What a beautiful country Spain is! On foot, and also briefly off the Via de la Plata, by car. For those who think Spain stops at the well-known Costa's: drive a bit inland and enjoy the beautiful nature, lovely authentic villages and friendly people. We really enjoyed all three, the last few days. We visited Parc National Monfragüe, where the river Tajo flows between the hills, occasionally through narrow gorges. Vultures nest here against some rock faces and these magnificent animals can be admired up close in their natural habitat. With binoculars and more often even the naked eye, you can see them sitting, with their young on the nest and dozens big ones flying low overhead.
We had a wonderful sightseeing tour of the mountain range we will walk along for the next few days, 'Sierra de Gredos'. The highest peaks are almost 2600 meters! We didn't get that high by car, but you do feel like you're driving around in high mountains. The old town of Plasencia is slightly off the Via de la Plata, but definitely worth getting off the route and visiting. The centre has preserved many medieval buildings: a 13th-century cathedral and the new one from the 15th century, nice old shopping streets, a cosy Plaza Mayor and just outside the centre, beautiful arches of a medieval aqueduct.
But last days were mostly very cosy and it was great to be able to spend some time here with our family. So the feeling at the start of the stage is like no other. We are back on the hill by the olive trees, overlooking the Arc as we say goodbye. A last hug after which we walk towards the Arc, now turning right where we came from the left days ago. We chat briefly with a Santiago cyclist and wave backwards as we leave the Roman ruins and Mum and Dad behind, and walk into the greenery again. The stage begins as beautifully as the last one ended, with the walls of stacked stones, the green grass and the many flowers. Especially poppies, the white affodils and the purple/pink plantain snakeweed that grows on the driest to the wettest soils are blossoming. Floating on the puddles of water, we see more and more yellow/white flowers of the water vine. On the high poles along the road, storks sit on their nests. The whole scenery looks so lovely, you'd almost forget how dry and harsh the landscape was a few stages ago. We get closer and closer to the mountains where the Via de la Plata will cross the ridge at its lowest point to the plateau on the north side. The motorway and the two-lane N-630, which we both have encountered more often, of course do the same and so we will cross and follow them more often in the coming kilometers. We slowly start to climb and the paths here are even a bit muddy. Narrow streams flow through the meadows, filled with plenty of water. Yesterday we saw big clouds in the mountains, so it probably rained well here. Good for nature, as it can make good use of the water.
At the edge of the trail, we take a break in the shade of a tree. As we enjoy our sandwich and coffee, we see blades of grass moving. Little green twigs with (mostly, some missing 1 or 2) 6 legs. They are tiny European walking branches. They can grow between 5 and 10 centimeters, but these are a bit smaller. We have never seen these in Europe before, so they are a first! Every day we are amazed by what we find. After the break, we walk pretty quickly towards the motorway, which we follow for a bit and pass under a few times. We pass the village of Aldeanueva del Camino with many auberges for pilgrims. But we decided to hike a few kilometers further to a campsite that's situated along the route. We pass a large petrol station, great for buying some cool drinks, and a regreshing ice cream, as it's Sunday and we won't come across another shop. The last 4 kilometers we have to follow the busy N-630 to the campsite. That's always tough walking, especially at the end of the hike. Along the road are many orchards with cherry trees. The cherries are already a brilliant red and are pretty eye-catching, but unfortunately they are all behind fences. Just as well perhaps, otherwise we would never have been able to stay away from them. The kilometers stretch on and we are glad when we can pitch our tent in a shady spot, around half past six. The campsite has good showers, electricity near the pitches and is quiet. Ideal for us! Tomorrow, we will continue on over the mountains...
