Day 6

Via de la Plata

Monday 2 April 2012

Day 6

 

Monesterio to Fuentes de Cantos. 22km

 

I waited until the two guys in the bunks above us made a move then got up at the same time. It was 6:00, so I headed for the kitchen and made our early morning coffee. Moira was getting up when I had it ready, so we had it at the kitchen table rather than in bed. Everybody was starting to move now, we just settled down to have our breakfast until the place emptied then we got packed and were ready to go at 7:25, a bit earlier today. It had rained most of yesterday afternoon and evening but it was dry when we left, and as the sun got up the sky was looking clear and cloudless.

 

We had the benefit of the street lighting as we made our way through the town but had to backtrack to one junction to check the waymarks ans ensure we took the right branch at the fork. When we left the tar road and on to a hard packed dirt drover's road, the sun was beginning to peep over the horizon and the yellow arrows were more distinct and easy to follow. In Cicerone for yesterday's stage it said that where we met the motorway with the junction of the N630, we were then entering the province of Extremadura. It remark that here the Cortijos would disappear and we would walk along walled lanes with donkeys and mules in abundance. We didn't see this yesterday but today the drover's track was along walled or fenced lanes and we did see a couple of donkeys and a mule. The road is still used for driving animals, when we got held up by a shepherd with his flock of sheep in front of us. He was very obliging and his dogs moved the sheep into a nearby field to let us pass before returning them to their familiar route.

 

It was an easy route, the few hills were only annoying bumps. The countryside with its rolling green hills was very like the south of Scotland except that now the sun was shining brightly and was so warm that our fleeces had to come off. Before leaving this morning we had picked up a flyer for rooms in a house in Fuentes at E15 each, it had a kitchen and Internet. There were more posters and adverts for it all along the route and as we neared the town a car came along and stopped beside us. He was from this accommodation, El Zaguan de la Plata, and was touting for business. We told him that was where we were heading and he more or less made a reservation. Now that we were assured a bed for the night we were able to take it easy and we stopped for a cup of coffee using the hot water from the flask.

 

Cicerone had said for today that after the normal fields of oak trees the countryside in spring becomes a paradise of wild flowers, ' wall to wall' to the horizon. We must be too early at the beginning of April for this display but we could see the vast expanse of these plants more or less ready to blossom, this latest rain would have helped and we probably were only missing it by a few days. Maybe there will be more opportunities further along the Camino to witness a similar display. The guide book also remarked that when we crested the only long hill on today's section we would see Fuente de Cantos ahead of us but with still some walking to do. It was perfectly correct, it looked so close on reaching the brow of the hill but it took us well over an hour to get there.

 

 

 

When we got to the town we had the benefit of a map on the flyer to direct us to the accommodation. When we reached the turning at the church in the town centre we didn't have to worry, the guy in the car we spoke to on the route was waiting there to make sure we found it alright. The place was first class, much better than an albergue, we had a twin room, there was a big kitchen with all the necessary equipment including a washing machine that we made use of, a lovely shower with gel and shampoo supplied and Internet. While I was booking in, just pay the money and get our credentials stamped, none of the tedious form filling here, Moira went to the supermarket for supplies to make a curry for our evening meal. We had met Silvia on the route today when we stopped for coffee and she made a reservation with the guy in the car as well. She turned up and got a double room to herself shortly after us, she was delighted with it.

 

A couple of days ago our Kindle went on the blink, the screen clouded over and although Moira tried to reboot, it was still unreadable. This morning before we left Monesterio she emailed Amazon customer services explaining the problem and when we got on the web here there was a reply from them. They suggested rebooting and if that failed to phone them. They actually phoned us and are going to replace it,we have to send the broken one back to them. They emailed a bar code that has to go back with the Kindle and we went to the travel agent down stairs who runs the apartments and asked if he would print off the email. It was no problem and he was very obliging, it was free. The service we got from Amazon was first class, there were no delays in their response whatsoever. Now we have to find a post office to send the broken one back to them.

 

After we left the travel agents with or copies we decided to go for a walk. It had been raining while we had lunch but it had cleared. We went down to the church we passed when we arrived but it was all locked up and we couldn't have a look inside, there was supposed to be a statue of Santiago on the main altar with the scallop shell on each of his lapels. We strolled round the outside but it began to rain again and it was now quite cold, we headed back to the house for warming cup of coffee.