First day’s walk on the Via de la Plata

At 6.10am (the one in the morning) I left the albergue in the darkness of a cool morning. There was some road traffic but not a great deal. Passing the city’s bullring and heading north, the next 10km was predominantly tarmac although eventually it was possible to leave the road and follow a traffic-free footpath.

The sun rose at around 7.45am and I knew it was only a matter of time before the temperature would rocket.

Sunrise en-route from Caceres to Casar de Caceres

At 8.30am I rolled into Casar de Caceres hoping for coffee and breakfast. The pleasant village seemed to be mainly asleep – the cafes I passed were all closed. What to do? I knew it would be another 25km before there was any chance of refreshment. I was carrying 2 litres of water and a few muesli bars (Aldi’s best!), I was well fed after the previous evening’s excellent dinner….. not much choice really – go for it.

The route was now nearly all footpath or farm tracks. The ground was extremely hard and quite stony, bruising the soles of my feet through the thick Vibram soles of my Meindl walking shoes.

The heat got hotter, the ground seemed even harder on my feet and the route was actually further than I expected. The way had been diverted quite significantly to avoid works being carried out by the local water company and also road builders, it probably added a couple of km on to the already long route. Oh well.

Around 2.30pm I spotted a welcome sign directing me to the albergue. This was VERY welcome, I was running low on water and I was getting hungry (nowt new there then) – after all, I hadn’t eaten since 9pm the previous evening.

 

Albergue – 250 metres

The albergue at Embalse de Alcantara looked more like something from the Cold War than a hostel. In fact it was wonderfully comfortable. Within minutes of walking through the door I was sat down eating an excellent lunch of tuna salad and tortilla, all washed down with cold beer.

Albergue at Embalse de Alcantara

The ‘warden’ did my laundry for a ridiculously small fee. After a shower and an hour’s feet-up rest I felt more human and was able to struggle to converse with my fellow peregrinos, notably Ully (Ulrich) from Germany.

Ully had started his walk in 40degC heat in Seville. His girlfriend tripped and fell early on, dislocating a shoulder – she was now out of action, recovering in Majorca in a nice hotel. She had insisted that Ully continue alone. I could tell he wasn’t overly happy about doing the trip without his lady. Having said that, he was grateful for the shelter and hospitality offered by the albergue – I was too!

An evening meal of pizza and salad, washed down with yet more beer hit the spot. I crawled into bed around 10pm, clean and well fed. It had been a good first day.

Total distance for the day: 37km. Too far.