This day isn’t about a single climb, but about the distance. The highest point stays low and the hills are short. Even so, you’ll feel them in your legs after a few hours. It’s mostly about holding your pace.
You walk for about seven hours through open, dry hill country, far from the bustle of the coast. Plenty of road and few distractions. The kind of day when your thoughts wander and your mouth stays quiet. Just step by step, until the landscape slowly opens up.
Then you see the Guadiana, broad and calm. You walk into Alcoutim, put your rucksack down close to the water and look across to the other side. That’s already Spain.