Saturday 4 May 2024
Granja de Moreruela to Tábara
26.5 Kilometers

Today we started covering the route that I was unable to complete last year. The last two days we walked this year, I walked last year, from Zamora to Montemarta and from Montemarta to Granja de Moreruela. The overlap is because we chose to start at Zamora, primarily because there is direct train access from Madrid to Zamora. So now we are on the Camino Sanabres, and walking over paths new to me.

Today was a very long day. The three of us are very tired, and a little unhappy (maybe a little cranky) because the restaurants do not start serving dinner until 9:00 PM. As I have said before, we are not walking fast; we are not in a hurry. Today was also fairly cold and very windy all day. It was just a little warmer than yesterday, and for the last part of the walk, I had my jacket off. Tonight in Tábara, it is cold again. So, being tired and hungry, I’ll not write much today and let the pictures tell today’s story.

What characterized today’s walk, besides the wind, was walking through wheat fields, more wheat fields, and then more wheat fields. Often the edges of the wheat fields are lined with wildflowers, so a nice peaceful mood in which to walk.

Here is a map of today’s route and also a combined map and elevation graph. We are now headed west and partially north to get to Santiago de Compostela. The last third of the walk was almost continually uphill.

From the elevation map, there were a few hills during the first half, and the last third of the walk was mostly uphill…which translates to tiring.

We are now on the Camino Sanabres. The Via de la Plata starts in Seville, runs almost straight north through Mérida, Cáceres, Salamanca, Zamora, and then from Granja de Moreruela, continues north to Astorga. At Granja de Moreruela, the Camino Sanabres splits off from the Via de la Plata and travels generally northwest to Ourense and on to Santiago de Compostela. Near the casa rural in which we stayed last night, a sign clearly indicates which way to go depending on where you are going.

We are going left, towards Ourense and on to Santiago de Compostela. Just out of town, we saw this monument. It does have an arrow on the side, so we continued on.

Once out of town, we continued mostly on natural farm roads, dirt or dirt with gravel and rocks. Mostly dirt with gravel and rocks. Sometimes, the road just stretches as far as we can see, or over the next hill.

Many of these beautiful purple flowers were along the road almost all day. I think these are called Spanish Lavender. Very nice, and the bees seem to like them, too.

And the expansive wheat fields continued.

There were also very pretty white flowers, possibly Gum Rockrose, often along the sides of the wheat fields. Here are Dan and Ron ahead of me with the white flowers on both sides of the road.

And as we were descending a gradual hill, we saw a gravel plant on the side of the road. It appeared to be a very busy place.

Coming up a long hill, in the distance I could see more wind turbines. As we got a little closer, I could see that the blades were not turning. Because the wind is quite strong today, if they were running, it might be too fast and damage the gears or transmission inside.

Then we approached a beautiful valley with a large lake. As we were approaching, we met a fellow pilgrim from Germany. He walked with us for a while, and we said goodbye when he took an alternate route through a nature preserve and we continued on the road. The alternate route is narrow and undulating. We prefer something a little less rugged.

We got to a small town of Faramontanos De Tábera that was supposed to have a restaurant. We found the restaurant, but it was closed. So we went to the bar nearby and found that they did not serve food. So we had a break with a Coke and shared a bag of potato chips. A short distance out of town I spotted this sign, making it very clear which way to go:

And then yet more wheat fields. Walking by and watching the wheat sway, almost flow, in the wind is meditative.

Ron took a photo of me with some flowers. I’m tired and slouching…looking almost fat here…not a good look.

As we approached Tábera, we had to cross the train tracks on an overpass (which meant another uphill climb). I saw that close by was something of a small switchyard. There is no station nearby that we could see.

We finally arrived at Tábera and found our accommodation. It is a hotel on top of a bar/restaurant. And, like the other restaurants in Tábera, it does not start serving dinner until 9 PM. So am writing this before dinner.

Next: Day 4 – Tábera to Santa Marta de Tera, 21.4 kilometres