Dove Step 3 – Day 3

Daily distance: 40.6km / 25.2mi 

Duration: 9.31hrs

Weather: 19 degrees at least, mad sunny, welcome north west 7mph breeze

Dove Step 3 bird list: 81 species

Best bird: White-headed Duck

Cumulative Dove Step 3 distance: 72.7 miles

Sir Rob offers today’s update – off you go Rob… 

Today was a longish day, with a lot of road miles, and as a result was hard in the feet. We started at Alcala, admiring the lesser kestrels briefly, and then struck north along a minor road through some well farmed countryside, serenaded by corn buntings. There’s very little traffic, and the scenery is appealing, so in places the kilometres fly by. This has to be countered against the general aches and pains, and today featured exploding blisters, chafing and squeezing under a barbed wire fence. 

We walked around the edge of a large reservoir, and managed to see at least one white-headed duck.
Along this same road was a roadkill Egyptian mongoose:

The final approach to our destination for the evening was quite spectacular. Arcos de la Frontera is a hill town perched on a cliff. Quite a climb at the end of a long day!