Wednesday 8th October 2014 - Canaveral, Spain

We were woken by sounds of rain and twigs, dislodged by the wind, falling on the van roof. By morning it wasn't quite so bad but it was very dull and low cloud hid most of the hills.
We all had bacon sandwiches for breakfast made with Somerset bacon and homemade bread. Les was particularly pleased with a proper cup of tea.
For the first time we were able to see them off and we hoped that they would miss the forecast wind and rain.
We had two visits planned for the day. The first was to Hervas, just 4km from the campsite and famous for its Jewish quarter. The traditional buildings were interesting but were not a patch on Candelario. However, by contrast, Hervas was a vibrant town full of people and lots of shops, very much a working town as well as a tourist destination.
Our second visit was to the ruins of a Roman town, Ruinas de Caparra. We had been lucky with the weather up to this point but as we reached the furthest part of the open site, the heavens opened. We were soaked by the time that we got back to the van but we were able to change clothes, an option not available to Les and Ian. The site was interesting, especially the standing town gate, but the interpretation centre only had information in Spanish so we didn't learn much from that.
The Romans cultivated olives around the town and we drove through miles of olive groves on our journey. Extremadura, the region that we are in, is an important area for olives and we are likely to see many more trees as we move south.
We arrived at our campsite south of Placentia and soon after received a text to say that they had arrived at Canaveral. We look forward to hearing about their journey tomorrow.
Les and Ian reported it had been cloudy and wet for some of their journey but could have been much worse.
When they arrived at Canaveral they were waved down by a car driver. He turned out to be the brother of the owner of the Hostal Canaveral and he proceeded to take them to the hostal by driving ahead of them with his hazard lights flashing! Needless to say, they decided to stay there and had a good meal, comfortable rooms and were provided with sandwiches the following morning.
They had problems finding an open bar in the early evening and when they returned to the hotel the landlady took them on a tour of the village to find an open bar! What service!
Les told me that I wasn't to post this so here goes! They came across two French lady cyclists stopped at the side of the road and Les stopped to check that they were OK. I should explain that Les is a perfect gentleman and will always help anyone in distress, especially young ladies. They were fine and later turned up at the same hotel in Canaveral, no doubt escorted by a car with its hazard lights on!
78km today with 4hr 20mins cycling time.
Photos: Ian riding the white line; Ruinas de Caparra Roman town - a major Camino route to Santiago de Compostela runs underneath the arch.