Levante Nuts and Bolts

[LesBrass]

So I'm just pondering maybe my next big adventure... I can only do a big walk every 2 years and so I'm compiling a sort list... and wondering how the Levante compares to the VdlP?

When I looked at pictures of the VdlP before I walking it, I had a great sense of it being flat with wide wide open spaces. There was a bit of this for sure but lots and lots of bumpy stuff in between. When I look at photos of the Levante I see again lots and lots of flat but I'm wondering if, like the VdlP, the Levante has lots of other stuff too?

p.s. I liked the bumpy bits inbetween

Also there was so much amazing history on the Via and so many towns and cities to discover... is the Levante similiar?

Many thanks in advance for any guidance.

 

[evanlow]

That and more...

Have a go a the birthplace of paella in Valencia. Wonder besides chicken what else in that paella Valenciano? Rabbit! Then walking out first 2 weeks you will see rabbit dashing faster than Usain Bolt.

Look up a bit on Cervantes' Don Quixote. Some of the towns are from that novel. At El Toboso (where the love interest of Don Quixote live), find Bar Rocinante (Don Quixote's horse). I had the best tortilla ever in that bar. Wind mills (old ones on the hills), an albergue in a bull ring, etc. Even a big city of Albecete buying a moorish knife (switch blade). Got mine for like 10 Euros, useful for the Camino and a also a great souvenir.

Then Toledo, walled city of Avila (St. Teresa), Medina del Campo and few other medium size city, too many to mention here. The terrain until Toledo is like the flat Vdlp. After that it becomes green almost immediately, then elevation rises up to 1200 meters (even higher than Camino Frances). Then it is back to flat Vldp terrain until Zamora.

Ends in Zamora. Before that in Toro the wine was interesting. The wine there was taken by Columbus because it doesn't go bad easily. I didn't continue beyond that. Was nice to be back in the albergue in Zamora.

Now the not so good news.

1. You need a local sim card. Need to call for albergue. Minimum Spanish 'I am a pilgrim, is there a bed?' and 'I am currently at Plaza Mayor, Bar xxx, etc..". Wait for them to bring you to the albergue. Usually 10 Spanish minutes is about 20-30 minutes in real minutes.
2. Sometimes it is local police station where they will get in touch with whatever volunteer that currently helping the pilgrims. That I really hate as they always ask to photocopy my passport and fill up some form on the computer. Bureaucratic and time wasting when one is tired.
3. Some distance are incredible (40+km on the first day, and a couple of 40 km days). The first day we mitgated but taking the train for the last 8 km, others maybe just 20 and stay in hostal.

Incredibly, the only place where one hears English almost everywhere is Toledo (being a very touristy spot).

You will enjoy it, the good and the bad...

 

[AJ]

I walked the Levante this year and found the walk rather boring until Toledo. The towns, however, I did like and the food. Evan forgot to mention snails, Roman beans and artichokes in the Valencian Paella which is one of the best meals I have ever eaten. Probably the best menu del dia I have ever eaten was in a resto in Zamora.

I used the English translation of the guide produced by the Valencian friends. It was probably very good when first published, but since then the high speed train and autovia have been constructed and the route altered to take account of this. Maybe their website contains updates to the guide, I don't know as I bought the guide in Valencia and didn't use internet whilst on the way. On a few sections I had to agree with a comment from another pilgrim: I was guided more by intuition than anything else. But I never got lost!

I managed well enough with accommodation and never booked in advance. Some of the hostales referred to in the guide are permanently closed. I agree that the local police are very helpful and that some Spanish is advisable.

 

[sulu]

I used the English translation of the guide produced by the Valencian friends. It was probably very good when first published, but since then the high speed train and autovia have been constructed and the route altered to take account of this.

I walked Valencia to Toledo in March 2015, I used the new Spanish version of the guide produced by the Valencian friends, the text is updated but the maps are the old ones and still don't make allowance for the high speed train and motorway.
I was interested to walk through Cervantes country but I found the long distances on flat boring terrain, the lack of shade, the long days and the lack of company just too much so I stopped in Toledo and promised myself I would never walk another camino!! But, guess what, I'm currently making plans to go back and finish next March so it really can't be that bad. It is very different from the VdlP but then each camino is different, as is each region of Spain.
I think the Levante is an experience I would recommend but it is hard work, even when it is flat. I'm now looking forward to doing the bumpy bit

 

[LesBrass]

Many thanks for the honest replies folks. I'm still undecided as to which route to do next but my husband has found the GR92 and quite fancies walking along the Spanish med coast. It's not a camino but it looks like a good route... and 2018 is a long way off

 

[filly]

I did it too... and there is another thread you should look at. Especially Peregrina2000 knowledgeable comments. Best experience was staying with the nuns at Toro; the jewel of the trip was Temleque. I met several pilgrims who were giving up due to the solitude, intense heat and long distances. Avila and Toledo were highlights and for once I had rest days (several) in both places.

Albacete was the low point...

I used the Valencia Association English guidebook but left the maps at home due to weight restriction.

Accommodation was not an issue but often bizarre and basic.

This year I walked the GR 653 from Arles to Somport followed by the Aragones. Equally a journey of solitude - but the welcome of the people on the Levante made it a more hospitable experience.

If you wat to get to know Spain, then do walk it. Choose your month carefully and get to spend time in the highlight locations.

 

[peregrina2000]

I think the comments show that the Levante is not for everybody. And it also requires a bit of luck, I think. I ran into two French peregrinos on day 3 or 4 (until then, I was totally alone) and we stayed together till Santiago. So the companionship part was solved very nicely. The long expanses of open fields were shocking emerald green with seas of poppies, so the time of year makes a big difference (If I compare my feelings about the terrain of the Levante to the terrain of the Catalan from Montserrat to Huesca, I know that walking in June through dry brown harvested fields in Catalunya and ARagon did dampen my spirits a bit). The Levante is chock full of little towns with pretty squares, nice castles, churches. And in May the weather was never too hot, and we had no rain. I would walk it again happily, but starting no later than early May. But I realize I was very lucky with the weather and the companionship. I have a blog, as does Evan and a few others, in our signatures.

The St. Jaume starts in Port de la Selva, up north on the Mediterranean, and makes its way to Montserrat but not on the coast. It goes through Vic and Girona and is really beautiful. It's a "made up" Camino, I learned, but it goes through gorgeous country.

 

[LesBrass]

@filly and @peregrina2000 ... what have you done! a sea of poppies, warm welcomes and chock full of towns... nuns and Jewels??! I'm sold now!

I have often said I could never do a spring camino because of band commitments but if I could finish by the start of May I think I could do it. Would starting around the end of March be too early?

Also, if I could only do 4 weeks what bits would you recommend?

p.s. many thanks for all comments.

 

[filly]

I would start in Valencia and enjoy the town. Then take the train from the gorgeous period station for the first two days walking as there is a lot of asphalt and suburbia (I know you/others may not agree: it is a suburban train service so there are masses of stops and you can get out when you feel like it. Depends on blossom on orchards...). Then walk through to Zamora. You can then walk another year on the via de la Plata from Seville and this joins up in Zamora. As I have said before take time in Toledo and Avila.

Peregrina 2000 had an excellent blog. My on-the-road comments feature in there somewhere. I walked in high summer - spring sounds like the ideal bet.

The fields of poppies I saw were lavender in colour - I discovered that they were opium poppies for morphine production!

 

[Kevin F. O*brien]

Hmmm. Must be me, but I never got bored. Thanks Laurie, (Peregrino 2000) for your comments. Loved it.

 

[alansykes]

Can I put in another plug for the Levante? Although Toledo and Ávila are amazing, I really liked the many small towns on the route (I did the Sureste from Alicante, joining the Levante at Almansa). So many of them had so much to offer - Almansa with its hilltop castle and albergue in a convent run by chatty nuns, Alpera with its delicious food and friendly locals, Chinchilla de Montearagón with its tasty wine, La Roda with its albergue in a bullring, and "miguelito" pastries, San Clemente with magnificent Renaissance sculptures in its church (including a swordless Santiago whose fierce horse is doing most of the matamoros) and an excellent modern art gallery next door, Las Pedroñeras, garlic capital of Spain (if not the world), El Toboso, birthplace of Dulcinea, with another (17th century) nunnery to stay in, Tembleque, possibly the loveliest plaza mayor anywhere, Escalona, with a ducal castle and another handsome plaza mayor, the climb up to San Bartolomé de Pinares, where the hospitalera is the alcaldesa, the beautiful mysterious Celtiberian Toros de Guisando, in the middle of nowhere, Saint Teresa of Ávila's family dovecot at her (probable) birthplace at Gotarrendura, more mudéjar churches than enough at Arévalo, the oldest working carnicería in the world in Medina del Campo, as well as the room where Isabel la Católica wrote her will and died (oh, and a third nunnery to sleep in).

And by my standards it was positively crowded. For 18 of the 44-odd nights I was with other pilgrims (compared with 6 since I left Almería 53 days ago).

 

[filly]

Thanks Alan - you bring back many memories.... but during which month/s did you walk, as a matter of interest? And rain me, where was the wonderful Art Deco museum?

 

[sulu]

I have often said I could never do a spring camino because of band commitments but if I could finish by the start of May I think I could do it. Would starting around the end of March be too early?

March is a great time to be in Valencia. If you go before the 19th March, the feast of St Joseph, the city is in 'Fallas'. The closer you get to the 19th the more exciting it gets, especially the last week. There are some photos in my blog for March 2015. The weather is usually warm too!

 

[LesBrass]

Thank you everyone for all the ideas and feedback. I have a little more to think about but I am really tempted. I've bookmarked a few blogs and I enjoyed looking through @peregrina2000's photos today.

My thinking (for now) is that maybe I could walk Valencia to Zamora in 4 weeks... and maybe I could take a 4 week break April/May 2018... I have yet to discuss this with my husband But he works non-stop duing this time so wouldn't miss me... the children would have been home from work/uni for Easter and gone again... and I might just be able to fit this in!

It might be a busy year though as my non-pilgrim husband has asked that we walk three weeks of the Norte at the end of October 2018... starting in Irun... but my thinking is that the two walks will compliment each other nicely!

p.s. whilst looking at all this information I must admit that the Ruta de la Lana also looks very tempting... there's just too much choice!

 

[MikeJS]

I did the VdlP early this year and was looking for next year’s adventure. Initially thought I would go on the Levante but now think I will chose the Sureste as there is less tarmac at the start. However, up to date guides (in english) seems non existent and the choice of accommodation seems limited. Just spent 2 days constructing a spreadsheet to show all the stages and hostel info I can find. Not worried about the route as between the yellow arrows, gps tracks and my friend google maps Im sure I can find my way.

 

[KinkyOne]

I did the VdlP early this year and was looking for next year’s adventure. Initially thought I would go on the Levante but now think I will chose the Sureste as there is less tarmac at the start. However, up to date guides (in english) seems non existent and the choice of accommodation seems limited. Just spent 2 days constructing a spreadsheet to show all the stages and hostel info I can find. Not worried about the route as between the yellow arrows, gps tracks and my friend google maps Im sure I can find my way.

When I was walking Levante in summer 2015 it looked to me that Alicante Amigos did much better job with markers than Levante ones. Of course I can say that only for the parts where Levante and Sureste overlapse.