I'd been looking forward to this one. A shortish day but the albergue in Mesquita is meant to be special. The owner is single-handedly reviving the village by encouraging tourism, providing beds, a restaurant and a shop.
There are a choice of routes but the best one seemed to just follow the Guadiana until it was time to cut inland. What I hadn't appreciated was the degree of up and down; a dog induced detour around a ramshackle encampment that seemed full of German hippies; and a path that occasionally disappeared, generally with a steep drop down to the water waiting below. No cafes or fountains at all on this route, so I was carrying a fair bit of water which I needed. Lunch was a picnic on the bank of the Guadiana, looking at an old customs house on the Spanish bank.
It was a bit of a mistake to lie down though - getting up off the grass reminded me that the years are catching up with me.
The final stretch was to cut inland to Mesquita. One had to cross a river - the path shows that one crosses at a bridge. It has been a long time since that was a viable option.
No matter, the water was cool and pleasant and relatively easy to ford. The only pain was finding somewhere to sit where I could swap my boots for my sandals. After the ford, one hits the first proper steep slope of this camino; a good hike up to Mesquita.
As it was so hot, water was in short supply. Which made it worse, when on arriving in Mesquita, to find everything was closed. I had written ahead but clearly my emails hadn't worked or, again, it was too early in the season. Without any way of replenishing water, I was stuck - so it was a question of getting a taxi to the following night's hotel. One of the things I have learned about walking in warm countries is that without water, one is stuffed. And being macho about it - a "yeah, I can manage attitude" - is a sure way to get into serious trouble.
So that evening it was a taxi into Mertola and into the same hotel that I had planned to stay in the following night. Sometimes caminos don't work out the way one has planned - but staying adaptable is key! As well as keeping some euros in one's back pocket for emergency taxis...
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