Where are all the Pilgrims?: Oliva de Plasencia to Aldenueva del Camino

 “The road is never lonely if you carry wonder in your pack.”

Via de la Plata Stage 17

Morning on the Camino

It was, once again, a mostly sleepless night, and other occupants of the albergue began getting ready to set off around 5:00 AM.  It was an older building, and everything creaked, making stealthy movement impossible.  With the stirrings of others in the building, the two other occupants of our room jumped up and alternated between the washroom and packing their bags.  

Still in yesterday’s damp hiking clothes and having not been allowed to unpack upon our arrival, we both picked up our backpacks and slogged downstairs to make a quick breakfast.

On the main floor, we quickly discovered that the kitchen area and common room were filled with eight bicycles and eight cyclists packing up and making tea.  Navigating the crowd, we managed to make breakfast, but when other hikers joined the fray, the chaos became overwhelming.  

There is no denying that while albergues can be amazing to meet others and learn about differing experiences and cultures, they can also be challenging as we all seek to accommodate the customs and routines of others. 

Camino Thief Returns

Added to the business of the morning, in the middle of the milling crowd, we noticed a familiar pilgrim unabashedly rifling through the top of my backpack.  He'd unzipped the head and had both hands inside, rummaging around.  When he saw us watching, he gave us a really nasty and arrogant smirk before turning away.  This was the same individual who we had suspected of having stolen from our backpacks in Almaden de la Plata and, as we later learned, was suspected of stealing from other pilgrims over the last couple of weeks.  

While I am willing to withhold judgment until I learn his story, and even willing to acknowledge that his need might be greater than mine for the contents of my pack, I have to admit that having someone go through my stuff and then look at me with such scathing condescension simply doesn't sit well.  To speed up and simplify our departure, we ended up finishing our packing outside on the street.  After moving our backpacks and gear outside and always ensuring that one of us was with them, we could see this same person waiting for others to leave the kitchen before quickly going through their bags as well.  

We pointed out the situation to the English cyclists to make sure that they protected their gear and then decided that brushing our teeth, going to the washroom and having coffee would simply have to wait. We slipped on our backpacks and simply left.

Return to the Camino

It was a very cold morning - perhaps the coldest yet on this Camino.  The cyclists who we spoke to last night said they have been travelling through northern Spain for the past few weeks and have been frozen and wet most of the time, with almost every day bringing heavy rain.  Yesterday it snowed somewhere in the north as well, making us wonder what kind of weather lies ahead of us along the Camino Sanabrés, should we decide to go that way.  

We headed out to the edge of town, assuming we would be continuing along another section of the same busy highway we had followed to reach the town.  To our surprise and delight, we spotted a hand-painted sign for Caparra pointing down a quiet dirt lane.  We happily followed it, setting off into a quiet dehesa. We were doubly grateful for this quiet path as the pilgrim who had been going through my pack was heading off down the highway at a very rapid pace.

The first 6 km we walked to rejoin the official Camino route were incredibly beautiful.  The sun was rising over the mountain range to the east, sending long shafts of golden light through the leaves and branches of the oak trees and making the dew on the tall grasses sparkle.  The tree canopies were alive with birds, including Eurasian Chaffinches, European Greenfinches, and even a few colourful European Bee-Eaters. 

Bull Farms and Dehesas

At first, the lane was bordered with standard wire fences.  Then we passed through a set of impressive stone gates for the Ganaderia Antonio Lopez Gibaja, and the barbed wire was replaced with thick iron fencing that was fixed into cement blocks in the ground. We soon realized that the dehesas in this section were home to enormous bulls - perhaps the black metal bull's heads adorning the gates should have been a clue.

Some fields had groups of young bulls that stood in gangs and watched us curiously, while others were occupied by individuals that were truly enormous, with huge heads, thick necks, and powerful haunches, as well as very large "attributes" attesting to their masculinity.

To our surprise, when they began calling to each other across the paddocks, their voices sounded like fog horns!

Roman Arch

Eventually, we came to a track leading off to the right, and a sign indicating that the Interpretation Center for the Caparra Ciudad Romana was 600 m away.  We followed the track, only to discover that the Roman village was closed on Sundays until 10:30 AM.  Unwilling to wait more than two hours to see if the centre would actually open, we looked at the map and discovered we had deviated from the Camino to get to the Interpretation Center. As such, in order to pass under the famous Roman archway, which is a highlight of Via de la Plata, we had to backtrack and follow the Camino.

When we retraced our steps and got back on the official route, we found ourselves following an overgrown lane.  Despite the disappointment of not being able to visit the Roman ruins, we were still looking forward to an iconic moment on this trail - passing under the Arco de Caparra.  The prospect of the landmark spurred us on down the lane, into the early morning sunshine. 

In the end, the Camino took us past the Roman ruins, meaning we could have taken a much shorter route to return to the arch.  Unfortunately, the site was covered in orange construction fencing, which was not very aesthetically pleasing.  However, we could see through it to the excavated foundations of the buildings in the archeological dig, as well as to an exposed section of Roman road.  The large, rounded, uneven stones reminded us of a piece of trail we followed on the Camino de Madrid, where we were able to actually walk on part of the Via Romana. 

The trail did indeed pass under the famed Arco de Caparra, which is officially the Roman Quadriform arch of Caparra, but to our immense disappointment, it was almost completely encased in scaffolding. 

We couldn't see the famous inscriptions from the Roman Emperors because they were covered up with large banners, which presumably displayed the names of the construction companies that were doing the restoration work. We were really irked by this, but then realized that a lot of the inscriptions on the milestones we've been seeing also featured the name of the Roman Emperor who had built, imported, or fixed up the Roman road. In some ways, this was just the modern version.

Stone Markers, Mud and Meadows

The trail took us past the archeological site and then diverted off into the fields.  The track was extremely muddy in places, and we had many, many stream crossings.  Most of them had the granite stepping stone blocks, but others did not, and in some cases, the blocks had been washed downstream. After a while, it became a bit tiresome picking our way around the mud and navigating the small waterways.

However, the landscape around was absolutely incredible.  We found ourselves walking on a wide and relatively flat valley bottom that was bordered by mountains.  The grassy meadows and cow pastures on either side were dotted with small trees, and beyond that, the forested foothills rose up towards the clear blue sky where the occasional Red or Black Kite could be seen circling.  Every so often, a small village would be nestled on the slopes.

Not only was the scenery fantastic, but there was also plenty of wildlife.  The skies above were teeming with birds, including large flocks of European Bee-Eaters, swallows and martins, raptors, hawks, and even an eagle!  One of our favourite moments came when we were crossing a small stream and three Black Storks erupted out of the waters! They took to the air and were joined by several others, circling lazily above us. They reminded us strongly of cranes.

We also passed quite a few small ponds. Like yesterday, we spotted multiple Mediterranean Turtles basking on rocks and exposed logs along the edges.  Several times, we spotted pairs of Red-necked Grebes diving among the grasses and weeds at the water's edge.  The ponds were also alive with Iberian Green Frogs, their hoarse songs and sharp chips resonating across the landscape in an enthusiastic ode to life.  On the path between the waterway, we spotted several Natterjack Toads as well.

It took us quite a long time to cross this section, both because we kept stopping to admire the birds and spectacular scenery, and also because of the amount of water and mud we had to navigate.  At one point, the trail simply became a river that wove amid wide marshes.

Eventually, the Camino brought us out to a paved road.  Thankfully, it was a very quiet road, which made for easier and faster progress for a few kilometres.

Where have all the Pilgrims gone?

In this stretch, we were passed by quite a few cyclists, most of whom were headed in the opposite direction.  We could see for a very long way down the road ahead and behind us, and there were no other walkers in sight. 

This brings us to the Camino mystery that for almost a week has plagued us - where have all the pilgrims gone?  All through the mud today, we saw only one set of footprints ahead of us, and although we were going very slowly, no one passed us.

As the days have passed, we typically see a Norwegian hiker, a German hiker and possibly the Basque couple. Yet each night, the albergues are always full, despite the fact that we never see more than this small handful of walkers.  Where is everyone?

Counting Kilometres to Jarilla

At one point, the Camino markers directed us to a track beside the road.  Unfortunately, the ruts went through standing water that would have been calf-deep or more.  As such, we stayed on the pavement instead, checking every once in a while to see if the path was dry enough to follow, but it never was.  For most of the next hour, the route of the Way wove through a vast marsh that had swallowed the trail.  Some of the markers had even sunk into the murky vegetation and water and were barely visible. 

So we walked along the edge of the quiet road.  At the very least, the progress was quick and uneventful.  Or at least should have been.  

Some days the kilometres fly past as we walk, and on other days they don't. 

We knew there was a turnoff for a detour to Jarilla, where some pilgrims stop for the night and others stop to get a coffee.  We had expected to reach the turnoff shortly after only 5 or 6 km along the paved road, but it felt like we walked and walked and walked without making any progress whatsoever.  We even began to get worried that we had calculated the distances incorrectly and were accidentally stuck in a double stage.  

After an hour of this, we began to follow our progress on Google Maps - checking and rechecking, but to no avail.   We walked on, and our location never seemed to move.  It began to make me seriously nervous.  

En route, we took periodic breaks, snacked on Mister Corn, nibbled on trail energy bars, and drank our water, but still made little progress.   On long days, we always try to break up the stage into smaller sections in our minds – but when one of those smaller stretches becomes unending, it can really shatter your stamina and mental fortitude. 

The route was flat, we felt energized, and the weather was great.  We simply never seemed to make any progress.

Then, for whatever reason, the turn off for Jarilla came and went.  Ultimately, and again for whatever reason, it had taken us more than 2 hours to cover those 6 km of the trail today. 

I have no explanations.

Broken Path and River Crossing

Eventually, the paved road brought us back to the highway, and the arrows directed us to cross under it. 

At this point, we got a nasty surprise.  There was a fairly deep, very fast-flowing river blocking our path, and the granite stepping stones had been partially washed downstream.  Of all the tricky crossings we'd had so far, this was the worst, with water fast flowing and deep.  We had no choice but to take off our shoes and socks and wade, choosing a path where the water didn't soak our shorts.  To make matters even more challenging, the water smelled of chemically treated sewage, and it was painfully cold.

The highlight for me was noticing a large blue crayfish about halfway across, where the water was almost waist-deep, and I could not afford the time or balance to look closer, let alone take a picture.  

After the river crossing, we dried off our feet, put our socks and shoes back on.

Road Walking and Overgrown Footpaths

Shortly afterward, the Camino rejoined and traced the edge of a local roadway before crossing back over the highway.  It was at this point that we realized that it might well have been easier to simply follow the road for the final 5 km to town, but it was a paved highway that looked potentially quite busy, so we opted to follow the 'official' route. 

Directed by arrows, our path next wove out through the fields.  This may have been a mistake, as it was almost immediately clear that very few pilgrims took this route, as it was heavily overgrown with shrubs and bushes in some places.

We found ourselves squeezing through an extremely overgrown footpath that was bordered by brambles and rosebushes. We had to claw through fallen branches and soon found ourselves slogging through sticky, slippery mud.  It was slow going, as the camino led us on climbing a large hill, surrounded by beautiful dehesas.

The countryside was very pretty, but by this point we were tired and in no mood to keep picking our way through endless mud.  The fields were soft and churned up by the cows, and even though the snow-capped mountains were providing a scenic backdrop, we ceased to enjoy it. We were ready to be out of our soaking wet shoes and away from the endless muck.

Aldeanueva del Camino

Around 3:00 PM, we finally made it to the edge of town and found a lovely little village with many beautiful gardens, colourful tiles, and multiple murals.  As we walked toward the center of the community, we passed a young lady working on a large new Camino mural. 

Eventually, we made our way past the municipal albergue, intrigued to see that it was completely full, and already had multiple racks of clothes hanging in the sun outside - even though we had seen no walkers on the trail and only one set of footprints on the path.

We found an open bar, the noise from inside reflecting the current level of excitement associated with the soccer game that was on the TV.  We managed to get a cold drink, and as we sat on the patio, a couple of other pilgrims came by. 

It seems that many pilgrims had taken a taxi halfway, and then picked up a rail trail in Jarilla that was straight, flat, and dry. That would explain the lack of pilgrims on the path we took.  

Albergue Check-in and Evening

Finally, we checked into our room, and to our delight discovered that the albergue has a washer and dryer!  Thankfully, tonight we were staying in a small room tucked up under the roof, which we had to ourselves, so we took showers and then did laundry. What a luxury.

We then headed back to the bar in search of food.  Predictably, we were told there was no food until 7:30 PM, so we spent a couple of hours writing and reading before having a dinner of bocadillos and patatas aoili, which were quite delicious and worth the wait.

By the time we finished eating, it was too cold to stay sitting on the outdoor patio any longer, so we headed back to the albergue.  We will continue exploring the town tomorrow.

See you on the Way!