Friday, April 14, 2023
Walking from El Real de la Jara to Monesterio
20.7 kilometers, 27,9000 steps

We are on our fifth day, closing in on the first full week on the Via de la Plata route of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage paths. Today is another shorter day, deliberately so to ensure that healing is taking place. Our Taiwanese friend Sharon and I are again having our backpacks taken by taxi to our ending point to lessen the weight we are carrying.

The route today is from El Real de la Jara 20.7 kilometers in a cool, breezy morning. Here is the map of my walk from my Samsung Health app.

Notice from the map that the temperature at the start was 48.1 F. Our friend Baudouin from Belgium started in the dark and caught the sun rising in the early morning leaving from El Real de la Jara.

Leonard and I left the albergue in El Real de la Jara just after 8 AM. Tom and Javier were about 20 minutes ahead of us Here is our final view of the entrance to the albergue in which we stayed. A pretty good place, very clean; I would recommend it provisionally – there is only one bathroom for 10 people, which is a little tight.

Guardia Civil

As Leonard and left El Real de la Jara this morning, we saw a Guardia Civil office, the first I have seen.

The Civil Guard (Spanish: Guardia Civil) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence. In annual surveys, it generally ranks as the national institution most valued by Spaniards, closely followed by other law enforcement agencies and the armed forces. One of their roles is protecting the Camino de Santiago routes, making the way safe for pilgrims. For the most part, in protecting the Camino routes, they are generally undercover, appearing as typical citizens. I am grateful for their presence because I do feel very safe on the Camino.

Leaving the small city, we were on a small dirt/gravel road, away from traffic and noise. The early morning sun was coming through the trees, giving us a peaceful view as we walked on towards Monesterio.

We saw a fairly large Camino sign that just compelled us to take a photo:

Autonous Community of Extremadura

Spain is made up of 17 “autonomous communities.” The autonomous communities are subdivided into provinces. Seville is in the autonomous community of Andalusia, and were we have been walking for the past 4 days. As we cross the small stream in the photo below, we cross from Andalusia into the autonomous community of Extramadura.

We continued along through quiet forested land. Soon, at the sides of the roads, there were fences indicating the lad was used for some type of livestock grazing. And then on our left we saw a large group of very large pigs – for the famous Iberian ham. The pigs eat the acorns from the trees to give the Iberian ham that distictively good flavor. Some of the pigs saw us and approached the fence, huffing and grunting:

There were many of the pigs, many more than I was able to photograph. We had been told in El Real de la Jara that one Iberian pig could sell for up to 18,000 Euros (almost $20,000). This piece of land represents a lot of money.

A short distance later, on the right of the road we saw a very large flock of sheep grazing.

Continuing on down the road was a very quiet, peaceful walk. Then to complete the grazing possibilities, on the right in more open fields we saw cattle grazing, far more than I could easily get in the photo. Pigs, sheep, cattle – it is all here on the road from El Real de la Jara to Monesterio.

Around a corner, up and over a small hill and we were greeted with stunning large and colorful wheat fields, sinilar to what the cattle were grazing in.

We crossed a creek and headed gradually uphill.

At the top of the hill, the Via de la Plata route takes us along a highway for several kilometers. Now on the highway, but on a narrow path 10-20 meters off the highway. Not nearly as serene as the quiet walk in the forest passing the pigs, sheep, and cattle.

After a few kilometers of walking along the highway, the arrows directed us across the highway and ontl a secondary, gavel road. Good in that we are no longer along the busy and loud highway, but bad in that is harder on the feet than the hard-packed dirt path.

After a few kilometers of undulating up and down, we were getting tired. Then Tom sent a photo of he and Javier walking up the last long hill before Montesterio.

Soon we were at the same hill, and it was a slow walk up the long hill. Here is Leonard a little ahead of me on that hill:

We were getting tired at this point and eager to see Montesterio. When we got to the top of the hill and started down, we could see it in front of us. Yay! Almost there!

We headed into town, and Tom sent a photo showing that he and Javier had arrived at the albergue:

Leonard and I were probably 45 minutes behind. After another long up hill walk into town, we discovered that the albergue was 750 meters away, another seemingly long walk on our tired feet. We made it, though. After checking in and getting basically settled, Tom, Javier, Leonard and I went into town to find a place for lunch.

My lunch was a post-walk Coke, eggs, Iberian ham & french fries (common in Spain)

Back to the albergue to shower, wash clothes, have a siesta, and consider dinner. Tomorrow we walk to Fuente de Cantos, about 21 kilometers. Hopefully it will be less hilly than today, and hopefully not along a busy highway.

Next: Monteserio to Fuento de Cantos