- Time of past OR future Camino
- CF; Norte; Ingles; Augustine; Portugues Central
I completed the Via Augusta from Cadiz to Sevilla last Sunday. I had intended to continue on the VDLP but 5 weeks ago someone I’m very close to fell at home and suffered a severe head trauma. I was the person who found him and sat at his ICU bedside the first week while he was on life support. Fortunately I was able to contact his one son. My training was therefore shelved as I spent most of the time in the hospital. But prayer, good medical care and his stubbornness pulled him back a smidgen from heavens’ opening gates. Emotionally exhausted having to face daily whether he’d survive or pass on, his son told me after 3 weeks to walk my camino. I did the Augusta in deep inner prayer. Today, 5 weeks since the accident, my friend is able to say a few words, sit up in a chair 30 minutes and breathe unassisted. The Via Augusta was a unique Camino for the spiritual clarity it provided me working through my grief, anger, guilt, resentment, deep sadness and incredible fear for an unknown future.
However, I would only recommend this Camino to strong-minded walkers looking for total solitude (I walked El Norte alone last March in rain drenching weather so I’m not a tourist walker). The Cadiz Amigos del Camino have done a great job marking the way BUT we (I walked with another lady) would have been terribly lost in the middle of endless farm fields without GPS (downloaded routes from the Cadiz Amigos website using maps.me) which was 99% accurate for route but underestimated total daily distances by up to 5km. The distances averaged 30km/day, give or take +3-5 km. In general the route has minimal or zero infrastructure between starting and ending the day. Routes were completely flat/boring (at one point 20 km on a dirt/gravel service road alongside the train tracks) except for a 3km solid climb into Alcalá de Guadaíra and quite meseta-like for long stretches. Cadiz, Jerez, Utrera are worthy of spending a rest day given the level of fatigue by day’s end was too much to want to do much more than eat and sleep. All the locals we met and chatted with were very welcoming, informative and helpful. In hindsight, although a coast to coast camino sounded good (Cadiz to A Coruña via Santiago), without at least 2 or 3 rest days in Sevilla, attempting to walk the VDLP immediately would not have been possible for me, I was physically worn out after the 194 km on the VA. My prayers have been heard and my heart has been healed, I was blessed by the Camino magic once again. A thank you to Eugene for his notes and those of other IVAR members. PS: almost every town had a Church of Santiago !
However, I would only recommend this Camino to strong-minded walkers looking for total solitude (I walked El Norte alone last March in rain drenching weather so I’m not a tourist walker). The Cadiz Amigos del Camino have done a great job marking the way BUT we (I walked with another lady) would have been terribly lost in the middle of endless farm fields without GPS (downloaded routes from the Cadiz Amigos website using maps.me) which was 99% accurate for route but underestimated total daily distances by up to 5km. The distances averaged 30km/day, give or take +3-5 km. In general the route has minimal or zero infrastructure between starting and ending the day. Routes were completely flat/boring (at one point 20 km on a dirt/gravel service road alongside the train tracks) except for a 3km solid climb into Alcalá de Guadaíra and quite meseta-like for long stretches. Cadiz, Jerez, Utrera are worthy of spending a rest day given the level of fatigue by day’s end was too much to want to do much more than eat and sleep. All the locals we met and chatted with were very welcoming, informative and helpful. In hindsight, although a coast to coast camino sounded good (Cadiz to A Coruña via Santiago), without at least 2 or 3 rest days in Sevilla, attempting to walk the VDLP immediately would not have been possible for me, I was physically worn out after the 194 km on the VA. My prayers have been heard and my heart has been healed, I was blessed by the Camino magic once again. A thank you to Eugene for his notes and those of other IVAR members. PS: almost every town had a Church of Santiago !
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