We reluctantly left our lovely appartment to cycle our first day going south on the Ruta Via de Plata which comes from the coast in the north of Spain, Gijon down to Seville.This part also becomes part of the Camino from Santiago to Compostello, all routes end/begin at the cathedral in Seville.

The ruta via de la plata follows for the most part the N630 which was designed with a large bike lane for three majority of it but now with the building of the motorway nearby only local traffic frequents the N630,so it has been promoted as a cycle route particularly for this area the Extremadura which is one of the poorest regions in Spain.Over the whole day it was an ascent of 340m but mainly flat gentle undulations.We couldn’t get into our accommodation till 1630pm so had a leisurely ride into each village en route,Torremeja we saw our first cyclist with panniers but a serious offroader complete with tent !

Our next stop was for lunch was at Almendralejo where we managed to get our first menu of the day since being in Iberia.Three courses plus bread and a drink for 12 euros, a real bargain at Hotel Diana.We had quite a few choices and even an English menu.Tim for starters chose tripe and chickpeas.!After Tim had placed his order I said ” Are you sure ?I didn’t know you liked tripe!”Tim said”Oh yes it’s that lovely black stuff?”.I corrected him that it wasnot black pudding that was coming but sheep’s intestines…..

Needless to say Tim wasnot going to eat it so I had to swallow the stuff quickly down but I just couldn’t eat it all….the waiter asked “Was it not ok” so we had to pretend too much when we still had too small courses to go!

We arrived in Zafra with a compact old area.I was very excited to be staying in one of the hotels where one of the famous matadors used to live, Don Mendoza y Montero.We had seen the bull ring as we came in it was huge.The hotel was built in 1840,CASA PALACIA CONDE de la Corte but as we booked just the day before we ended up with one of the rooms on ground floor,ie street level next to cobblestones as the hotel was full.The room had seen better days spa bath didn’t work, air conditioner didn’t work however the huge bed and furniture and magnificent drapes really took you back to the era.There was no indoor space for the bikes so they had the garden to themselves,Tim tucked the battery terminals with his socks and taped it down.It was first time we had had to leave them outside.

We wandered around the town it was really bustling but had to settle for a couple of small tapas for food nothing was going to open till 8pm.We still haven’t adjusted to Spanish meal times…but at least today we had got it right by eating at lunchtime even though it’s then a struggle to get back on the bikes.

The town is dominated by the castle and the hotel is dominated by pictures of bulls and matadors.Zafra has the complicated history of all of this region from the Romans to the Moors to its reconquest to Christian forces in 1200s, followed by the Gomes family whose heirs ran and fortified the region over the next 200 years.Various counts and dukes modernised the city from the 16th to 18th centuries.Zafra is now mainly an industrial and agricultural city.

Interestingly we would be cycling along amongst fields and then therea furniture factory or distillery would pop up all on its own. Some factories we couldn’t determine their use but one was definitely for recycling plastics,with huge compressed cartons of plastics in the yard.We are getting many greetings as we pass by as I think it is customary to greet pilgrims, I feel a fraud as we have only just joined the Camino.

Tim likes listening to cars on cobblestones and of course in these tiny old laneways the rubbish trucks have to come at midnight, so Tim had an eventful night and I slept through it all.