Day 10 -- Villafranca de los Barros

[grilly]

First time that I got a chance to put my hands on a keyboard since Sevilla.
As you all said, it´s very hot here. It´s very hard for the young and well-trained as well as for us, older and not well-trained. So in a way, this is reassuring.
We all wonder, between 11:30 and 12:30 noon what drove us to walk la Via de la Plata. But every night and every morning, it feels OK again.
Will write more later. So much to say. But right now it is time to stop.

 

[Arn]

Grilly,

Please keep us posted.

Now, considering the heat. Hydrate....BUT, make sure you replenish the electrolytes that are lost thru sweat and urination. Consider a mix of 50/50% water and some sport drink...say Gatorade, or other local drinks.

By other drinks I do not mean beer. That is good...but consider the cerveza a reward after a long, hot day.

Buen Camino

Arn

 

[grilly]

Yes, Arn, the heat has been brutal. We started remarkably well: on Sat Sep 3, in a light fog with a temperature of 16-17 degrees. Can you believe this? But by Tuesday, I think, we got to 35 and then 37.
From Castilblanco to Almaden (I think), when it is a 29 k stage, we took a cab to the entrance of the park El Berrocal. We felt sheepish about this, but we knew we would have made it (it left us with 14 ks to walk). The last 2 kms, the climbing of El Calvario was something.
We already had a rest day (I had not slept that night for some reason) in el Real de la Jara. Yesterday, a nice young man, owner of a cafeteria in Puebla de Sancho Torres gave us a ride straight to the Albergue of Zafra. Tomorrow we´ll be taking a bus from Villafranca to Torremegias. 27 k are just too much for us and there is no way to cut the stage.I realize this is ´Camino Lite´but it is that or nothing really,
My husband has a problem with his left heel. After a while, it is just too painful. The heat frankly does not help. However, this morning, we walked talking economics and this helped.

There is now an albergue in Guillena. It has been refurbished basically and is quite good. There is a new (private) albergue in El Real de la Jara. We stayed at Casa Molina. The albergues from the ´red de extramadura´seem to be stupendous. We had a room for two in Fuente de Cuentos and yesterday in Zafra.
The Camino becomes a real challenge basically from 11:30 on and then it is really tempting to quit, to throw in the towel, to say, Why am I here? Why is it that the charm of the Camino is not here... Of course, it is, in other ways.
For instance there is not the same animosity between walking and cycling pilgrims as there is on the Camino Frances. There is no pilgrim litter on the Camino -- a lot of other litter, it is true. The landscape is just sensational. The park el Berrocal, with the deer, the cork oaks... wonderful. Walking among patas negras (the pigs) quite interesting... There is so much really to discover. It is just that after a while no strength is left.
But yesterday evening in Zafra we came across the monasterio de Santa Clara. Its church was open (a jewel) and the Blessed Sacrament was there. So it was a moment for me to ask my patron saint and all the other possible saints really to help us on our way.
We intend to spend a day in Merida and a new Spanish acquaintance, another pilgrim, strongly suggested we stop in Caceres. Which we will do.
Of course, by stopping, it means that there is no continuity in our encounters with the pilgrims. By the time we get to know a few, we stop and we lose them.
Santiago seems -- and is -- eons away. If I look ahead, I get lost and depressed. So I stick to this day and try to see what this day is here to teach me.
I must ´la red de albergues de extramadura´is one of the reasons to stick with this Camino. Every place is just such an experience.
I don´t remember having been ever so close to quitting, pretty much every day at the same time
Hasto pronto,
claire

 

[Sagalouts]

Hi Claire and hubby
thanks for posting,it brings it all back,soon you will see the temps drop-cold dark mornings where you long to see the sun rise.
please keep posting when you can,you write with an honesty that brings the Camino alive.
courage Pilgrims truly Buen Camino
Ian

 

[lynnejohn]

Courage, Claire. These are depressing times for you, but you are meant to be there - on the camino, at this very time of your life. You will soon experience better days.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

- T. S. Eliot

 

[MarianneGardner]

Hang in there Claire. Thanks for these descriptions of the Via de la Plata, also bringing back great memories for me. I walked Seville to Merida in a heat wave in May 2010, and went back again from Merida to Salamanca in April 2011 in cool, rainy conditions. It was all great. Enjoy your rest days in Merida and Caceres, they are great towns with great food and wonderful things to see. In Merida the food is better the further away you are from the tourist zone around the roman ruins. Enjoy the transition in the landscape as you head north, the barley was all green in April, I guess it is harvest time now. We got the bus now and then, you have to go at your own pace. Marianne

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Claire,

Thank you for posting, I imagine it's harder to post when things are looking grim. I know that this isn't the Camino you had planned for or hoped for, but you have certainly done more than I ever could manage to "make the best of it" and find the beauty and the positive in this unrelenting heat.

You're lucky to have the wisdom to know that human beings have limits and that it's silly to try to push them too far. Wishing you the very best as you adjust to the reality of this Vdlp for you and figure out how to do your camino. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[MichaelB10398]

Dear Claire,

That kind of heat can really sap one's energy. Last week here in Abu Dhabi it was 47 and terribly humid. Those are temperatures where I just try to stay indoors until evening. Keep your chin up, do your best, and know that a pilgrimage is not supposed to kill us. Feel good about taking alternate transportation when you feel it is necessary. Give our best to your husband and make sure he takes care of that heel.

You both are in our prayers,

Michael

 

[mmm042]

Hang in there, Claire! I'm not a hot weather person, so I feel your pain. But hopefully I can bring lots of cool, Wisconsin air with me when I leave on Sunday. I'm starting from Salamanca, and the heat is supposed to break in another day or two there. Hopefully it will be the same for you a little further south.

And do NOT worry about a taxi or bus here or there. Last November, we had a cab driver take us a bit up the Camino around Almendralejo because my husband and I had terrible tendinitis, and I didn't think we could walk the next stretch without a few miles taken off first. Plus, I figured we easily made up those two or three miles by walking so many extra miles when we'd gotten lost here or there in previous segments!

Melanie

 

[grilly]

Thank you everyone for your encouraging comments.
Back now, waiting for my knee to recover, processing the time we spent on VDLP, and knowing that we will go back there, better prepared for it
Life is good.
claire

 

[sundra]

Hi Claire, I´m sorry to read about your hushand . How is he doing now? What about you? Please always think that St.James is always there to guide all the pilgrims. When I did my first camino this year without much knowledge of camino (francés) I was surprise to see even 80year old man limping and making it to Santiago. Then I thought I´m still younger compare to him and healthier too. Things like this gives one really the courage one needs. Don´t you give up hope all our prayers and good wishes follow you both all along the Via de la Plata. I´m planning my next camino Via de la Plata and hope to learn many things from both of you. Good luck and keep posting.Buen Camino.