Vía de la Plata
28.6 km, 480 m up and 343 m down, through 3 places. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Castilblanco de los Arroyos. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
The way out of Castilblanco de los Arroyos is along a path immediately adjacent to the road for the next 15km. It leaves the road at the entrance to a gated farm.
The stage between Castilblanco de los Arroyos and Almaden de la Plata is a very challenging and long day. There are zero places along the way to refill your water so be sure to carry extra with you along this stretch of nearly 30km.
The gate to the municipal farmlands of Berrocal is usually closed. If it is, look to the right for a separate entrance for hikers. The camino from here to Almaden is along farm tracks and lanes. It descends to the Arroyo de los Zahurdones (4.7km) and includes a particularly steep (but short) ascent up to the Cerro del Calvario (6.4km). From there it descends into Almaden.
The camino is well marked through town and quickly returns to rural tracks; it follows a decidedly not straight path to El Real de la Jara as it attempts to go around the peaks rather than over them.
The road ahead is another 15km stretch without fountains, stock up in Almaden before setting off.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 153 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 28.7 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.