glasses of wine he also put on the table fried meat between bread and a few potato crisps, we thought this was the chicken but it was just tapas to keep us going. As usual the dishes when they arrived were huge and the one plate each sharing was more than enough. When we got back to he hotel I checked the dining room, it was still empty; I don't know how these places expect to survive if they turn away paying customers.

In our room we went straight to bed and read for an hour before getting to sleep. The room was nicely warm and I slept on top of the covers in my sleeping bag, I find it more comfortable. It was a bit noisy at first with people outside in the street and there is always somebody in hotels moving the furniture about at odd hours but eventually it all quietened down and we slept well.