BSVDLP Real de la Jara to Monesterio

“Arrrh! Ye bilge rats, we be headin’ fer the Bay ‘o’ Biscay to chase the White Whale.”

“Cap’n. That were yer five times Great Uncle Ahab and he be sleepin’ with the Pequod crew in Davy Jones’ locker. The Google sez we be near Sevilla”

“Arrrh! Whar be me sextant ye scurvy dog?”

“Parrot ate it last month, Cap’n.”

“Arrrh! Which way be north?”

“Awwk! Ishmael! Cuckoo!”

A wonderful walk today. Just (not “just”—SD) 9 miles on a wide gravel road with ups and downs that were reasonable. It was nice rolling path through mostly pastureland.

Speaking to the locals is very difficult. A regional accent that is hard to understand let alone with my limited Spanish. On top of that everyone is wearing a mask including me which makes it even harder.

Price is very very low in this region. The hotels we stayed in are in the range of €20 a night maybe €30. Not elegant of course. Two star hostel level. Euro toilets and showers. Ugh.

Breakfast was classic Spanish toast and juice this morning. Basically nothing else available; when we went to the Supermercado it had no refrigerated section so we couldn’t get anything like yogurt or cheese. And we were hungry from last night as we had eaten only a little of the unappealing experimental dinner.

QB suffering from toe that is likely to fall off in the next few days. Wrapping it in bandages only delays process. When it falls off we will glue it back on. No high-quality surgeries for toes. QB pointed out that we do have a stapler but I said it’s pretty small. (Adequate—SD).

Tonight we are saying in the second of two Leo’s. Each a 24 hour gas station and many other services including a truckstop where you can wash your truck but not your clothes.

The two nights at the gas station are due to an error by the booking company. It pointed out an attraction that we wanted to see. Turns out it should not have been on the website as it is more than 80 km away. Oops.

We are in the Iberico jamon region. Ham everywhere and some of the best, they claim. Tomorrow we will visit the Museo de Jamon which has a well reviewed tour (meaning too much detail to absorb).