2010 Via de la Plata – Stage 2
Hi
all,
Finally found an internet cafe.
Well, we spent a lovely week in beautiful Somerset culminating in my Dad`s 90th birthday party at which I met relatives I haven´t seen for 30 years. Then it was Eurostar train to Paris for a Pizza and a quick flip atound Notre Dame cathedral then the night sleeper to Madrid where we spent a couple of days eating and walking our bums off. Then train to Seville for more of the same, Mel´s sister joined us here and they went off to Cadiz to lollygag around a pool guzzling Pina Coladas and I went off to start my walk which went as follows:
Sun 26/09 Zafra to just past Villafranca de Los Barros 25 kms (Total 25kms) Caught bus from Seville to Zafra (about 150kms North) which is where I finished walking last year, and started walking at about 11:45am. Very hot day and acre after acre of vineyards and olive groves, stopped for a beer in Villafranca where a local asked me where I was from, when I told himAustralia he
asked me if that was part of France Spain
Mon 27/09 to Torremejia 26kms (Total 51kms) Woke at 7am, still dark but moonlit, 2 huge noisy vehicles with flashing orange lights on top come along track and stop right beside me on other side of bamboo, they pull off onto other side of track, switch off engines and then the sound of many voices, I risk a peep and see about 12 guys all standing around a huge fire that they´ve lit. What´s this? Police? Drug deal going down? satanic rituals??? It´s getting light so I get dressed, zip up the tent with all my stuff inside it and drag the lot about 200m down the track under cover of the grapevines. As I frantically pack up, it gets light and I see that the guys have put the fire out and are busy picking grapes! Farm labourers so I needn´t have moved at all! Bugger! Set off down the road, more vineyards and olive groves, 32 deg and the white dusty track stretches out dead straight as far as the eye can see. Finally arrive at Torremejia at 1:30pm just in time to get to the shop before it closes for siesta and buy lots of liquids! Have a look around town later but it´s dead and lots of places closed, must be a Monday thing. Have got a 6-bunk room in a hostel all to myself so spend evening there with salami rolls and bottle of wine.
Tues 28/09 to Embalse de Proserpina 33kms (Total 84kms) Under way at 8.30am and meet first pilgrim. a middle-aged French woman, have a reasonable chat in my sparse French and then leave her behind. Still grapes and olives around but opening up a bit with cornfields, arrived at Merida at about 12:30pm, found hostel and got street map, decided not to stay in Merida as it was still early so had a walk around, looked at all the Roman bridges and acueducts and bought some food for later. Left at 3.00pm, all the cafes and restaurants were completely empty so they must take their siestas pretty seriously here, unusual for a tourist city. Arrived at Embalse (reservoir) after very hot 7km walk on tarmac and followed a sign which I thought directed me to walk anti-clockwise around the huge lake, 2 hours later I was still walking around it. Camped out at pretty picnic spot at water´s edge lulled to sleep by the sound of ducks and frogs.
Wed 29/09 to Alcuescar 33kms (Total 117kms) Set off at 8.45, Mel rang, she and Theresa are due to catch a flight from Seville to London today but Spain has decided to have a national strike and Ryanair is unable to fly until maybe Saturday. Somehow(!!!!!) the national airline is unaffected by strike and Mel and Sis have to pay €240 each to fly out with AirIberia
Carried on walking around reservoir until I finally found the road I was looking for and saw that I was nearly back to where I´d started around the water-damn!-should have gone clockwise and saved myself 2 hours walking. After long hot slog thru scenery not unlike Oz outback or South Africa Karoo arrived at Alcuescar where pilgrim hostel is in a monastery with lodging and dinner free! (You make a donation). About 10 of us around the dinner table, all Spanish cyclists except for 2 German girls, have a good chat to a Spanish cyclist and managed to understand most of it. Got a double room with a sink to myself - Yay! Huge Crucifix on wall over bed makes me feel very self-conscious, especially when taking a pee in sink. (I didn´t really.....honest....)
Thurs 30/09 To Valdesalor 28kms (145kms) Away at 9:07am, pass Judith, one of the German girls and have a chat, later on pass the other one, stop at Aldea del Cano for a Tortilla Francesa (Omelette on a bread roll) and a beer. As I leave Judith walks in, she´s going to stay her for the night as she has a problem with her Achilles tendons. I push on for another hot 12kms on a track running mostly beside the main road and get into Valdesalor at 3.45pm, meet some English people with campervans who tell me that they´d picked up the keys to the local hostel from the council offices but had decided not to stay and had just dropped the keys back into the locked council postbox (bloody cheek-campervanners staying in pilgrim hostels!!) Went to council office to get key but office closed until 6pm, just for fun lifted flap on postbox and keys were just resting on top, they hadn´t fallen thru the slot properly-Yay! So the campervanners did a good thing in the end! Hostel was for free and turned out to be the changing rooms at the local football pitch and once again I had the whole place to myself. Found a bottle of floor-cleaning fluid and decided to use it to wash my increasingly filthy clothing, didn´t help much but my entire sparse wardrobe now has the fragrance of a pine forest!! Valdesalor is a half a horse town constructed in 1963 and of no interest whatsoever, the only place to eat was at an overpriced restaurant at the local petrol station. So I found a tiny, completely useless shop and bought a big bag of crisps and a bottle of beer and retired to my sporting venue and amused myself by trying to take self-portraits with my camera
Finally found an internet cafe.
Well, we spent a lovely week in beautiful Somerset culminating in my Dad`s 90th birthday party at which I met relatives I haven´t seen for 30 years. Then it was Eurostar train to Paris for a Pizza and a quick flip atound Notre Dame cathedral then the night sleeper to Madrid where we spent a couple of days eating and walking our bums off. Then train to Seville for more of the same, Mel´s sister joined us here and they went off to Cadiz to lollygag around a pool guzzling Pina Coladas and I went off to start my walk which went as follows:
Sun 26/09 Zafra to just past Villafranca de Los Barros 25 kms (Total 25kms) Caught bus from Seville to Zafra (about 150kms North) which is where I finished walking last year, and started walking at about 11:45am. Very hot day and acre after acre of vineyards and olive groves, stopped for a beer in Villafranca where a local asked me where I was from, when I told him
Mon 27/09 to Torremejia 26kms (Total 51kms) Woke at 7am, still dark but moonlit, 2 huge noisy vehicles with flashing orange lights on top come along track and stop right beside me on other side of bamboo, they pull off onto other side of track, switch off engines and then the sound of many voices, I risk a peep and see about 12 guys all standing around a huge fire that they´ve lit. What´s this? Police? Drug deal going down? satanic rituals??? It´s getting light so I get dressed, zip up the tent with all my stuff inside it and drag the lot about 200m down the track under cover of the grapevines. As I frantically pack up, it gets light and I see that the guys have put the fire out and are busy picking grapes! Farm labourers so I needn´t have moved at all! Bugger! Set off down the road, more vineyards and olive groves, 32 deg and the white dusty track stretches out dead straight as far as the eye can see. Finally arrive at Torremejia at 1:30pm just in time to get to the shop before it closes for siesta and buy lots of liquids! Have a look around town later but it´s dead and lots of places closed, must be a Monday thing. Have got a 6-bunk room in a hostel all to myself so spend evening there with salami rolls and bottle of wine.
Tues 28/09 to Embalse de Proserpina 33kms (Total 84kms) Under way at 8.30am and meet first pilgrim. a middle-aged French woman, have a reasonable chat in my sparse French and then leave her behind. Still grapes and olives around but opening up a bit with cornfields, arrived at Merida at about 12:30pm, found hostel and got street map, decided not to stay in Merida as it was still early so had a walk around, looked at all the Roman bridges and acueducts and bought some food for later. Left at 3.00pm, all the cafes and restaurants were completely empty so they must take their siestas pretty seriously here, unusual for a tourist city. Arrived at Embalse (reservoir) after very hot 7km walk on tarmac and followed a sign which I thought directed me to walk anti-clockwise around the huge lake, 2 hours later I was still walking around it. Camped out at pretty picnic spot at water´s edge lulled to sleep by the sound of ducks and frogs.
Wed 29/09 to Alcuescar 33kms (Total 117kms) Set off at 8.45, Mel rang, she and Theresa are due to catch a flight from Seville to London today but Spain has decided to have a national strike and Ryanair is unable to fly until maybe Saturday. Somehow(!!!!!) the national airline is unaffected by strike and Mel and Sis have to pay €240 each to fly out with Air
Carried on walking around reservoir until I finally found the road I was looking for and saw that I was nearly back to where I´d started around the water-damn!-should have gone clockwise and saved myself 2 hours walking. After long hot slog thru scenery not unlike Oz outback or South Africa Karoo arrived at Alcuescar where pilgrim hostel is in a monastery with lodging and dinner free! (You make a donation). About 10 of us around the dinner table, all Spanish cyclists except for 2 German girls, have a good chat to a Spanish cyclist and managed to understand most of it. Got a double room with a sink to myself - Yay! Huge Crucifix on wall over bed makes me feel very self-conscious, especially when taking a pee in sink. (I didn´t really.....honest....)
Thurs 30/09 To Valdesalor 28kms (145kms) Away at 9:07am, pass Judith, one of the German girls and have a chat, later on pass the other one, stop at Aldea del Cano for a Tortilla Francesa (Omelette on a bread roll) and a beer. As I leave Judith walks in, she´s going to stay her for the night as she has a problem with her Achilles tendons. I push on for another hot 12kms on a track running mostly beside the main road and get into Valdesalor at 3.45pm, meet some English people with campervans who tell me that they´d picked up the keys to the local hostel from the council offices but had decided not to stay and had just dropped the keys back into the locked council postbox (bloody cheek-campervanners staying in pilgrim hostels!!) Went to council office to get key but office closed until 6pm, just for fun lifted flap on postbox and keys were just resting on top, they hadn´t fallen thru the slot properly-Yay! So the campervanners did a good thing in the end! Hostel was for free and turned out to be the changing rooms at the local football pitch and once again I had the whole place to myself. Found a bottle of floor-cleaning fluid and decided to use it to wash my increasingly filthy clothing, didn´t help much but my entire sparse wardrobe now has the fragrance of a pine forest!! Valdesalor is a half a horse town constructed in 1963 and of no interest whatsoever, the only place to eat was at an overpriced restaurant at the local petrol station. So I found a tiny, completely useless shop and bought a big bag of crisps and a bottle of beer and retired to my sporting venue and amused myself by trying to take self-portraits with my camera
Fri
01/10 to Casar de Caceres 28 kms (Total
173kms)
Away at 8.30am, camino just zig-zagged across main road most of the time, got into Caceres at around 12pm, really beautiful city, pity they were digging up the Plaza mayor. Found internet cafe and sent previous bulletin, had an ice-cream and then long, hot, shadeless couple of hours to Casar decaceres
Sat 02/10 to Embalse de Proserpina 25 kms (Total 198kms) Late start at 10.10am, very hot and shadeless first half then last 5kms on the tarmac even hotter, arrived at about 3pm, Albergue is on banks of beautiful reservoir and has a sign saying that it's closed today due to no water supply!! - beside a reservoir! Decided I'd camp out with the tent for the night, an Irishman-Mike- arrived later but decided to push on to the next village. Albergue was on hill and only level ground was parking area in front strewn with dog and cow poo, so, not wanting to be parked on or recieve any canine or bovine nocturnal visitations, I camped on the roof which was flat and had a wall round it, so I was safe from cows, cars and curs!
Sun 03/10 to Grimaldo 24kms (Total 222kms) Up at dawn, grey skies look like rain, camino takes me up a short climb to a plateau then on to Cañaveral which it bypasses, started to rain at 12pm so staggered into Grimaldo bar at 1pm like a drowned rat in a poncho much to the amusement of the resident card-players. Hostel was right next door so after a tortilla, a beer and a coffee got in and performed ablutions. Rained heavily all day so just mooched around the bar and had a nice gammon, egg and chips dinner while watching poncey Spanish matadors chopping up bulls on the tele
Mon 04/10 to Carcaboso 35kms (Total 257kms) Away at 9.15am, cool and sunny, 4 hours walking in golden meadows and lots of trees, took a wrong turning and completely missed Galisteo where I intended to have a beer in Bar Los Emigrantes. Next 13kms to Carcaboso all on the road, no hostel here so got a room to myself in Bar Ruta de la Plata for €11 then bought some food in shop for dinner and the next day's walking. This is a very quiet camino, have hardly seen any other walkers, getting used to having the albergue to myself!
Tues 05/10 to Aldeanueva del Camino 43kms (Total 300 kms) Off at 8.50am, cold and sunny with lots of dew about, nice pasture land with many cows staring at me, arrive at Caparra 21kms later, this is an arch which was part of a Roman village built at the end of the 1st century, talk about walking thru history! The only human life before the next town is here in the visitor´s centre which not only shows info about the excavations and pictures of how the town must have looked but it also has slot machines selling water, coffee and snacks. So parked off here for an hour and had lunch, my plan was to walk for another hour and then camp out and finish the walk the next day, but as the day wore on I decided to keep going and ended up doing the whole 43kms in the one day! Great Spanish couple in charge of Albergue, gave me a beer and wouldn't take any money, dried my washing in their room in front of electric fire then took me down to a restaurant where there were 7 other pilgrims all busy eating. Met up with German Judith and her mate and the Irishman, Mike who I had dinner with.
Wed 06/10 to Baños de Montemayor 12kms (Total 312kms) Easy day today, yesterday's walk had put me a day ahead of schedule which meant I would have to spend more time in Salamanca where it would be expensive so i was trying to lose a day again. All 12kms were on the road, I stopped at a bar after an hour for a coffee and the TV showed a street camera clip of a woman pedestrian being smashed into by an out-of-control car. Just what I needed before going back out to walk on the non-existent hard shoulder of a busy national road! Baños is very touristy place owing to the thermal baths there, and it was full of old people all going to soak their gout and piles in the waters. Had room to myself again in albergue, only other pilgim was a Frencwoman-Pascale- who I last saw coming out of Torremejia on day 3. Was thoroughly bored hanging around all day and decided to catch up with the other walkers the next day.
Thurs 07/10 to Fuenteroble de las Salvatierras 35kms (Total 347kms) Off at 8.25, steep climb up out of town on original roman road then quite attractive scenery and passed thru a couple of dead villages where I had a very dried out Bocadillo. Got into Fuenteroble at 5.15pm to find about 12 people already in residence, re-newed my acquaintance with Judith, Mike, a French couple, Pascale and Julio a Spanish guy - we're getting to be quite a little clique now! Had dinner in bar with Irish Mike, when I got back to albergue at 9.30pm, the lights were all out and everyone was in bed. Real fun crowd!
Fri 08/10 to San Pedro de Rozados 29kms (Total 376kms) Away at 8.25, looked cloudy but cleared up later, pleasant walk with a climb up from 950m to 1140m at Pica Dueña, passed a Dutch couple then a Swiss couple. After the hill there was a long boring couple of hours on the tarmac again, caught up to Pascale and we had lunch on a Roman bridge. Arrived at San Pedro at about 3pm and the whole gang was there except Mike who'd walked on to next village.
Crappy little village, managed to find a shop and bought a tin of lentils with sausage for dinner, had a good chat round the kitchen table with the French couple and Julio all of us speaking Spanish with varying degrees of success but covering a wide range of topics
Sat 09/10 to Salamanca 26kms (402kms) I was 1st out of the Albergue with Julio, don't quite know how I did that because I'm usually last. The Albergue inSalamanca Salamanca just after 12pm
and bumped into Mike so we went and had a nice lunch on the Plaza Mayor - wish
the Salamanca in Hobart
Epilogue
Sun 10/10 Sun Salamanca Chucked out of Albergue at 8.am, everyone going seperate ways, Mike and the French couple carrying on to the next place, Julio being ferried by car past the next stretch because it's all road walking, Judith and her mate also finished and off to Portugal, Pascale also bypassing the road-walking by bus and I have to hang around til Tuesday to catch the bus to Madrid airport for the plane to London. Feel sad that I can't walk on and that I´ll probably never see everybody again, spent the morning walking the streets as they gradually filled up with tourists. Just want to get home now but have just got an email from Easyjet to say that there's a French Air Traffic Controllers strike on Tuesday and my flight may be cancelled, and I´m flying out ofLondon
HO Hum
Away at 8.30am, camino just zig-zagged across main road most of the time, got into Caceres at around 12pm, really beautiful city, pity they were digging up the Plaza mayor. Found internet cafe and sent previous bulletin, had an ice-cream and then long, hot, shadeless couple of hours to Casar de
Sat 02/10 to Embalse de Proserpina 25 kms (Total 198kms) Late start at 10.10am, very hot and shadeless first half then last 5kms on the tarmac even hotter, arrived at about 3pm, Albergue is on banks of beautiful reservoir and has a sign saying that it's closed today due to no water supply!! - beside a reservoir! Decided I'd camp out with the tent for the night, an Irishman-Mike- arrived later but decided to push on to the next village. Albergue was on hill and only level ground was parking area in front strewn with dog and cow poo, so, not wanting to be parked on or recieve any canine or bovine nocturnal visitations, I camped on the roof which was flat and had a wall round it, so I was safe from cows, cars and curs!
Sun 03/10 to Grimaldo 24kms (Total 222kms) Up at dawn, grey skies look like rain, camino takes me up a short climb to a plateau then on to Cañaveral which it bypasses, started to rain at 12pm so staggered into Grimaldo bar at 1pm like a drowned rat in a poncho much to the amusement of the resident card-players. Hostel was right next door so after a tortilla, a beer and a coffee got in and performed ablutions. Rained heavily all day so just mooched around the bar and had a nice gammon, egg and chips dinner while watching poncey Spanish matadors chopping up bulls on the tele
Mon 04/10 to Carcaboso 35kms (Total 257kms) Away at 9.15am, cool and sunny, 4 hours walking in golden meadows and lots of trees, took a wrong turning and completely missed Galisteo where I intended to have a beer in Bar Los Emigrantes. Next 13kms to Carcaboso all on the road, no hostel here so got a room to myself in Bar Ruta de la Plata for €11 then bought some food in shop for dinner and the next day's walking. This is a very quiet camino, have hardly seen any other walkers, getting used to having the albergue to myself!
Tues 05/10 to Aldeanueva del Camino 43kms (Total 300 kms) Off at 8.50am, cold and sunny with lots of dew about, nice pasture land with many cows staring at me, arrive at Caparra 21kms later, this is an arch which was part of a Roman village built at the end of the 1st century, talk about walking thru history! The only human life before the next town is here in the visitor´s centre which not only shows info about the excavations and pictures of how the town must have looked but it also has slot machines selling water, coffee and snacks. So parked off here for an hour and had lunch, my plan was to walk for another hour and then camp out and finish the walk the next day, but as the day wore on I decided to keep going and ended up doing the whole 43kms in the one day! Great Spanish couple in charge of Albergue, gave me a beer and wouldn't take any money, dried my washing in their room in front of electric fire then took me down to a restaurant where there were 7 other pilgrims all busy eating. Met up with German Judith and her mate and the Irishman, Mike who I had dinner with.
Wed 06/10 to Baños de Montemayor 12kms (Total 312kms) Easy day today, yesterday's walk had put me a day ahead of schedule which meant I would have to spend more time in Salamanca where it would be expensive so i was trying to lose a day again. All 12kms were on the road, I stopped at a bar after an hour for a coffee and the TV showed a street camera clip of a woman pedestrian being smashed into by an out-of-control car. Just what I needed before going back out to walk on the non-existent hard shoulder of a busy national road! Baños is very touristy place owing to the thermal baths there, and it was full of old people all going to soak their gout and piles in the waters. Had room to myself again in albergue, only other pilgim was a Frencwoman-Pascale- who I last saw coming out of Torremejia on day 3. Was thoroughly bored hanging around all day and decided to catch up with the other walkers the next day.
Thurs 07/10 to Fuenteroble de las Salvatierras 35kms (Total 347kms) Off at 8.25, steep climb up out of town on original roman road then quite attractive scenery and passed thru a couple of dead villages where I had a very dried out Bocadillo. Got into Fuenteroble at 5.15pm to find about 12 people already in residence, re-newed my acquaintance with Judith, Mike, a French couple, Pascale and Julio a Spanish guy - we're getting to be quite a little clique now! Had dinner in bar with Irish Mike, when I got back to albergue at 9.30pm, the lights were all out and everyone was in bed. Real fun crowd!
Fri 08/10 to San Pedro de Rozados 29kms (Total 376kms) Away at 8.25, looked cloudy but cleared up later, pleasant walk with a climb up from 950m to 1140m at Pica Dueña, passed a Dutch couple then a Swiss couple. After the hill there was a long boring couple of hours on the tarmac again, caught up to Pascale and we had lunch on a Roman bridge. Arrived at San Pedro at about 3pm and the whole gang was there except Mike who'd walked on to next village.
Crappy little village, managed to find a shop and bought a tin of lentils with sausage for dinner, had a good chat round the kitchen table with the French couple and Julio all of us speaking Spanish with varying degrees of success but covering a wide range of topics
Sat 09/10 to Salamanca 26kms (402kms) I was 1st out of the Albergue with Julio, don't quite know how I did that because I'm usually last. The Albergue in
Epilogue
Sun 10/10 Sun Salamanca Chucked out of Albergue at 8.am, everyone going seperate ways, Mike and the French couple carrying on to the next place, Julio being ferried by car past the next stretch because it's all road walking, Judith and her mate also finished and off to Portugal, Pascale also bypassing the road-walking by bus and I have to hang around til Tuesday to catch the bus to Madrid airport for the plane to London. Feel sad that I can't walk on and that I´ll probably never see everybody again, spent the morning walking the streets as they gradually filled up with tourists. Just want to get home now but have just got an email from Easyjet to say that there's a French Air Traffic Controllers strike on Tuesday and my flight may be cancelled, and I´m flying out of
HO Hum
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