Ategua to Espejo to Castro del Rio – 15 miles![](https://i0.wp.com/www.travelingdiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/renderedcontent-0f431de5-d9fb-42a6-80fd-9dc65496eb88-1.jpg?resize=840%2C630)
Leaving Ategua we passed hillside ruins of a Roman mine and descended into the valley.
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Corralled sheep
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Soon after passing the sheep we saw this ewe with a newborn. We told a man pruning olives and he seemed quite amused but did say he’d let the shepherd know.
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Rain threatened and we walked towards palm trees and a small river.
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Forging the happily shallow water; it was very cold.
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Climbing into the hills.
![We lunched under an olive tree. Olives are ripe and being harvested.](https://i0.wp.com/www.travelingdiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/renderedcontent-8dadd2b8-bcda-4445-9615-f53a64566e77.jpg?resize=840%2C630)
We lunched under an olive tree. Olives are ripe and being harvested.
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To harvest nets are laid down then machines shake the trees. The olives are then emptied into a truck.
![The town of Espejo can be seen for miles.](https://i0.wp.com/www.travelingdiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/renderedcontent-aeeb2e86-bc3e-4d37-884d-0ca5dd99cb4d.jpg?resize=840%2C630)
The town of Espejo can be seen for miles.
![This was a border town between Moorish and Christian Spain.](https://i0.wp.com/www.travelingdiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/renderedcontent-e8c1bbb6-82fe-4413-864f-368e3a08f3d8.jpg?resize=840%2C630)
This was a border town between Moorish and Christian Spain. As with many of these towns the castle was for protection.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.travelingdiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/renderedcontent-4e954a84-5c98-4512-8e6d-828fb7ddca96.jpg?resize=840%2C630)
Renovated Roman cistern. The Romans grew olives and put in extensive canal and cistern systems.
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On to Castro Del Rio!