Via de la Plata - Day 7: Zafra to Villafranca de los Barros (20.4km on 4/25/17)

We had breakfast in the Albergue and were out walking before 7am.  Once outside the town we walked on dirt and gravel tracks as yesterday and through fields, olive groves and vineyards.  The ground under the vines and olive trees is bare and cultivated.  Several days ago grass grew under the trees and near the vines.  Now, we see tractors disking the ground and it seems it’s drier and there’s no grass or weeds.  We entered the next village after ~4km and were almost out the other side before finding a small bar open and had a coffee.  The next 15km to our destination of Villafranca de los Barros was more of the same terrain and fields.  We got the last two beds at Albergue El Carmen, a nice private albergue.  After unpacking and relaxing we had lunch at a nearby square.  Glenn and I had half-liters of beer and “hamberguesa”.  I’ve resisted ordering hamburgers in Spain for obvious reasons.  However, they are so different than anything we see in USA I guess it’s okay.  I wrote on a facebook post of the sandwich that “Spain puts the ham in hamburger”.  There’s no beef at all.  This one had a large bun, two patties of pork, bacon, jamon, cheese, and york (like our sliced ham).  We each had one but should have split one.  For dinner we will simply have an apple and a bottle of wine.  Tomorrow is a longish day of ~28km and we are both footsore - i have two blisters and Glenn’s feet are tender.  So, we’ll take it slow and I’ve used Booking.com to reserve a room at our destination.  We’ll still start as early as possible to beat the heat but can take it slowly as needed.  

Leaving Zafra before sunrise

After 4km and a climb of 100m we see Los Santos de Maimona  the only town mid-route today 

The rest of the route was mostly through vinyards and olive groves

More free standing vines

Section through open area between two fences

Glenn and I sitting on base of very old olive tree

Approaching Villafranca de los Barros - typical appearance of towns with whitewashed houses

Lunch was a "hamburguesa" and a beer - half sandwich shown.  The Spaniards really put the "ham" in hamburger!  No beef at all.  Two pork patties (might be ground ham?), slice of york (more like our ham), cheese, and slices of jamon.