El Real de la Jara to Monesterio, 13.5 miles (or more)

Well, I didn’t stick to my plan to stay another night! I woke up this morning in a wonderfully quiet room by myself but could hear two Dutch couples making breakfast and talking fairly loud at 6:30 AM. It is usually a rule, and an unwritten courtesy, that you try and hold down any noise until at least seven, or even eight.

I was wide awake and felt well and didn’t like the idea of laying around all day in the empty albergue and decided to go. 

Again, I was the last one to leave and even at eight it is still a little dark. 

I was fortunate that I found one little bar open and saw my Italian friend, Frank, having breakfast. All the bars seem so typical because it’s usually the local crowd, many times the older ones, having their morning cup of coffee, or at night their beer. Many places it is standing at the bar, with no seats. Food is usually secondary and limited. Fresh squeezed orange juice is common and generally really good.

Scrambled eggs on white roll (usually the only), one for now and one to go. And could you fill my water bottles to please. No other place to get anything to eat until Monesterio, so I was lucky to find the last open bar before I left. 

The Camino turned from the street in town to a wide dirt road. Similar landscaping as before with rolling hills. There were several gates that had to be opened and closed to pass through. I saw some pigs, and goats, and even some cattle, which has been a rare sight.

I started out feel fairly well, which has been typical in the morning, and then I begin feeling nauseous and exhausted by early afternoon. Since I was walking by 8:30 AM I had hoped to make it to Monesterio close to afternoon. 

The terrain was not too bad but there is a long uphill climb at the end into town. The road had been fairly smooth dirt and then moved onto an asphalt frontage road. It crossed the main highway and became a narrow foot path. It wasn’t too bad and it went for about a mile through a eucalyptus forest, obviously not native to Spain. 

After the forest the Camino crossed back over the frontage road and dropped down into a narrow canyon that ran parallel to the frontage road. It was narrow and steeply sloped to one side. I checked the map and the frontage road ended up in the same place in Monesterio as the Camino but it was longer.

I decided to take the road and it turned out to be a good choice. It had a fairly wide shoulder and had little to no traffic. It had the same steep climb as the Camino but a constant uphill rather than an up and down.

As I was walking on the road I could see several of the people that had left before me below the road on the Camino. As it turned out I got to town before them. 

By the time I got to Monesterio I was nauseous and exhausted. I had a hard time drinking carbonated water, which had settle my stomach. I had become one of those uppity trekkers because I was drinking Perrier. They were actually a good size, so I could drink one small bottle and not loose the strong carbonation in a bottle.

I am at a disadvantage because I do not have a guide book for the Plata, so my place to stay are just searching or asking in a town. I am always concerned that I’ll walk through a town completely and have to turn around at the other end. 

There are usually municipal albergues in most yowns, and they are generally staffed by volunteers and usually nice. There is no fee and you are asked to make a donations that you can afford. Sometimes there are no choices and you have to take what you find. 

I could see that I was almost approaching the outskirts of town and saw a restaurant/hotel, Hostal Xtremadura, and it looked busy, which could mean expensive (for Spain anyway). The owner showed me the one bed room with a private bath that was really clean. It was at the front and had a view of the street and patio area, which I like to people watch and hear. I was a little shocked when she told me it was 12€ (euros), which is about $13.50. I took it!

I had crossed paths with Frank, the seventy-three year old Italian, and knew he would be looking for a place too. I walked back towards the end of town and asked a few pilgrims if they had seen him. I was told that they last saw him a short way back and he’d found a bus bench and was sleeping on it. 

Funny, the Camino is like a grapevine as news passes back and forth. A few people that I had met had heard of my rescue. As embarrassing as it could be, I heard a lot of people say positive things about my decision to call for assistance. 

I finally saw Frank about three hours later wandering into town, and he got a room at my hotel. Even though I last saw him about a hour outside of town, it took him another three hours to get here. Speed doesn’t matter on the Camino and to see a seventy-three year old waking the Camino is inspirational for me!

I was almost nine when I finally thought I’d better eat something even though I was not hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything except my breakfast and the thought of the eating my egg sandwich had not sat well with me all day. 

Of course the restaurant here is one that people recommend, but it doesn’t start serving until 9:30 PM! So, across the street I went to a tapas bar and by the time I was served it was after 9:30 anyway.

It is a fairly short walk tomorrow and hope I feel better because I would like to start earlier and it would be nice to enjoy an early day.

Best wishes,

Ted

Leaving El Real de la Jara

Starting the Camino outside or town

Old castle that was built for the Knights that protected the pilgrims on the old Camino. Four to five hundred years old?

Castle close up

Cattle! Look at that sky!

More like it, goats!

Area is a big producer of goat cheese

Me

Church with a modern moorish style built when the Moores that occupied Spain allowed the Christians to still build churches. 

Approaching Monesterio on the frontage road

Entrance to Monesterio. Notice the ham sculpture. Can you see that pork is important in this area. 

My hotel

My nice and clean room.

Crowd at the restaurant below at 9:45 PM. The time the Spanish are just going out to eat.

My little loudly purring friend that followed me down the street as I was leaving this morning. I wanted to throw him into my Wheelie.