Vía de la Plata
24.1 km, 245 m up and 273 m down, through 2 places, 1 of which has somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Valdesalor. 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 camino leaves town along the N-630 for a short distance. At the Repsol gas station, it turns towards the right to cross over the motorway. It climbs gently to the Puerto de las Camellas (4.9 km). The path is soft until the suburbs of Caceres begin.
The camino enters the old town of Caceres from the east.
The best landmark for exiting Caceres is the bull ring, where the arrow visibility increases. Cross the main road at the bull ring and follow the signs to Casar de Caceres. You'll quickly find yourself leaving town along a divided colonnade with trees for shade. The pedestrian walk ends and the camino follows along the road to a large roundabout. Cross to the left and follow the roundabout clockwise. Be sure NOT to follow the N-521. You are looking for the smaller CC-38. Along the way keep an eye out for arrows which take you away from this busy road to enter Casar de Caceres along a much quieter path.
The camino leaves Casar de Caceres along the road to the north. It almost immediately turns to dirt and continues through the countryside. Along the way, you will pass beside and through walled pastures. It is a quiet stretch of road which, when dry, is rather enjoyable. It is remote, and the only signs of civilization along the way are a few farms and the ongoing construction of the AVE rail line.
You are approaching a large embalse (reservoir) and there are two large bridges which take you over two of the rivers that feed into it. The first is the Rio Almonte (17.8 km) and the second is the Rio Tajo (3.5 km). After this second crossing, the camino turns sharply uphill and to the right to leave the road. Opposite the road from this turn is the detour described below.
PACK WATER. The camino ahead is through remote pastures with little opportunity to refill. There are no services between Casar and the Rio Almonte crossing, roughly 18 km. Plan accordingly.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 155 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 22.4 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.