Friday 10th October 2014 - Almendralejo, Spain

The weather over night was really bad with lots of lightning and thunder that rumbled on for hours. The rain was very heavy making a tremendous noise on the roof and we half expected the car park to be flooded when we got up.
For Ian and Les, the day started misty and they had to use lights. The forecast was bad but luck was with them today as only the odd drop fell on them. They say that the sun shines upon the righteous - but only sometimes.
The plan was to aim for Almendralejo with the closer Merida as a backstop if the weather turned bad.
We caught them up between Merida and Almendralejo and they were going well. Hot drinks were dispensed and we arranged to meet at their hotel in Almendralejo. The town is the centre of a vast wine-making industry and the plains for miles around are covered in vines. It is very much a working town and not very attractive but it does have some pretty buildings. One of these is the terracotta and yellow painted bullring, unique in Spain as it has wine cellars underneath it. We had a very quick look around the large wine museum, which became more interesting once the staff had remembered to turn on the lights! It was all in Spanish but was still worth visiting.
Jane and I wanted to see Merida, another UNESCO site, so we returned there to find an aire in the centre of the town. We found the car park but the attendant told us that we were not allowed to stay overnight - obviously a change in policy.
We managed to find an open campsite a few kilometres outside the city and settled down for the night.
Meanwhile, Ian and Les met a Dutch couple and had dinner with them. They were also cycling but had set off from Holland on 11th July and had covered 3,800km to date! They cycled down through France joining the French Comino route to Santiago de Compostella. They then turned south, following the Spanish Camino route, heading for Seville. They were taking it very slowly, making sure that they had time to see all of the sights on the way.
Distance today 101km with 5hrs 5mins cycling time.
Photos: The foggy start; A mock castle north of Almendralejo; A shepherd passes with his flock whilst we were waiting for the boys; The coffee break between Merida and Almendralejo; The very attractive bullring in Almendralejo.