Extremadura

We follow the Via de la Plata — a trade route more than two thousand years old. The name doesn't mean "silver" but comes from the Arabic word for "paved path." And paved it is: in some places we walk on the original Roman road, marked by marble pillars.

Extremadura unfolds as a world of contrasts. Mornings with golden light over ancient oak forests, afternoons with merciless heat over dry plains. We carry six litres of water because there's no village to be found for hours. Black pigs root under olive trees, griffon vultures circle above, and hoopoes follow us from tree to tree.

At Mérida we cross the Roman bridge — 790 metres long, built in the first century BC and still in use. In Cáceres we get lost in a medieval labyrinth of palaces and churches. And at the Arco de Cáparra — the symbol and halfway point of the Via de la Plata — we meet Mark's parents.

At stage 50 we take stock: 1,212 kilometres in 85 days. Our legs are stronger, the backpack lighter and we're more tanned than ever. Two completely different journeys — last year the GR5, now the Via de la Plata — but both experienced most intensely on our own two feet.