Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Walking from Castilblanco de los Arroyos to Almadén de la Plata
18.2 kilometers, 18,540 steps

Today turned out to be more interesting than expected. There are two section of the route from Castilblanco de los Arroyos to Almadén. The first section is 16 kilometers on a very narrow path adjacent to a highway. The second section is about 14 kilometers through what is called a park, but really more of a nature preserve. Given the large blister on the ball of my foot and an emerging blister in Tom’s heal, we took an option to have a taxi take us to the start of the park, shortening the walk for the day and allowing us to rest our feet a bit. A friend, Sharon from Taiwan, was planning on taking a taxi the whole way to allow her hip to rest another day. Since the taxi was going to Almandén, we had them take our backpacks all the way, further reducing the stress on our feet. The walk ended up being an additional 4 kilometers because I missed an arrow indicating a turn and contuined straight. More detail on that further on. Here is a map of our walk. The branch to the right is the section after the wrong turn and getting back:

The park, really a nature preserve, is a quite pleasant place in which to walk. There are trees all around from which cork is harvested, and very quiet with no traffic. In the photo, you can see the bottom of the trunk of some trees are dark where the bark has been harvested.

And, with a very early start, we were seeing the sun rise over the trees and distant mountains.

In ths part of Andalucia the Camino de Santiago Via de la Plata is waymarked very well. The occasional yellow arrows are present, but the smaller way marker monuments are more frequent.

I started to get ahead of Tom and our Spanish friend Javier. Tom was trying to learn more Spanish from Javier, and being focused on the language, he slowed his pace somewhat. Soon I was 600 meters or even more ahead of Tom and Javier. The view was pleasant, if not downright beautiful, and I became somewhat lost in my thoughts. It was a nice and meditative walk, the only sound being the “crunch, crunch” of my hiking shoes on the gravel road..

Deep in my thoughts, I missed a turn. There was only a small yellow arrow very slightly diagonal that could be interpreted as straight OR left. I missed it entirely and continued straight. After about an hour of being lost in thought, I realized that I had not seem any markers for a long, long time. I was considering turning around when a pickup truck appeared. The men in the truck work in the park, and through some Spanish and many hand signs told me that I was not on the Camino path, that I had missed a turn about 4 kilometers back. The best thing is that they offered to take me there – how kind! They asked if there were any more pilgrims following me, and I said there were two (Tom and Javier). So they were also on the lookout for them. We found Tom and Javier stopped having lunch. They had just followed me in the distance, so also missed the turn. But they discovered that they were not on path by some park staff, and were considering trying another road that might eventually reach Almadén.

A long discussion ensued, and the men in the truck said they would not get through on that other road. So we all piled into the truck and headed back to the turn. We got out of the truck and the men were looking over the diagonal sign, and it seemed that they were discussing that the marking needed improvement. Apparently we were not the first pilgrims to have missed the turn. Here are all of us, about to continue on to the correct Camino path, Javier on the left, me in the middle, and Tom is taking the photo. The man in yellow seemed to be a manager, and he talking to the other two and pointing, so I suspect that turn signage will be improved in the not-too distant future.

The men were very nice, and even though they spoke no English, and I only very limited Spanish, they communicated well and were very helpful. I am so grateful to them for not having to walk an additional 4 or more kilometers.

Back on the path, we were walking through a very natural area, strikingly beautiful.

And we were seeing waymarkers regularly, so we knew we were definitely on the right path.

Soon, however, a hill appeared in the distance. At first we thought that cannot be the Camino path becasue it is too steep. But it is the Camino path, and it is really steep. I should emphasize that – REALLY steep. I do not think I could ride up that hill on a bicycle; I would fall over backwards.

The walk up the hill was slow. I did get to the top, and Tom took this photo of me looking very tired but still smiling just a little.

The walk into Almadén de la Plata was downhill, partly gravel, so slippery and slow-going, and partly paved with stone, so one could get a grip and not slip.

We made it to the albuergue and started the routine – shower, wash clothes, rest, eat, sleep. Tomorrow may be another shorter day to ensure feet are healing well. The best news is that both Tom and I are confident that our feet are better than yesterday – there is a long, long way yet to go on our feet. Today, day number 3, was a beautiful day on the via de la Plata.

Next: Almadén de la Plata to Real de la Jara