The Via de la Plata is one of Spain’s toughest pilgrim routes, weaving through a landscape of isolated steppes and fortress cities in the country’s least-known region

Scorching sunlight glinted through the windows as the bartender slid a frosted glass of Cruzcampo across the aluminium bar. “Ocho meses de invierno, cuatro de infierno,” he sighed with a nod towards the heat-shimmering lane outside. “Eight months of winter, four months of hell” is how the inhabitants of Extremadura describe their climate.

Your timing needs to be good if you’re planning a hike through the isolated steppes and forested hills that seem to form a barrier – a barely inhabited no man’s land – between Madrid and the Portuguese border. Spring bursts briefly here – a rainbow-coloured wedge of wildflowers driven between winter and summer.