Vía de la Plata
22.2 km, 431 m up and 239 m down, through 3 places, 2 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Las Cañadas. 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.
Not a town but a large campground with a restaurant along the road. The side trip to Hervas (3 km) is worthwhile if you have the energy — a beautiful hilltop town with a well-preserved juderia.
From Banos the camino begins its climb to the Puerto de Bejar. It begins along the old Roman road on the east side of town -- avoid the temptation of following the N-630 (though that will also get you to both the alto and the Albergue El Solitario). The climb to the alto is fairly steep, but less than 3 km.
The camino turns left and away from the road at the entrance to Penacaballera -- if you got distracted and ended up at a roundabout you went too far. From the alto the camino begins its winding descent to La Calzada de Bejar, crossing along the way the Puente de la Malena (4 km).
Mostly straight and mostly flat walking all the way to Valverde de Valdelacasa. The terrain is open and exposed -- on a hot day, you'll feel it.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 121 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 16.8 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.