After a very pleasant night in San Pedro (a brufen each and 12 hours off our feet) we headed off just before 08:00, still in the dark. Almost day by day we can see it’s getting darker every morning plus, we’ve been heading west still. Until today.
From here on, north, and in a few weeks the end of daylight savings. Phew! Will be a bonus for us walkers. And yes, I’ve enjoyed the walking so much to date I’m continuing north, up the Via de la Plata rather than going to school for a few weeks in Salamanca.
I get so much conversational Spanish along the way plus I am very much enjoying the walking. So much so that I have trouble figuring how far I’ve walked and for how many days. It must be well over 300km and going on for 2 weeks. But, who’s counting 👍.
Merida
A short 15 or 16km walk from last night. Along the way the countryside seemed to flatten out a bit, lots of cereals and, for the first time, hunters.
Two hunters out in the open paddocks not far from the city each had a shotgun and dogs. Suddenly a shot would ring out as birds flew up into the sky near them. I saw one bird, a pigeon, drop to earth near me, dead. Neither that hunter nor his dogs picked it up.
Another different walk today. One small town had more storks’ nests than I think I’ve ever seen on the one building. Six or seven of them.
And then the outskirts of Merida. Behind Victoria were the 2 peregrinos from our last night, them with the disappearing albergue key.
Over the next few km we saw an old Roman aqueduct and the hippodrome or circus.
The highlights for me today though were arriving, checking into the hotel, and visiting the Roman museum in Merida.
We are staying alongside the main plaza, Plaza de España so the museum was a relatively short walk and we had to go as it is shut tomorrow. So we raced up there after a shower. I like this museum and it’s about my third visit. Not only did we arrive in time but, it was free today. And I enjoyed it as much as ever.
On our way to the museum we had to stop for a drink. Frankly, we are both knackered. Benedo and Manolo were catching a bus from here to Sevilla at about that time so we happily toasted and messaged them as we did so. For both of us they really added to the fun until now.
Tomorrow some tourist stuff including a visit to the very impressive Roman theatre and a churrería for chocolate and churros.
Wandering the world 