28 km Alcuescar to Valdesalor

The original plan for Saturday was to walk 17 km to Aldea del Cano and spend the night. When we arrived, we were told the refugio was undergoing renovation and only 4 of the 8 beds were in use. The 4 people we had blithely allowed to pass us at lunch had already claimed them. We checked at the only hotel in town and it, too, was full. This was the first day of holy week, and everything within miles of Caceres was booked. We had an offer from friends in Caceres to stay at their house, but we hadn't anticipated arriving until the next day. Plus, it would have meant walking an additional 23 km. We decided to walk the 11 km to Valdesalor and take our chances with the refugio there. About 5km away from Valdesalor, we got a call on our cell phone from Boni, our friend in Caceres, checking on our progress. We explaied our situation and he insisted on driving the 12 km out to Valdesor to bring us back to his house. We didn't try to talk him out of it. The trail crossed into Valdes!
alor over a Roman bridge and we arranged to meet there. When we were about half a kilometer from the bridge, with the car in sight, the sky opened up gave us our first drenching. We scrambled into our ponchos just as it really started comng down, and walked to the car and our rescue.

Boni is the son-in-law of Nieves, a good friend of Conchi's. Those of you who live in Portland may have heard of the Spanish restaurant Patanegra, which is owned by Nieves' son, Ricardo Segura. Boni and Nieves' daughter, Beatrice, took us in for 2 nights and spoiled us rotten. They live in the "casco viejo", the old part of town, just a few minutes walk to all of the historic sites in Caceres.

All of the stars were aligned for a break from el camino. Lodging would be scarce for the rest of holy week up to Easter Sunday; the weather wasn't expected to improve until mid week; we were just a bus ride away from some other friends in Portugal who we wanted to visit; and we needed several days to allow our various foot ailments to heal. So today, Monday, April 2, we're on a bus to Setubal, just south of Lisbon, until Easter, at which point we'll return to Caceres and resume the perigrinaje.