Hi Alan!
I am from Victoria, BC.
The via de la plata is described as being longer, lonelier and harder than the
camino frances, and that proved to be accurate. It's not more mountainous, certainly, it's pretty flat mostly. But there are reasons so many fewer people do it--it's not ready for prime time. There are several long days of highway walking, or nothing but farmer's fields, or long detours around the AVE construction. Half of the trail was wonderful; I don't recommend the other half. But it's all mixed together.
I met a number of people who were jumping sections by bus. That seemed a cheat of sorts (I prefer to walk every step!), but a week or more of mostly boring walking can make one reconsider.
I don't mean to make it sound awful; it just depends on what you're up for. If you're ok with long stretches of nothing much (20+km), you'll be fine. My brain went a little squirrelly trying to keep occupied, as I was walking by myself. There aren't many people on the trail, and I found many were there to be more alone. It's not at all like the busier stretches of the
Camino Frances.
The cities were wonderful, which was important for me. (If I wanted only wilderness, I'd do the west coast trail!) Seville, Caceres, Merida, Salamanca, Zamora, so wonderful. And I love the small towns, too. (Make sure to take enough cash between the towns in Extremadura, or you'll run out, as there are no cash machines.)
The roman roads and via pecuaria (droving paths) are millenia old; their remnants in stone walls and stone markers was a constant presence of history all the way to Astorga.
Weather: mostly cool and a bit cloudy after Seville, once in the mountains. I spent most of my time trying to keep warm, not cool. Only a few rainy days in 6 weeks.
Food and water: always carry enough for the day. You can't count on towns with stores open.
Hostels: just fine, some very basic. Private hostels are around 15E, and quite good. Get Ivar's list of all the hostels! I ended up making reservations most nights once the "wave" of pilgrims leaving Seville after Easter caught up with me. It went from 5 or 6 pilgrims on a given segment to a couple dozen, then more. If there's only one hostel with 8 beds in the town you're aiming for, you'll need a reservation. If a hostel is closed it can make things very difficult (example Embalse de Alcantara hostel was closed).
Language: Not much english at all! I just spoke Spanish with locals, didn't bother asking "hablas Ingles?". Other pilgrims mostly German, French, Dutch. I speak minimal Spanish, but people were very nice and patient.
Spanish Sim card: Get one! So helpful, especially for google maps while walking. I got two months for 25E, easy top ups online. Mobilstar.
I ended up skipping from Zamora up to Astorga to rejoin the
Camino Frances, instead of doing the Camino Sanabres through Ourense. I definitely needed more people! The main route has so many more albergue options, which were great. And more people going my speed. (~25km/day, which is slow/short for the VLDP)
As a side note, there were about 90% men on the VLDP, almost no women walking on their own. I found that isolating after a while. But you may not mind that as much as I did.
Guide book: good luck finding a good one. I never did find a decent one in English. The french and german ones are much better. I used one as a phone ap that several people mention (by Melanie ?), but it did that infuriating thing of saying "you'll find yourself on..." and not giving actual instructions. I never did figure out how her maps worked. The trail is not enthusiastically marked. I would have liked quite a few more reassuring extra yellow arrows!
Definitely take some time in Sevilla, if you can, at Easter, or Feria. So awesome.
Enough for now? thanks for the opportunity to spout advice.
Felicity