A circular walk that begins and ends in Zahara seemed just the ticket before taxiing to Montejaque where the next phase of the Coast to Coast begins. The walk began with a long, steep down, very long and very steep, which means, well, you know, for the return.
Leaving Zahara in the morning:
The route was quite nice, not spectacular, but nice. There was the part where five dwellings had bzillions of barking dogs, fortunately, all chained or behind fences except for one farm where dogs, large and small, were on the loose. The little yappy ones can go after your lower legs and the big one was showing off his CANINES. There were so many of them, dogs, that is, that my usual yelling and waving of poles seemed not to be terribly effective. This was especially problematic because I had to figure out a turn here. Por fin, (at last) a lady came out, quieted the dogs—I told her, "Señora, tengo mucho miedo de los perros." (Lady, I am really afraid of dogs); she nodded, smiled, and pointed me in the right direction.
After that annoyance, all was fine until, about 2/3 of the way to the end, where there was a turn off the main track onto "a narrow path going steeply down just beyond the gate." I cannot tell you how I looked for that path.
And it was hot. Finally, after about 45 minutes, I gave up looking and headed down a broad track hoping I was going in the right direction to somewhere. It took some time, but eventually Google Maps kicked in, and yes, I was headed towards Zahara.
This here horsie also looked lost and uncomfortable. He followed me! (I should have ridden him is what I should have done).
But instead I walked very fast! After about half an hour, and much to my enormous surprise, I heard a ding. Looking at the Garmin GPS and saw that I had hooked up with the end of the still invisible path. On to the homestretch, which w a s n o t e a s y!! Zahara is one huge hill.
Just enough time for an ice cream before heading off at 2:00 p.m. in a taxi, driven by Diego, to Montejaque.
Montejaque is not totally without its charms (but almost):
Hotel is, shall we say, modest....very. Hot water? If you wait long enough, you will get a trickle. And the place kind of smells, not in a good way. But the proprietors are very nice. The missus and I really hit it off! Grocery store....no lettuce, tomatoes, or avocados. Bread, butter, and lox(!), yes, oh, and an onion. Second grocery: one tomato, as in one was left, and two peaches. You make do with what you can get.
May 21, Montejaque to Cortes de la Frontera. A six hour walk, actually completed in six hours, which endeavor included climbing over a tall gate (locked) and also over a fence with a row of barbed wire on top. Turned out, I did not really have to do either, pero bueno.
You start out early:
You walk very fast on the OMG FLAT (for a spell):
You don't do too much sightseeing:
Dad sequestered in another field:
In addition to the iron gate and the barbed wire, there was another moment of drama when, on a narrow, steep downhill, a swarm of bees took over the path. Fortunately, the trail in this area was serpentine, so I backed up, sat down, and slid to a spot on the next level down.
On way to lodgings in Cortes, passed supermarket I was planning on visiting later, but a sign advertised: "May 21 open until 1300." It was 12:50, just in time to do some quick restocking since tomorrow, it being Sunday, nothing will be open. Apparently there is a feria today, so the town shut down and I mean the entire town shut down except for the whooping and hollering you can hear some distance away.
The pride of Cortes de la Frontera gracing a round-a-bout:
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