A favour to ask from some of those who have walked the Via de La Plata. I have bought the CSJ little book and downloaded some of the useful guides on this forum. I am thinking of doing a bit of the Via de la Plata next year (September?) and just wondered if someone would share their own stages from Seville for around 16-18 days walking? Also is the route from Seville to Astorga or Seville to Santiago?
Any tips about this route?
thanks in advance!
My husband and I started walking from Seville on 28th Sept this year, finishing in Salamanca on 22nd October. We found the 30+ temperatures in the afternoon for the first two and a half weeks very difficult to deal with. By 10 a.m. it was getting hot for us, by 12 uncomfortable and walking after 1 p.m. almost unbearable. Everywhere we went people were telling us that these temperatures were unusual for the time of year, that it was normally fresher/cooler by early October. However I would advise against starting before the middle of Sept at the earliest.
We timed our morning start so that we finished before the worst heat of the day, as early as 6 a.m. We know that others started even earlier. Note that sunrise is after 8 at this time of the year, so that meant walking in the dark. A good head light is really important both for way finding and safety on tracks that are uneven. The compensation is the amazing starry skies, beautiful sunrises and wonderful views of the harvest moon. We heard lots of roosters too and had a magic moment when we were joined on the track by a young hare early one morning.
This was our first Camino and we were keen to pace ourselves and enjoy all that was on offer. On our first day we walked the 10k to Santiponce without our backpacks and spent an enjoyable couple of hours in Italica's Roman ruins. We got the bus back to our accommodation in Seville and next morning bussed back to Santiponce and walked the 11k from there to Guillena fully loaded. Our subsequent stages e as follows, distances approx.
To Castillblanco 19k To Almadén 29.5k
To El Real de la Jara 16.6k. To Monasterio 20.7k
To Fuente de Cantos 21.9k. To Zafra 26.1k
To Villafranca 20.7k. To Torremejía 27.6k
To Mérida 16.1. Added a rest day here, lots to see if you like Romans and Visigoths
To Aljucén 17.3k No ATM!
To Alcuéscar 21.1k. To Valdesalor 27.5k
To Casar 23.2k. To Cañaveral 32k
To Riolobos 16k. To Carcaboso 22k
To Oliva de Plasencia 18k. To Aldeanueva 25k
To Calzada de Béjar 22.3k. To Fuenterroble 20.3k
To San Pedro 29.6k. To Salamanca 24.8k Fabulous buildings and history.
Not sure that I would do the detour to Aldeanueva again, it is a one-bar village with not many options for food etc. Others were plan into go to Cáparra and use the taxi option of pick up and drop back next morning offered by the Asturias hostel.
The weather changed abruptly for our last week so the long pants, rain jacket and fleeces we had carried from Seville were rapidly moved to the top of the backpacks!
On this route it is important to plan carefully at weekends. In the small villages the shop may not reopen after 2 pm on Saturday; cafe/bars marked on maps may have limited opening hours weekdays and not open Sunday mornings. Also may not have an ATM so wise to have 3-4 days cash at your disposal when leaving a larger town.
It has been a wonderful experience, and we hope to pick it up in the spring.
Hope some of the above is of help and wishing you happy planning and walking.