Day 11: Cerro Muriano to Villaharta. 21km.
I was wakened before 6am this morning probably due to having a siesta yesterday afternoon. I made a cup of tea and then downloaded the paper to read before getting the breakfast made. We were packed up and off at 7:45am this morning. It was another lovely day, a bit cooler than the previous few but it would warm up.
The route was straight out along the N432A that ran through the town. At the edge of town there was a board for a walking route. It was for the Sendero de Sierra Morena, the GR48 route from Cerro Muriano to Villaharta, that the Camino also made use of. It gave the profile of the route and it slowly rose about 100 m over about 20 km before a few steep climbs near the end, so most of it was relatively flat.
The route followed the main road from the town and we passed a large military barracks with the soldiers out parading. As we walked along the route some of the women recruits came past us on a training run. The first place to go through after 3.5 km was Estacion de Obejo this was a former railway station with a small community around it. The railway line was still I evidence and we had walked along the remains of it yesterday that was converted to the Camino. Here it was more preserved with the track and rails still in place but no trains now running. After the village the route ran between the old railway and the N422A until the small town of El Vicar. The track was mostly wide and gravel underfoot but in places it was very wet and muddy, fortunately in these sections a bypass had been created through drier ground. A new road, I think it was the now N432, had been built and this carried all the traffic, the 'A' version though still a very good road was vacant and ran beside it. The Camino could have comfortably gone along this road but it ran on a parallel track probably cut when it was this had been the busy highway.
When we reached El Vicar, about halfway, we stopped at a nice bench in the village square for coffee and a biscuit. After leaving the village it was on the old N432A for about 4km which were flat and we made good time. The profile now corresponded with the one on the route board we saw at the start this morning and we began a steep ascent. The old road disappeared and it was a gravel track beside the new highway. As we came over the top a signpost said Villaharta 6km, I had estimated by the speed we were walking that it was nearer to 4 km. then as we dropped down and through a tunnel to under the N432 to the Fuente de los Malos Pasos there was another 'mile post' saying 2.5km to go. This was now too little as although we could now see Villaharta it was not that close. After walking a further 30 minutes another sign told us Villaharta 1.7 km, this one was about right. It was now another ascent to the town over some rough ground but with our destination so near there was again a spring in our steps.
Tomorrow's stage from Villaharta to Alcaracejos was a distance of 37 km. with seemingly no alternative but to do the whole distance. This had been worrying us from Day1, as we didn't think we could manage it. Cicerone said there was a bus service to a town off the route, Espiel, and we considered taking it then seeing if there was bus from there to Alcaracejos. When we arrived in the town centre we looked around hopefully for a bus stop and instead found a pub, Bar Mirasierra, with a plaque saying 'Info for Peregrinos'. We went in to have a beer and see if they knew about buses. The owner was extremely helpful and made himself understood even though he had no English. He told us about the buses, one at 7pm and the other tomorrow morning at 11am. As an alternative he suggested, with the help of his son who spoke some English, to take walk to a point about halfway and take a path to the road where a taxi could pick us up and return us to Villaharta. The next day take the taxi again to the halfway point and finish the stage to Alcaracejos. He would arrange the taxi that was run by his son-in-law. We liked the idea but preferred to go by taxi firstly to the halfway point and walk back, that way not having to phone and wait for the taxi to hopefully come and pick us up. With that arranged it was just a matter of accommodation and he had that as well, next door he had a flat with three bedrooms, lounge, kitchen and bathroom for E30; it was ideal. The owner of Bar Mirasierra was called Angel Garcia Ruiz and he was an angel anyone doing this Camino call here for excellent service. We thought we would be on our own but a German guy arrived while we were having lunch followed much later by a Dutch couple, so the flat was full.
We had arranged to have lunch at the bar before we found out there was a kitchen. We went down after showering and had just two of the main dishes which we shared, a mixed salad and some sort of fried meat in batter with chips. It was very nice and just enough with a bottle of red wine. Again I was dead beat after the walk and lunch, I'm getting like the Spanish and enjoying a siesta for a hour or so. I got up about 5 pm and found the other arrivals while I was sleeping were the Dutch couple we walked with to Santa Cruz a few days ago. There names are Theadora and Dirk from Utrecht in the Netherlands, they were going to finish at Cordoba but had time in hand to do a bit more. Moira asked them if they wanted to share the taxi with us tomorrow to do half the long section but our 8am start was too early for them and they are finishing now anyway.
We sat in the lounge and had a sandwich later for dinner. It had an enormous TV which didn't work very well but all the programmes are in Spanish so it didn't matter. The WiFi that was good in the bar downstairs didn't extent to flat unfortunately, so there wasn't any radio to listen to tonight. We read for a while and I tried the crossword in the newspaper. Eventually we went to bed, it was too early and with my siesta I wasn't particularly tired and didn't sleep very well.
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