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Stage 10 · Vía de la Plata y Camino Sanabrés
Mérida → Alcuéscar
Before you set off
No water, no food
Between Mérida and Alcuéscar. — Leave with 3.6 litres of water.
Proserpina, the dehesa and the milestones
The longest stage on the whole Vía de la Plata: 36.5 kilometres with 520 metres of ascent and 330 of descent, high difficulty. You leave Mérida beneath the arches of the acueducto de los Milagros and on tracks reach, in a little over an hour, the reservoir of Proserpina, the Roman dam that supplied the city, with its sheet of water and a seasonal bar or two.
From Proserpina the route continues through holm oak dehesa to El Carrascalejo and, right after it, Aljucén, at about kilometre 19: the last village with a bar and reliable water. Then you cross the river Aljucén and a long stretch begins along the edge of the Parque Natural de Cornalvo: dehesa, scrub, wide tracks, the odd farmstead and not a single service in 17 kilometres.
In the final part the Roman road shows through in patches and the first milestones appear standing beside the way, almost two thousand years old. Alcuéscar stands high and is visible from far off; you come in up a slope to the village, which has what you need to sleep and eat and a pilgrim welcome of long standing.
Tips
Leave at dawn or before: this is eight or nine hours of walking and the second half has no shade.
In Aljucén fill every bottle and eat something; from there on there is nothing until Alcuéscar.
Stamp your departure in Mérida, a stamp along the way in Aljucén and your arrival in Alcuéscar; the parish or the hostel will do it gladly.
The milestones stand right beside the track in the last kilometres; keep your eyes open, because they are easy to walk past.
If the heat is fierce or you arrive tired, you can sleep in Aljucén and leave the long dehesa for the next day.
Where am I?
Your phone says where you are; the guide tells you how far is left and where the next water is.
Create the free account It is free and forever. An account is needed for the guide to place you. I already have an account
Your position is used to answer you and is not stored anywhere.
Walk with me
It crosses where you are with the time, the daylight left, the water, the beds and the notice board. Three things at most: the ones that actually change your afternoon.
Create the free account It is free and forever. An account is needed for the guide to place you. I already have an account
It checks GPS every 6 min while you keep it open. GPS drains the battery: if yours is low, switch it off.
Your position is used to answer you and is not stored anywhere.
Profile and services
The elevation for this stage has not been loaded yet.
The weather
14°C
Clear
- Feels like
- 14 °C
- Wind
- 1 km/h
- Daylight
- 08:32 – 19:49
- Today ⛅ 30° 14°
- Wed ⛅ 31° 15°
- Thu ⛅ 29° 16°
- Fri ⛅ 30° 17°
- Sat ⛅ 26° 18° 5 %
- Sun ⛅ 22° 13° 10 %
- Mon ⛈️ 23° 11° 10 %
Data from Open-Meteo, refreshed every half hour.
What's there today
Nobody has reported anything on this stage.
Tips from people who walked it
The things that do not expire: where the fountain actually is, which bar opens at six, where not to go in the rain.
None here yet. If you have just walked this stage, you know something tomorrow’s pilgrim does not.
Emergencies
Call 112112 is the same number in Spain, in Portugal and across the European Union. It works with no credit, with no SIM, and over any operator's network, not just yours.
Say where you are I am walking the Vía de la Plata, on the stage from Mérida to Alcuéscar.
- Farmacia Ignacio Ramírez Pharmacy km 0,0
- Lda. Alejandra Caballero Pharmacy km 0,0
- Farmacia 12 Horas Santana Morales Pharmacy km 0,4 +34 924 313 408
- Farmacias Apoteca Natura Pharmacy km 0,7
- Farmacia Carmen Amores Valverde Pharmacy km 1,5 +34924319205
- Pharmacy Pharmacy km 1,6
- Farmacia Calvo Blanco Pharmacy km 16,9
The map
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What to see on this stage 9
- Concatedral de Santa María la Mayor Church km 0,0
- Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen Church km 0,6
- Parroquia de Cristo Rey - El Calvario Church km 0,7
- S.tma Virgen de la Amargura Church km 0,7
- Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Rosario Church km 1,7
- Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Consolación Church km 14,2
- Iglesia de San Andrés Apóstol Church km 16,9
- Cruz San Juan Church km 31,1
- Casa de la Misericordia Church km 36,0