Day 12 - Monesterio to Calzadilla de los Ballos (16 miles)

The last 24 hours has been relatively relaxed and civilised. Because the municipal albergue is slightly off route I think most avoided it but it is modern and quiet; there were four of us in a bright and airy male dormitory sized for twenty. I had an early dinner in town with a young British walker and the night passed with no snoring or phones or blazing head torches. I woke after a long sleep for an 8am start to reach the tiny village of Calzadilla de los Barros 16 miles away and where I am now relaxing in its spacious and well appointed albergue with full amenities.

In the last three days barriers have begun to drop between different groups and individuals as people become accustomed to the regularity of the walking day and to each other. Everyone says how busy it is compared with usual - and it is more busy than I was led to believe - but it is still nothing like the Camino Frances for numbers. As I followed the dusty track of the Camino it was another day where I felt lost in the remoteness of Spain. Copses of bark gave way to crops and farmland and the occasional small pen of black ibérico pigs in the dry, gently rolling landscape of this region of Extremadura in which we are now walking. I spoke or spent time with Spanish and Dutch, Germans and a French Tahitian, sometimes simply sharing a few words, on other

occasions stories and experiences.  

I reached Calzadilla de los Ballos after just over six hours of walking, a small village of squat, whitewashed buildings and dusty, orange-tree lined streets. I headed to the town hall to pay for my night in the albergue and then to its large, airy and spacious accommodation on the edge of the village. There are five of us there this evening - three Spanish, the British guy I met last night and me - and the building is large enough that we have separate rooms. As we whiled away the evening it seemed to me that things are getting noticeably more communal with our small group pooling resources for a shared dinner and with conversation occasionally now turning to the 'when' and 'how' of meeting again amid the different distances and stops being planned over the coming days.

Approaching Calzadilla