Yesterday afternoon we searched for the singing fountain, but too bad, there was no fountain to be found in the village of Fuente de Cantos... We did, however, come across a cosy square 'Plaza Constitution' and a beautiful church in our search. But the big attraction of the village turned out to be the birthplace and museum of the famous 17th-century Spanish Baroque painter Francisco de Zurbarán. The painter moved fairly quickly to Seville and later to Madrid. He probably thought it to be a little too quiet in this village, which was much smaller then, but 400 years later he's still the pride of this place. We continue our journey through the Spanish inland northwards this morning, with a stage to Zafra. We soon leave the built-up area again and walk among the meadows with the rising sun. Poppies stand in the verges among the green grass and in the fields the grain is once again swaying in the wind. We are now walking through the province of Badajoz, Spain's largest province by area. In terms of population, however, it's far from the largest; it's mainly due to the huge tracts of agricultural land between the villages and small towns. This area has been used for agriculture for centuries, but because the land is hard to cultivate due to drought, it was small-scale and concentrated around places where water could be obtained for a long time.
Only in the 19th century, through great effort and the modern techniques of the time, the area became really developed. Now there are farmlands as far as we can see and unlike the dry lands yesterday, the soil here seems a lot more fertile. The long path runs between vast fields of grain, lots of olive trees, large sections of which have just been planted, and many vineyards, the first of the tour. The landscape is gently rolling, so we make few altitude meters today. The first 10 kilometers we follow one long paved path, until we reach an asphalt road. We immediately turn left, after which we walk another 10 kilometers along a similar road to Puebla de Sancho Pérez, a town just before Zafra. It may sound monotonous, but we enjoy the scenery and the floral displays in the fields. We see lots of purple wild gladioli and butterfly orchids, alongside fields of white-and-yellow crowned gooseflowers and poppies. Countless small animals crawl along the path and through the verge. Armoured beetles, ladybirds, spiders and one after another bizarre red-striped oil beetle (Berberomeloe majalis), who can grow up to 5 cm long. It's wonderfully peaceful and quiet among the fields. Occasionally we pass a farmer or a jeep, but mostly we are alone with the rustle of the wind, the chirping of birds and the chatter of each other. The only roads we cross are the highways of ants, from one side of the trail to the other. It's easy to see though, that we are on one of the larger pilgrimage routes. As we pause in the shade of ancient olive trees, we see more fellow hikers walking by with backpacks than we have seen in all the stages up to Seville combined. And unlike GR routes, on a pilgrimage route we all walk in the same direction, so we meet the same people more often.
The 25 kilometers to Zafra go quickly, although we join an alternative route at the end, which means we have to walk along a stretch of a major road past an industrial estate. But if we compare this trip to the first stage from Heerlen to Epen that we did exactly one year ago today, we became a lot stronger in the legs and more adept at long-distance walking. How tough those first kilometers were... Today, we think back more often to the departure, that first stage, and where our trek took us. What fond memories we made last year! And what a journey we still have ahead of us... Slowly but surely, this journey to Nice is also progressing steadily. Tonight, we're staying in Zafra. As we walk to the hostel, it turns out to be a significantly bigger place than the villages we stayed in previous nights. Beautiful old as well as new buildings with colourful mosaics adorn the streets. This afternoon we'll probably take a look at the village. We remain curious!
