Andalusia

We have finished the Via Serrana, and if I had the time, I would just keep walking from Sevilla north on the very beautiful Via de la Plata. But I don’t have that luxury, so today was a day of train rides to get to Ponferrada, where the Camino Invierno begins.

The walk to the Sevilla train station, about 3 km, was very pleasant, taking us through the maze of streets in Santa Cruz. I could not have navigated it without Google maps.

First train — an Ave (fast train) to Madrid. 2.5 hours, 300 miles.

Then in Madrid we had to change train stations, from Atocha to Chamartín. In the not too distant future the two stations will be “one station with two stops,” so we won’t have to use the commuter rail system to transfer. Currently there is no high-speed rail connection between the two, which means that high-speed trains from the south have to stop in Atocha and high-speed trains from the north have to stop in Chamartin. Connecting them is a huge project, even though it’s only about 8 km. Current price tag is estimated at more than 500 million euros and many years of disruption in both stations.

But that’s not all that’s happening in that area. The project Madrid Nuevo Norte is my going to cover almost 6 km of tracks and make that entire area available for development. Another mind-boggling complicated and expensive project.

Two more train rides, and by 6:30 we were in Ponferrada. I got a cab to take me to Santo Tomás de Las Ollas, a 10 C church I’ve tried and failed to visit several times. This time I thought was going to be more of the same, because the Señora with the keys did not appear to be home. But a neighbor told me to just knock louder, and she did appear. Just a beautiful circle of horseshoe arches. From there I walked a few kms into town and am ready to start the Invierno tomorrow.

The weather forecast looks less than great, But we haven’t had to use our rain gear yet, so it seems only fair.Read more