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Camino Via de la Plata 2022

April - June 2022
Walking from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela Read more
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  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 1

    Sevilla - Guillena 23 km

    April 30, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    After one aborted attempt to walk the Via de la Plata in 2018 and five years of planning, today I finally set off to begin that journey again, this blog is simply a record of that journey.

    The day did not start very well. I woke up having slept only a couple of hours, and headed off to the airport saying goodbye to Barbara, this trip would be the longest we have been apart in 35 years. I had arrived at the airport too early, and the Ryanair baggage drop was not yet open and so I had to wait nearly an hour before depositing my backpack. On a positive note I got through security in no time at all, and made my way to the departure gate, excited and a bit nervous too. The flight was only notable for the rude guy in the aisle opposite me who kept taking his mask off and the fact that the landing in Sevilla was the hardest landing I have ever experienced in over 40 years of flying, it was emergency stop level braking.

    Given the popularity of Sevilla as a holiday destination, the airport is surprisingly small, and despite many, many hours online trying to work out the Spanish entry requirements re: covid, no one even asked to see my digital covid vaccine passport. Another example of stressing over nothing.

    Once out of the airport, instead of spending a couple of days in the city, I got into a taxi to take me to Santiponce, about 10-12 km outside Sevilla and I put on my (too heavy) backpack (mochila) and started walking. I had walked the road from Sevilla to Santiponce before and apart from the fact that the walk is unremarkable, I wanted to reach Guillena and lacked the time to start from the city. From the comfort of my sofa at home this seemed like a good idea but turned out to be a colossal mistake (more on that later).

    It's only about 13 km from the gates of Italica in Santiponce to Guillena but I found it more difficult than I had expected, the heat was a shock to the system, and the path seemed to have more hills than I remembered from my ill-fated walk in 2018. When I got to the river it was impassable (by mid June it will have all but dried up) but the local Friends of the Camino had laid an iron girder across it, and that saved me having to double back on a longer detour.

    Not long after crossing the river I noticed a fitness tracker lying on the path, upon checking it I noted the number of steps and the distance and I guessed that it belonged to another peregrino, so I pocketed it in the hope they were probably heading to an albergue in Guillena.

    By the time I arrived in Guillena I was feeling quite wobbly, my legs were ok but the rest of me wasn't. I checked into the Albergue Luz del Camino, it was the first one listed in Gerard Kelly's guidebook. I wasn't too impressed. The showers were not great, the water was not particularly hot and the hook for the shower attachment was broken and so I had to hold the shower head (this would be a feature of many albergues still to come). Just as I was about to go into the shower I began to shiver uncontrollably and had to sit on the chair in the shower room for 15 mins before it passed. Afterwards I went for a lie down on my bunk.

    There was a restaurant just along the street and a number of pilgrims seemed to be eating there, so I went there for dinner. The owner of the restaurant did not speak any English at all, this would also be a feature of almost every village and town I would go through or stay in. Many of the Spanish people I met (mostly in albergues, shops, cafes and bars) seemed to speak some French and/or Italian but no English. So my first top tip for any would-be peregrino, is to learn the basics of Spanish, even if your grammar and pronunciation are terrible, the goal is communication and locals seem to appreciate it when you make the effort. I was very grateful for Google Translate and my friend Ken who had spent a lot of time and effort teaching me the basics of Spanish. I managed to reserve beds, order meals, and pay for rooms without accidentally asking anyone to marry me or sell me their horse.

    The food was excellent, and as the place filled up with more peregrinos I asked if anyone had lost a fitness tracker, and an older French lady very excitedly said yes, and sure enough it was hers. she was delighted to get it back.

    The room in the albergue was small with 3 sets of bunk beds, the heat in the room, with no fan or air con, was stifling, and to make things worse, it was right on the main road, I ought to have slept soundly as I was so tired but I was kept awake by the traffic roaring past the window ALL night.

    I was glad to leave in the morning, which I did quite early, while it was still dark, using my head-torch and Google Maps to guide me out of town, onto the camino towards Castilblanco de los Arroyos.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 2

    Guillena - Castilblanco 18km

    May 1, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    I was up reasonably early, it was still quite dark but as I followed Google Maps, I began to remember the way out of the town. Ken had given me some euros to buy a coffee at the Repsol station just about 1 km outside the town and I was pleased to see they they had expanded the café since I was last here. I was less pleased to see that it didn't open until 0900...coffee would have to wait.

    Although I was very tired I enjoyed the walk, and as the sun eventually rose I didn't really begin to feel the heat of it until about 1030 due the the ample shade along the path. I noticed that there were more official way markers than I remembered from last time, I guess the local authorities and Friends of the Camino have put their time to good use during the covid lockdowns. However, official way markers or not, my walk was about to become less enjoyable.

    It may have been because I was very tired but I somehow missed a way marker and went in the wrong direction, for about 3.5km, before I realised something was up. I checked Google Maps to confirm my suspicion and then walked back the 3.5km to the point I went wrong, looked more carefully and saw the way marker I had missed.

    By this time I should have been in the albergue in Castilblanco and the temperature had increased considerably, it was about 30° - 32°, but I still had about 8 km to go. After a while I began to feel quite sick and dizzy and I had to keep stopping for a rest. I was hugely relieved when I saw the sign for the town as I knew the albergue was not far beyond it. To be honest, I was so tired and feeling so sick that if it had been another 10 metres away, I don't think I would have made it.

    Lying on my bunk, my heart was racing, my head was spinning, I felt sick and slightly disoriented, my anxiety levels were high and I began to catastrophize about the walk in general and the next day's walk in particular (28 km on the road with no shade and no rest points along the way). I felt like I would have to quit the camino, I even began to look up flights home, but in a moment of self-awareness I realised that there was something else going on. So, while we still have an NHS, I used their online diagnostic tool to check things out before I made a bad decision. Once I put in all my symptoms it came back with a diagnosis of heat exhaustion, and gave treatment options, which I then followed. I realised I should have taken at least a day or two to acclimatise to the Spanish weather before starting the camino, lesson learned. After a few hours I began to feel much better and my thoughts became more rational. I was still concerned about the walk the next day, for, at that point, I still did not feel well enough to go the full distance, especially on the open road. I prayed for wisdom.

    Just at that very moment the lady in the bed next to mine suddenly turned to me and said that she and her husband were getting a taxi in the morning to the entrance to the National Park (16km away) and were going to walk that route to Almaden de la Plata, (her husband had plantar fasciitis). In a nanosecond a whole new scenario ran through my mind and so I immediately asked if I could join them as I was not feeling great and she said yes. I think that it was a decision that saved my camino experience, and more so, it began a friendship with two of the loveliest people I have ever met, Robert and Ana María. Robert was from Gibraltar and Ana María from Argentina and they were walking the camino to raise funds for GHITA (Gibraltar Hearing Issues and Tinnitus Association) You can donate here:
    https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/longwal…

    With plans for tomorrow settled, I went out to see if I could find dinner somewhere, but it was Sunday and everywhere was closed (typical in Spain between 1400 and 1730). I did however find a shop and managed to buy some bread and ham and some fruit for the next day.

    I ended up having a good night's sleep, undisturbed even by the multitude of snorers in the room.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 3

    Castilblanco - Almadén de la Plata 29km

    May 2, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Having had a good night's sleep I was up and ready well before the taxi came at 0730, most of the peregrinos had left by 0630, trying to get as far as possible before it got really hot. The temperatures here are more than 10 degrees above average for this time of year and we expect it to get a lot hotter over the next couple of weeks. The taxi arrived and before long we were sorting our backpacks at the gates of the park, having passed all the other peregrinos on the road.

    The walk through the park was tremendous, I felt a lot better, there was plenty of shade and a cool breeze and Robert and Ana María were delightful company. We walked at a leisurely pace and chatted and got to know a bit about one another, the views were stunning, and there was plenty of wildlife and fauna to capture our attention as we walked along. The path was smooth and relatively flat with only a few inclines. It was one of the most pleasant walks of my camino.

    It was as we got near the end I remembered why many people opt to walk the 28km on the road rather than detour through the park. Right at the end of the park, just before you come to Almadén de la Plata, there is a famously steep hill. I had forgotten about it. I always struggled when going uphill, finding it hard to breathe at times and with a pressure on my chest, I was not looking forward to this and indeed I was finding it very difficult to keep up with Ana María (73) and Robert (77). At roughly the halfway point there is a memorial stone to a peregrino who died on the hill a few years ago, all I could think as I struggled to keep going was that there would soon be a second memorial there with my name on it!

    I think Robert and Ana María could see I was struggling so we stopped for a rest, took our backpack off and had some water, and as we got going again they took a few moments to talk me through and show me how to walk up a steep incline. I followed their guidance and before I knew it we were at the top. I had made it. Every time I reached the top of a steep incline thereafter, I took a moment to quietly thank God for Robert and Ana María.

    The walk downhill was somewhat longer and just as steep but they talked me through how to walk downhill (zig zag) to reduce the pressure and strain on my knees and hips. So, we walked into Almadén together, they had booked a room at a private albergue the Hostal Casa Concha, and that sounded good to me, certainly better than a bunk bed in a dormitory. So, I went with them and managed to get a single room with by own toilet and shower, it was more expensive than the municipal albergue but totally worth it. I was able to relax and recuperate after a difficult start to my camino, and had a very filling and satisfying dinner with Robert and Ana María in the Hostal restaurant.

    I also discovered that I had a couple of very large blisters, probably due to the heat, my boots were well worn in but it was 20 degrees hotter than Scotland, they had burst and so I dressed them as best I could and went to bed. I had the best night's sleep on the camino so far, and I was actually looking forward the the walk the next day, even with blisters.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 4

    Almadén - El Real de la Jara 14km

    May 3, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    I had a great sleep and was only awakened once by a loud burst of thunder and heavy rain but it did not last long. After a quick breakfast of coffee, toast and jam with Robert and Ana María, we set off, on the way out of town we met Aurelio, a Spanish peregrino and he joined us for the day.

    As I had been exploring the Via de la Plata app on my phone I discovered that it had a copy of the author's GPS trace of the camino and that it identifies your position in relation to that. In short, it meant as long as I followed his GPS trace, I shouldn't get lost again (reader I never did). It added a lot of confidence in the weeks ahead especially when I was walking on my own, in fact a couple of times I was able to save other peregrinos from going the wrong way.

    The walk to El Real was as pleasant as I had hoped it would be, I remembered some of it from my 2-week walk in 2018, though some of it was new to me, either Ken and I had gone the wrong way (VERY possible) or the camino had shifted and to be fair that was also possible. Like the day before, the paths were mostly wide and level with a few inclines. The view was great and the conversation was also, that said by the last 5km, I was really beginning to feel those blisters and my right hip was very sore.

    El Real appears very suddenly, one minute you are walking along a wooded path and the next you are in the street, and so we all parted company in the middle of the town and went off to our various albergues. Robert and Ana María were in a private albergue as was I at the far end of town, Keiko, a Japanese lady from New York whom I had met in Castilblanco was also staying there, and over the next few weeks we would become friends and companions on the road.

    Aurelio stayed in the municipal, where he met and had a great conversation with a French couple whom I would eventually meet and who would be part of my camino for a number of weeks. On our walk I had shown Aurelio how to use Google Translate, especially the conversation feature, he knew a few words of English but otherwise spoke only Spanish. Google Translate opened up a whole new world for him and he was overjoyed at being able to converse, albeit slowly with people from other countries.

    We all met up with one another for an excellent dinner, then we all left to get on with whatever tasks we had to do for tomorrow. I did a little bit of shopping (fruit and earplugs), looked at the guidebook for tomorrow, though I remembered the road well, it was the walk to Monesterio that really finished my camino in 2018. So, I was feeling quite negative about it, but I remembered that it says in the Sermon on the Mount not to worry about tomorrow, for today has enough troubles of its own. I thought I should give that a go.

    As is so often the case in these small villages and towns there's nothing much to do in the evenings so I wrote in my journal, packed my mochila for the next day and went to bed.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 5

    El Real de la Jara - Monesterio 20km

    May 4, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    I slept well despite my room being very cold. As I left the albergue I was hoping that I would meet Aurelio and I had barely gone a few steps when I saw him walking down the street towards me and so we set off together. The first 10 km from El Real to Monesterio is wide and fairly flat, but you have to be careful crossing the concrete channels that cross it at regular intervals as they can be quite slippy with moss and algae, but apart from that it's just a good steady walk. At 10 km there is an excellent modern and very large motorway service station, it has toilets and shops and a good cafe with fruit sellers in the car park. It is a great place to stop and rest and have some refreshments.

    I was very glad to be with Aurelio because he had an electronic device that is the modern equivalent of a dog whistle. Dogs can be a problem on the camino, at least one guide book advises taking a walking stick with which to defend yourself or scare them off. As we were walking along two large and aggressive dogs, protecting the livestock, started barking and growling at us, one got out through a gap in the fence and came for us and I have no doubt that had it reached us we would have been in a very difficult situation, but Aurelio pointed the anti-dog device at it and the second he pushed the button the dog turned away back to the field. As soon as I get back home to Scotland I am buying one of those - dog walkers near where I live are not good at keeping dogs on a lead and they always say "he won't bite, he's just being friendly" as their dog comes bounding towards you growling with teeth bared ready to eat you alive in a friendly sort of way..

    After a very brief stop (Aurelio says the longer you stop the harder it is to restart) we set off once again. The path from the service station is a mixture of narrow woodland paths and tarmac to wide gravel paths, and the last few km are mostly uphill in a series of rolling hills that get ever steeper. Once again I found myself struggling after a while, so Aurelio stopped me to say I was using my walking pole incorrectly and he took 10 mins to show me how to use it to help with the inclines and once he was satisfied I was using it correctly we set off and it really helped. As with the hill at Almadén, we were over the final hill in no time, and entered the outskirts of the town, passing the Museum of Jamón (yes that's a thing in Spain).

    Aurelio wanted to go to the municipal albergue but the VDLP guidebook and Telegram channel both said that it was closed so I persuaded him to come with me to the Parish Albergue. He was glad he decided to come because the Parish Albergue is very good, it is donativo (donation) but better than many that charge 15€. The rooms are very clean, the bunk beds are well spaced out, the bathrooms are fab - great shower - it has a centrifuge to spin your clothes, a balcony to hang your washing out and where you can sit in the sun, as well as a fully stocked fridge and kitchen with basic foodstuffs that you can use for free or if you want to you can give a donation.

    On the walk from the motorway service station in the middle of nowhere really, nailed to a tree, there was an advert for a podiatrist in Monesterio. It turned out they were only 100 metres from the albergue, so once I had done all I needed to in the albergue I went along to see if I could get an appointment. The podiatrist was in his mid 20's spoke a little English, and with my basic Spanish we were able to communicate. He sorted my blisters and told me not to walk for a few days...ehhh no that wasn't going to happen. So he very kindly made up a blister care package for me and explained what I needed to do each day, all for 20€ and following his instructions my blisters were totally healed within 4 days and I never had any more thereafter. The downside of going to the podiatrist was that I missed the afternoon meal and was too tired to go out for the evening menu, so I used some of the food at the albergue and made some sandwiches, Aurelio had bought some fruit and some magdalene cakes for us for breakfast.

    With nothing more to do I looked at the guidebook for the next day and noted that the albergue in Fuente de Cantos (21km) was closed and having tried to book a bed in some private albergues I discovered that they were all full. Our only option was to walk a further 7km to Calzadilla de los Barros, it would be the furthest I had walked so far on the camino and the predicted temperature was in the high 30's so I was really not sure about it. Aurelio, said I was not to worry, he said he believed that I could do it and he would help me. So, we agreed to meet Keiko in the morning and set off very early whilst it was still dark, and with that, it was time for bed.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 6

    Monesterio - Calzadilla 28km

    May 5, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Aurelio, Keiko, and I set off together in the darkness, the path was clearly marked and although my feet were sore, we made good time in the cool of the early morning, it was like the start of a good joke; a Scotsman, a Spaniard and a Japanese woman went for a walk...

    Keiko is 70 and has lived in New York for many years but spends a lot of time doing walks all over the world, she was not a fast walker but Aurelio and I were happy to keep her company, she was funny and asked us lots of questions. As the sun began to climb Keiko insisted that we press on and leave her, she was happy to walk at her own pace and so we said our goodbyes and Aurelio and I sped up to our own natural pace. It was just as well we did for the camino path seemed to go on forever, we could see it winding its way across the countryside for many km. After a couple of hours the heat really began to build up and there was no shade. Aurelio was true to his word that he would help me on the walk, making sure that we stopped regularly for a short rest and some water and snacks, and every so often as I walked behind him he would say "Norman OK?" to which I always said "Si, bueno" even though at times I didn't feel very bueno. Some of the hills we had to climb were not very steep but they were very long and just seemed to go on and on. However, after about 4.5 hours we found ourselves in Fuente de Cantos, where we stopped for an ice cold cerveza and coffee and a cake.

    Aurelio doesn't like stopping for too long so we pressed on. The last 7 km was really hard going, there was no shade and the heat was brutal and seemed to bounce off the path back at us. My mochilla felt heavier with every step, but Aurelio wouldn't let us take it easy he kept us pressing on, because the best way to get out of the heat and rest was to reach our destination. It is one of the key aspects of the camino, that there is often nothing between point A and point B and no matter how difficult it is you have to just keep going putting one foot in front of the other until you get there. We could see our destination in the distance, but it didn't seem to be getting any closer as the path wound its way across the landscape, until suddenly we were there. We had left Monesterio just before 7am and arrived in Calzadilla de los Barros at 1pm.

    The place we were staying, the Hostal Los Rodreguez, was on the far side of the town but the camino went right past the door so it was going to be a quick start the next day. It was more of a motel than an albergue and cost 15€ (average price for an albergue in Extremadura) but absolutely not worth it. Aurelio and I shared a room, it had the smallest bathroom ever, but the shower was ok, and there was a hole in the door that looked like it had been kicked in. The food was ok but not great, and the staff were quite unfriendly, it was noticeable because up until that point everyone we had met had been very friendly and helpful.

    I was very relieved when Keiko arrived a few hours later, I was worried about her walking on her own but she is independent, tough and there's no stopping her. I have been constantly challenged by the resilience and stamina of the people I have met, many of whom are a lot older than me. I suspect there is a connection with their obvious physical and mental well being and the fact that they are all either training to walk a camino or walking one. It is worth reflecting on.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 7

    Calzadilla de los Barros- Zafra 18km

    May 6, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    The good thing about not getting a room in Fuente de Cantos was that we were about 7 km closer to Zafra, our next stopping point. Aurelio and I left very early, it was pitch dark but we knew that the first 3 km was all on the main road so we were not too worried about missing a sign. Ironically we would miss one in daylight. We saw the sign taking us off the road and followed it for a while...until we came to a dead end, when we retraced our steps about 2 km we found that there was a yellow arrow painted on a rock but it was obscured by long grass. We trampled down the grass so no one else would make the same mistake, and we set off again. Our mistake has cost us nearly an hour, having added 4km onto our day.

    Despite our unintended detour, we had a good walk, the path was mostly flat with a few long but gentle slopes and so we made good time. However, I was glad to see Puebla de Sancho Perez just a short distance ahead and we stopped there for a quick coffee in the main plaza before continuing on towards Zafra just about 4.5 km away.

    I had planned to stay at the Albergue Convento San Francisco in Zafra but Aurelio was going on another 4 km to Los Santos de Maimona, so we would be saying goodbye in Zafra. Aurelio had been a true companion and friend on the camino and I felt that I was going to miss his company. I will certainly never forget him and the help he gave me along the way. It is said that on the camino you will find help and friendship, often unlooked for, and I found that to be true.

    The albergue was in a former convent and was a lovely building on the far side of Zafra (less to walk tomorrow), and the hospitalera was really nice and helpful, but the albergue itself was lacking in some key areas. I was in a large room with two sets of bunk beds and a shower room, there was also a unit of lockers. However, the door to the shower didn't close, the lockers didn't lock, and the heavy wooden shutters on the long window didn't close properly either - I had to wedge them shut with my mochila. Furthermore, there were two gents and two ladies toilets and a disabled toilet but both the gents toilets and one of the ladies toilets were out of order, so not great. If I had not already paid my 15€ I would have packed up and gone on to Los Santos with Aurelio (apparently Keiko went there also).

    I went out to the shops before siesta, there was a SPAR just around the corner, and I got all the supplies I needed for the next day. Just across the street from the SPAR was a restaurant that the hospitalera had recommended so I went over, ordered a cerveza and was looking at the menu del dia when Robert and Ana María arrived and they joined me for a late lunch. The food was good and the conversation and company were excellent.

    I thought about wandering round Zafra, it's a lovely place, but I had seen it before and I was tired and needed to attend to my blisters which were healing nicely. when I got back to the albergue I discovered that I had a roommate, a Korean man (who looked a lot older than me but turned out to be 5 years younger. He only spoke Korean but used Google Translate as best he could. I was very surprised to find later that he had gone out for dinner but had left his tablet/touchscreen laptop and mobile phone on his bedside table. Crime is not a major issue on the Via de la Plata but peregrinos are advised to use common sense and be security aware, especially with any valuables.

    When he went to sleep he lay on top of his bunk fully clothed, with his hands clasped on his chest like a corpse in a funeral home. He also made the loudest noise I have ever heard come from a human being, snoring does not do it justice, it was epic. He would "snore" for a few minutes then stop for a few minutes then start again. It went on and on. As I lay there trying to sleep I found myself getting annoyed (I am normally not easily annoyed). I actually shouted at him to turn over, no response. I turned on the lights and shouted louder, no response. I went over to him and banged on the side of his bed and loudly told him to turn over, no response. I went back to bed expecting to be awake all night, annoyed at the prospect of doing a 20 km walk the next day with little or no sleep.

    As I lay in bed thinking about it, I suddenly realised that the greatest danger to me was not to walk 20 km with little or no sleep, rather, my greatest danger was to hold anger in my heart towards another human being made in the image of God and loved by him. That anger would change me and damage me more. Anger, leads to un-forgiveness, which leads to bitterness, which leads to the dark side. So, I prayed for a change of heart, and after a few moments I was calm and my blood pressure was normal again and I accepted the fact that I was probably going to be awake all night...and that's all I remember, because the Korean man stopped making his epic noise and I fell asleep within minutes.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    2
    Day 8

    Zafra - Villafranca de los Barros 20km

    May 7, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After a surprisingly good sleep I got up and had breakfast (yoghurt and banana) and set off about 0630, it was still dark though dawn was getting earlier, but I remembered the way out of Zafra and it was very clearly marked. So, I wasn't worried about getting lost, and thus far the VDLP app GPS had been accurate, that said I was always thankful when I saw a yellow arrow or official way marker.

    I reached the top of the hill above Los Santos just as the sun was rising over the horizon. The walk to Villafranca was uneventful, part of the path was a bit flooded and muddy but other than that it was a nice walk, I met Keiko navigating the flooded bits, she had left Los Santos early, and also the Korean man whom I discovered had not one but two packs, one on his back and one in front. he also wore a white cotton thing that covered most of his face and neck, all you could see was his eyes, it looked strange. He walked quickly with his large mobile phone held out in front of him, he also was using a GPS trace to keep on the right path.

    I had hoped to stop for a coffee at a village midway but it turned out to be a detour off the camino so I just kept going. I arrived in Villafranca around 11am to find that the albergue didn't open until 1pm, however the friendly hospitalero let me pick a bed and leave my mochila. I went out to a cafe in the plaza mayor and had coffee and a snack and then went to a supermarket for fresh supplies before they closed for siesta. I ended up buying some rolls and cooked meat and I had that for dinner later in the day.

    The albergue is very nice, clean and modern and everything works, good showers too. Once I registered at the albergue I sorted my washing out, they had a washing machine and for a few euros the hospitalero would do your washing. Keiko and I put ours in a basket as we were together on the top floor. When I went to get it back he had lost the bottom half of my cut off trousers, it took him about 30 mins to find them, but it was good to get stuff washed in a machine. Normally you have to wash your clothes in a designated sink in cold water with a bar of soap...not great for technical fabrics. Not even Rohan gear can survive that for too long.

    Villafranca is a nice town, but there's not much for a visitor to do and by 1400 everything is closed, except for a couple fo cafes. The church in the square was busy, it looked like there were a number of kids having their first communion/confirmation today, their families all dressed up in their Sunday best.

    Back at the albergue I packed my bag for the next day, the walk tomorrow is a bit of a concern, it is 28 km with very long very straight sections following the old Roman road, but there is zero shade and the temperature is expected to be around 34° by mid-morning. Keiko was a bit worried about the heat and wanted to leave at 0500 and I couldn't let her go that early in the dark on her own so I agreed to go with her. So, I packed my bag and went to bed early.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 9

    Villafranca- Torremejía 28km

    May 8, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    We set off as planned and made very good time, once we were out of the town we had to use our head torches.

    Unfortunately, my hat fell off my mochila, of course I didn't discover it until I actually needed to wear it once the sun was up. It was a real problem because the heat was absolutely brutal and there was zero shade for the entire walk. I ended up putting my shemagh over my head and using my head torch to keep it in place, it looked quite ridiculous but it worked. I prayed that someone would find my hat because I would not have an opportunity to buy another one until we got to Mérida.

    Once it was properly daylight Keiko insisted that I walk ahead at my own pace, so we said goodbye, I knew that there were plenty of peregrinos behind us, and I was expecting her to arrive at the albergue in Torremejía, if she didn't turn up by a certain time, I would go look for her.

    The walk was very tedious, long straight paths in a flat featureless landscape, you could walk for a couple of hours and feel like you hadn't gone anywhere and the heat was absolutely fierce, there was nowhere to escape it on that path and the only place to sit was in a ditch or on one of the official way marker stones. I was sitting on one of them when a Spanish cyclist came hurtling by, stopped and came back to where I was to ask me if I was ok, which was nice. In my experience most Spanish people I met really respected the fact that you were walking a camino and they wanted you to be safe and enjoy the experience.

    I was very tired and glad to finally get to the outskirts of the town, the albergue I wanted to stay in was on the far side of course, and when I arrived it was closed so I called the number on the door but there was no answer. I went across the street to the café/bar and had coffee and a snack, and they said that they thought it was going to be closed all day. Knowing that there were a lot of peregrinos behind me I hurried up to the other albergue whilst there were still beds available. I got booked in and I'm glad I did, it was very nice and the hospitalero was friendly (Liverpool supporter), and the showers were great. By mid afternoon the albergue was full. It turned out he also owned the cafe bar and had a deal for the albergue and a meal. Once I had picked my bed and sorted all my stuff I went back to the café/bar for more coffee.

    Just then Robert and Ana María arrived and asked me if I had lost something...they had been walking along in the darkness when the light of Robert's torch picked out my hat lying on the path and Ana María said "that's Norman's hat!" If they had been walking a foot either side on what was a wide path, they would never have seen it. Some people might say that was a coincidence but for me it was a camino miracle. In my experience most miracles are to be found in the small, ordinary things of life, we don't often see them because we are looking in the wrong place for the wrong thing, looking for something less ordinary. Once again, as would so often be the case on the camino, I went to bed thankful.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    1
    Day 10

    Torremejía - Mérida 16km

    May 9, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Even though it was a short walk today (15km) I got up early simply because I was awake and I've never been good at just lying in bed, I like to get up and get on with things. I had paid for breakfast so I went down to the café and had my usual breakfast: café con leche caliente grande, tostada con mantichilla y marmalada (that's not marmalade - I'm allergic to oranges, marmalada is the Spanish word for jam). Before long other peregrinos arrived, and because it was a short walk today I took my time, had more coffee and stayed and chatted with some folks. Then, as if by some silent, secret signal, a whole bunch of us got up at the same time and set off together.

    From Torremejía the camino follows the road for about 7 km before heading off into the countryside, again the path was fairly level and well marked, it was hot but a bit cloudy so we didn't have to cope with baking sunlight. The six of us were from Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand and the conversation flowed as we walked. It was unusual for me, because for the most part I had either walked on my own or with people who preferred to walk rather than talk.

    It felt like we had only just got into our stride when we arrived at the great Roman bridge in Mérida, 1800 years old and still in use today, although it was closed to motor traffic a few years ago.

    The albergue was exactly as I remembered it, but I had to wait an hour before it opened which was fine, I just pulled up a chair on the terrace, took off my boots and sat in the sun - the hard life of a peregrino. The albergue is pretty standard, a dormitory with 10 sets of bunk beds in a row, a shower/toilet for the chicos and one for the chicas, and a small kitchen with no utensils or pots and a sink for washing clothes with no plug, fortunately, I had remembered to bring my own plug and a few clothes pegs.

    I followed my usual routine, got showered, washed my clothes went to a supermarket. I walked around the town for a while and took a few photographs but I was here for 2 days in 2018 so I didn't feel the need to explore too much. By the time I was hungry a lot of the restaurants had closed and the ones that were open didn't have a menu del dia. However, thanks to Google I found a Domino's Pizza just 2km walk away, I was the only sit-in customer and the pizza was great.

    I had an early night, listening to some music and reading, then it was lights out ready for the next day.    Read more

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