18 February to La Palma del Condado

Its been a day for looking at history: prehistory at the Dolmen of Soto and various later periods at the town of Niebla. A quiet, tarmaced road took me to the dolmen (which was signposted) through open farmland arable and pastoral. The dolmen was a burial mound excavated and presented to show the large chamber within. Floor lighting brought out some of the crude drawings carved in the rocks used to construct the chamber. Only thing that spoilt it was the lack of any information in English, the man at reception was not much help (must have been bored as I cannot imagine many visitors at this time of year).
The owner of the Hostal I stayed in last night had told me that I could continue on to Niebla after the dolmen, but which road to choose? I ended up walking some kilometres along a muddy track, fortunately this appeared to mark a boundary between farms and took me to the main road close to Niebla without having to climb any gates.
Niebla was a surprise, the old area was surrounded by substantial walls and fortifications, started in Roman times and built in ever increasing size by the Arabs and the Christians. I visited the interpretation centre in the old hospital but again all was in Spanish complete with historical figures speaking out of portraits in a very life-like way. I was sure they were looking at me!
The gps was suggesting going down unpaved tracks but I decided to play it safe as I had a good distance to walk and followed the road to Villarrasa. In fact, based on the start and finish I could have got away with the small tracks which ran to the South of the railway line. Based on this, after Villarassa I took the gps' advice and followed a track next to a railway line to La Palma del Condado, my destination for the night. The trail became very thin for a few hundred metres so that I was almost on the railway ballast, however assuming the abundant horse pooh meant that there was a continuing track used by someone to exercise their horse I kept going and indeed the track opened out again as I approached La Palma. A longish day at 32 kilometres although a total ascent of only 278 m meant it was not too taxing.
Staying at the Hotel Leon in a room which has a very smart red bathroom which I managed to cover with water when showering. Some of these smart modern designs are not always so functional.

Dolmen of Soto