After a good night's sleep in one of the private rooms in the hostel - I don't do dormitories! - and a bit of breakfast I was ready to start day 21. I'm doing these three days of catching up to where I would have liked to have ended last time, had tiredness and a big blister not intervened. As it was not really part of the original plan, I'm doing these three days alone. That really changed the aspect of today. It was more like retreat than pilgrimage.
Leaving Calzada there was a sign on one of the houses giving the km from Seville, which I think is accurate, and the km to Santiago, which is a little out. It is probably counting the km on the full Via de la Plata and then the French Way, rather than the Sanabrian Way. Anyway, it means I should pass the half way point on Sunday. One other thing I spotted was a rough and ready inscription above the door of one of the houses saying "Viva la fé Católica 1727". Looking at the state of The Church in most of these villages, it sounds like a cry from the past.
The Camino out of Calzada follows the Roman Calzada, or pavement road. Not much of the pavement remains though the straightness of the path gives a clue to its Roman origin. So too so the mileposts counting the distances between Mérida and Astorga. It's good that the two thousand year old infrastructure still exists and works. Thankfully the largest of the streams benefited from some new infrastructure: a bridge. The smaller streams were unbridged fords and required a bit of stone hopping. Fortunately, no wet socks this time!
The way today is either flat or a gentle uphill, rising 200 metres, or 600 feet, over the course of the day. The day's itinerary was nicely split up by two intermediate villages. After 8.5km there was Valverde, another 3.5km and I arrived in Valdelacasa. Both of these villages suffer the usual state of small villages in rural Spain: there was hardly anyone about. The village looked dead or dying. The bar in the first village was unappealing with just a couple of die-hard blokes, so just a coffee there. The bar in the second village was worthy enough for a bit of lunch. It is a day of abstinence, so just a small cheese bocadillo and a glass of water, followed by two strong coffees was good enough. Here in this bar I caught up with some of my new Camino pals too.
The last stage from Valdelacasa to Fuenterroble was much like the rest of the day and a further 8.5km, so it was 20.5km or 13 miles in total. That feels like a short day these days!
The village of Fuenterroble de Salvatierra, near Guijuelo, the ham capital of Salamanca province, seems to have a bit more about it. This village has mythical status for Camino pilgrims walking the Via de la Plata. It has a parish Albergue which is the model of Camino hospitality, founded and run by the Parish Priest, Fr Blas. It is donation only, and serves a community dinner. However, it is dorm only, so I booked at one of the very clean and warm Casas Rurales at the entrance to the village. There aren't many people around at this time of year so I have the house to myself. That helps for me to be able to use the main room for Mass. The Bar José, in the centre of the village, served me a good Lenten dinner of salad, fish and yogurt.
While I was going out to get dinner, I received a photo of the front and back pages of the Biddulph Chronicle, with the report on my Camino, written by the talented young reporter, James Connolly. Go out and buy one!
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