Public transport on the Via de la Plata

[Nauzanplage]

Hi,

My wife and I will be walking the Via de la Plata starting from Seville in late March.

We have only 30 days to complete the walk and would like advice on how we can reduce the length using public transport. We are happy to average 25 km per day so we would need to reduce the walk from 1000 km to some thing between 750 and 800.

We have already completed the camino Frances and camino Portuguese so don't mind if we skip even the last stages, although we will be flying out of Santiago.

Any ideas or advice?


Richard

 

[handzondeck2]

A good website to assist you with your planning is www.godesalco.com. You can pick your starting place and it will calculate distances between major towns, etc. It's worth having look at. Hope this helps.happy planning. Buen camino

 

[LTfit]

Used the godesalco site for my VdlP/Sanabrés so I can definately recommend it as well.

Why don't you just begin in Sevilla and continue on until about Puebla de Sanabria that way you see part of the Sanabrés too. This would shave off about 250 km from the total.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Nauzanplage,

Looking at a map you can easily pick out a 200 km stretch to eliminate. I think people approach this task of Camino-trimming in one of two ways.

Some will prefer to have a "complete" camino, that is, pick the starting point that is 750 or 800 km from Santiago. That would be in the Merida-Caceres region.

Others want to cherry pick a few stages to eliminate the "ugly" or "boring" sections (as you might guess, this is not my strategy ) If you want to do that, though, there is an obvious candidate. Salamanca to Zamora is not, shall we say, stunning. But that's only 60, so you need to find a few more. I think I wouldn't drop anything in the Zamora to Santiago (on the Sanabres) portion. So that means looking for other places, maybe Merida to Caceres.

I think it also depends on whether you plan to return. You could, for instance, do your 750 kms from Sevilla, and then next year come back, finish up into Santiago and then do a shorter Camino, like the Salvador/Primitivo combo, which is one I am particularly fond of! Good luck with your planning. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Nauzanplage]

Hi, Nauzanplage,

Looking at a map you can easily pick out a 200 km stretch to eliminate. I think people approach this task of Camino-trimming in one of two ways.

Some will prefer to have a "complete" camino, that is, pick the starting point that is 750 or 800 km from Santiago. That would be in the Merida-Caceres region.

Others want to cherry pick a few stages to eliminate the "ugly" or "boring" sections (as you might guess, this is not my strategy ) If you want to do that, though, there is an obvious candidate. Salamanca to Zamora is not, shall we say, stunning. But that's only 60, so you need to find a few more. I think I wouldn't drop anything in the Zamora to Santiago (on the Sanabres) portion. So that means looking for other places, maybe Merida to Caceres.

I think it also depends on whether you plan to return. You could, for instance, do your 750 kms from Sevilla, and then next year come back, finish up into Santiago and then do a shorter Camino, like the Salvador/Primitivo combo, which is one I am particularly fond of! Good luck with your planning. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Anniesantiago]

Whatever you eliminate, do not eliminate Merida.
It was awesome!

 

[camino-david]

Many stages are more than 25km so take that into consideration when planning with Godesalco. There is good bus transport between major cities and towns, but the bus routes can or cannot come in contact with the VDLP route. You have plenty of planning to do!

 

[peregrino_tom]

Laurie usually knows best(!), but I'm petitioning against losing the Merida-Cacares section.
We enjoyed the quaint cottagey albergue at Aljucen - but you need to carry some food from Merida to cook there. More importantly Alcuescar's residencia for handicapped men is profound and should not be missed. Assuming you can still stay there (anyone?).
So... I'd bus it from Seville to Merida and start there. Then there might be one or two places further down the line where you are looking at long stages (or bad road, like Aldeanueva to Banos) to reach the next obvious resting place; in which cases you can call up some transport to assist. But try and make it on foot through the Galician mountains if you can. They're a bit special.

 

[peregrina2000]

Laurie usually knows best(!), but I'm petitioning against losing the Merida-Cacares section.
We enjoyed the quaint cottagey albergue at Aljucen - but you need to carry some food from Merida to cook there. More importantly Alcuescar's residencia for handicapped men is profound and should not be missed. Assuming you can still stay there (anyone?).
So... I'd bus it from Seville to Merida and start there. Then there might be one or two places further down the line where you are looking at long stages (or bad road, like Aldeanueva to Banos) to reach the next obvious resting place; in which cases you can call up some transport to assist. But try and make it on foot through the Galician mountains if you can. They're a bit special.

I agree with Tom that the Merida to Caceres route is very nice -- especially those Roman bridges out in the middle of nowhere! And if you find the Aljucen to Alcuescar stage to be too short, there is a BEAUTIFUL 3 km detour out to the 9c Santa Lucia de Trampal church. But I digress...

My own preference is always to start walking and to stop walking when I get to santiago, so if I was back on the Vdlp and could only walk 750 or 800 kms, I would start that far from Santiago. As others have said, that is probably caceres or Merida. If you want to see Sevilla, you could arrive there, spend a few days, then bus or train it up to your starting point.

But I know that there are folks who like to cut out a few sections in the middle, and though I personally find it disruptive, there are always way to "eat" a few stages by hopping on a bus. I think that Sevilla to Santiago is about 1100 kms, so you will have a lot of chopping up to do to get it down to 750 or 800. Good luck! Laurie

 

[unadara]

Laurie
I have a plan but think I will do as you "say" just keep walking, if I don't make it, come back again and do those enticing shorter routes in and out of Santiago..this year, 3 a yr from now on!

 

[peregrina2000]

Laurie
I have a plan but think I will do as you "say" just keep walking, if I don't make it, come back again and do those enticing shorter routes in and out of Santiago..this year, 3 a yr from now on!

Wait a minute, Una, are you saying you will be walking three caminos a year from now on? Did you win the lottery or something???? Laurie

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Laurie usually knows best(!), but I'm petitioning against losing the Merida-Cacares section.
We enjoyed the quaint cottagey albergue at Aljucen - but you need to carry some food from Merida to cook there. More importantly Alcuescar's residencia for handicapped men is profound and should not be missed. Assuming you can still stay there (anyone?).
So... I'd bus it from Seville to Merida and start there. Then there might be one or two places further down the line where you are looking at long stages (or bad road, like Aldeanueva to Banos) to reach the next obvious resting place; in which cases you can call up some transport to assist. But try and make it on foot through the Galician mountains if you can. They're a bit special.

Yes - the albergue in the Monastery in Alcuescar is very much open.

 

[LTfit]

Was in Alcuéscar yesterday for a rest before moving on to Aldea del Cano.
It is very quiet but as John says definately open!
Greetings from Casar de Cáceres!

 

[unadara]

Laurie
I might get to do 3 of the shorter Caminos you recommend, tie them in together in one trip. Or start in France ? or go from Lourdes ? Or Canterbury ?.
But for now and this year a BIG/long one, VdeLa Plata. I took early retirement just 5 yrs ago. Since then I have been very lucky to spend a lot of time with firstly my mother and more recently my eldest sister, both now deceased my sister just 2 weeks ago after a long illness, only 57. So I will walk and recuperate, meditate, pray and reflect. And give Thanks. Good to see you John back on the forum, How was your Camino ? I met you in Santiago at the reception for thee "Compestela" exhibition. Hope to meet more of the forum members soon.