Day 24 - Miles

Mon 9th Oct., La Calzada de Béjar to Fuenterroble de Salvatierra, 14 roman miles (13 imperial miles)

We chewed through the miles today. 5 hours door-to-door, including a couple of stops. By my estimate we strolled at a little over 3 Roman mph. Today was a very miliarios day - I lost count of how many marked our way. Took photos of many but not all of them. I still think it's cool that these 2,000 year old markers are just standing on the modern Via roadside. Imagine what they've seen over the millenia; if only stones could talk. Here's a few:

This last one is part of a display in the grounds of Iglesia Parroquial de Santa María - more on that in a moment.

The miliarios aside, it was really just a walking day. The day started with desayuno with Aitor at Bar Manuela before he cycled off to Salamanca (Dave had already departed, maybe 30 minutes before us, although we did see him again on the road during the day, and shared a pre-dinner vino with him).

A few "along the way" scenes follow:

Leaving La Calzada de Béjar, pre dawn

Stunning sunrise

Good morning long legs

You would be excused for thinking this is a picture of a cow. Indeed it could be. The focus here is on the fence posts. We saw 100s of them, roughly hewn granite blocks. I can't start to think what they'd weigh, let alone the effort to erect them

Autumn is finally arriving

Selfie at Valverde de Valdelacasa with

Walking, would you believe?

Arriving into Fuenterroble de Salvatierra

Lovely little town this. Two bars, one small tienda, and any number of brand new/very flash houses. Quite remarkable when much of rural España seems to be slowly dying of neglect.

A couple of Fuenterroble houses. Very modern. The top house sits behind an ancient fence, suggesting that it's a new construction on an old block. Anyway, very flash.

The church I mentioned earlier has an interesting Roman display, including a section of old road. Whether this is authentic or recreated I don't know, but the cut-away section of the road showing the various vase levels is very informative. A few church/display photos follow (the light is very contrasty, so they may not show too well):

Lastly, our digs for the night, a lovely casa rural ...

Great day. Big day tomorrow. 30 klms. The first 18 with no services of any sort, so food and water to be carried