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August 15th 2008

Published: August 30th 2008

Me Too

Camino Routes

Where to now?

Get the map out... and the blister packs

Our first go at the camino was so enjoyable we have decided to do it again...

Are you mad!

Actually the delay in going back has not so much been about why we would do it again, but which route.

Should we go:

Camino Francés

reterno

Camino Norte

Camino Aragonés

Vía de la Plata

Vía Egnatia

And the winner is...

After much debate we chose the Vía de la Plata (also known as the Camino Mozárabe) is the longest of the pilgrim routes in Spain, the way marked route starts from Seville and ends in Santiago. But we spent a long time arguing over where to start and finish.

Via de la Plata

Our preference would have been to start at the sea either Huelva or Cãdiz and finish at Finisterre in a kind of Coast to Coast... its a kiwi thing... but would add another 400 kms... hmmm would Hel loose more toe nails?

There are two theories of the origin of the name of the Vía de la Plata:

bal’latta

Either way the route is known of its sections of old paved road and Roman bridges, and Roman ruins. Christians adopted the route in the twelfth century as one of their pilgrimages to Santiago and most start at Seville. However there is also an alternative route that runs from Granada via Córdoba to Mérida. While much of the Moorish influences have been removed you can still see evidence of it in some of the old buildings (such as the Arab fort in Mérida, cistern in Cáceres, and the

7 Hills

origins of the Salamanca University).

The route essentially has three layers of historical interest, Roman, Moorish and Christian.

A big factor in choosing this route for us is that is still pretty isolated, for example in 2004 there were only 5000 pilgrims on the Vía de la Plata (compared to nearly 180,000 on the Camino Francés). Even though the numbers on the route have more then doubled since then, it’s nothing like the crush of walkers on the Camino Francés.

In the end we couldn’t find a route up from Huelva or preferred starting point (and didn’t fancy starting the route by walking along the verge of very busy highways), so we chose to start in Seville and go on to the end of the world in Finisterre. Along the way we walked through Andalucía, Extremadura and Castille y León to and of course Galicia. The route basically runs northwards parallel to the Portuguese border.

Having selected our route, the next step was training and shopping...

Training

While time is often the biggest factor people worry about on long distance walking, the other factor worth taking to account is that despite its relatively good network of albergues or more basic refugios, many are placed at

View from the Top

Mt Eden (Maungawhau)

30km intervals. So you need to be fit and carry enough water as the route is pretty isolated, as it skirts around most towns rather then going through them.

In preparation for leaving we've been walking around the volcanic cones of Auckland (up to 7 at a go):

We've also been using the coast to coast across the isthmus . From downtown Waitemata Harbour and the Pacific Ocean on one side, across to the Manukau Harbour and Tasman Sea. It is pretty damn good as well... but the downside is if we start from home and walk around we end up doing it twice (over 35kms)...

¿Hmm seven hills or coast to coast today?

Spike really enjoys it and has rediscovered his waist... (Hel is jealous). Feet are holding up well and we're experimenting with a range of light weight foot wear and foot creams. In response to popular requests (okay demands) this blog will remain a bare foot foto free zone.

Training has been somewhat abridged lately as the weather is

Coast to Coast

truly appalling and we've suffered from bad flu - that’s what you get walking in Auckland's topical down pour I suppose.

We learnt out lessons from the last camino - this time it should be even better - (its like childbirth you forget the horror after a while).

This time we know that we can do it. This time we know we have plenty of time to take it slow and stop and see places we travel through. This time we are not we are not going to punish ourselves or walk over 40km a day.

¡This time no-one gets left behind!

Gear & Guides

While we still had the equipment we used on the Camino Francés, we had learned the hard way that long distance walking in Europe is very different from the all seasons bring everything demands of kiwi tramping. We therefore invested in ultra low weight packs and kit (no hauling 20+kg over the Pyrenees again thank you very much).

Extensive footwear trials in the heat of an NZ summer meant we were sure they could cope with the torment of Extremadura - no boots this time to give us blisters and shin splints. Comfortable trekking

One dog assist

shoes with sandals are the order of the day.

The advice we gave at the start of our Camino Francés blog is probably work looking at if you are interested in looking at what to take.

The biggest thing to plan for is time - the guide books recommend you should set aside 6 to 7 weeks for the route from Seville to Santiago. Many people time commitment difficult, but you really do need to set a good amount of time aside for the route. Yes you can do it in stages (or skip between sections on the bus), but really that misses the point. The real value of the camino to us is dropping out of the worries of the world and just putting one foot in front and thinking about nothing else is a real luxury.

Speaking of luxury, its worth including a provision for a few extras on the trip. While we planned on staying in albergues for most of the trip, Hel had marked all the places on the route that had paradors and this time we planned on stopping in on a few to try our luck - it is a holiday

Footwear Trials

after all and many of these places were originally set up as pilgrim hospitals.

When we did our first camino in 2004 we found that most albergue cost around 3-5euro a head. This time indications are that for a lot of the route its either basic refugio which tend to work on a donation basis or albergue turistico which take in pilgrims and tourist at around 15 to 20 euro per night per person (pilgrims get a discount). Private fonda can charge anywhere from 30 euros upwards and basic hotels if you have to resort to them cost around 50 euro for a room for two. In Galicia the price of albergues drop to 3 euro per person, partly due to the provinces experience with pilgrims on the Camino Francés. Pilgrim meals are usually around 10 to 15 euro so per head so - expect to spend at least 40 euro a day per person, less if you cook for yourself and stick to vino tinto which is cheaper the cervessa.

While a small cold cervessa can cost you 1 euro at a bar, a 1 litre bottle will cost you 1 euro from the ultramarinos - but it will be warm.

In our trips to Spain we have noticed that prices have steadily increased with the euro and tend to be heading towards the higher prices

Path finder

Pity he's not coming with us

of France and Italy, which is a pain if you are travelling on the kiwi peso.

While there are some great up to date French and German guide books with detailed maps and a good size for your pocket or your pack, unfortunately these are not published in English. Our lack of Spanish is only exceeded by our appalling French and German (come to think of it our mastery of Greek, Italian, Portuguese and/or Turkish has never got past ordering coffee or beer - not that that has ever stopped us going anywhere, international sign language works pretty well most places).

As native English speakers / readers we where reduced to carrying the often impenetrable and often inaccurate Cicerone Guide written by the religiously obsessed Alison Raju. We used her guide on the Camino Francés and found it overly detailed but often inaccurate. The updated edition of the Vía de la Plata we brought was published in 2005 which means the data was gathered in 2000 and last updated in 2004.

The other English guide we found was “Walking the Via de la Plata” by Ben Cole and Bethan Davies. Its more straight forward with diagrammatic maps

Mt Eden from Three Kings

and less mystical waffle. A larger format then the Raju book, without photos, but in may ways a better guide book.

Still all reports are that the route is well marked and you can just follow the fetcha (arrow), a trusty splash of yellow paint that indicated you were on your way. In preparation for the trip Hel created a concertina map that folded up in a leather note book that gave a pretty good indication of the towns and roads we should head to (or around).

After time, fitness (and of course finance) the other factor to take into account is timing… we chose to go in European autumn to miss the worst of the heat we expected to find in Extremadura and yet still arrive in time to beat the winter rains in Galicia.

If you are interested in this route (or the other caminos) visit: