alansykes
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Except the Francés
I recently finished the Vía Serrana, from the church of Santiago at La Línea de la Concepción (just by Gibraltar) to Seville, going by Ronda. I thought it was mostly a wonderful wonderful 250km camino.
Signage: mostly pretty good. Going from Jimena de la Frontera to Ronda you are mostly in a lovely valley on a cañada real with a river and a railway for company, so virtually impossible to get lost. After Ronda I did lose the arrows on a couple of days, but that was probably me rather than them. The wikiloc tracks the Cádiz Jacobeo people have produced are excellent.
Accommodation: there is effectively no pilgrim infrastructure, other than an albergue/homeless hostel shortly before Seville. Places near the coast, indeed most of the way to Ronda, can be pricey, so it was probably my most expensive camino per day. I arrived at El Colmenar (on Columbus Day) to find everything full, so got a train back to Jimena de la Frontera and stayed another couple of nights at the station hostal, Los Arcos, old fashioned but fine, catching a 6.53am train back to the next day's starting point (with the added advantage of not having to heave my rucksack up the Cañon de las Buitreras). After Ronda there are reasonably priced hostals in every town - or, in the case of Setenil de las Bodegas, a large house to myself for 25€. There were no other pilgrims, even after the Serrana joined the more popular Vía Augusta at Utrera.
Landscape: I think this was probably the most beautiful camino I've walked, especially the hilly section from Jimena de la Frontera to Coripe. It was quite hard work in places, mainly because of the unseasonable heat, but well worth it - fabulous views, flowering pueblos blancos, eagles and vultures, deer and rabbits, the river singing beside you. Every turn in the valley produced another magnificent vista. Much of the walk was through beautiful forests, providing much needed shade. I didn't like the last few flat days to Seville, but again the heat (and mostly shadeless conditions) didn't help.
Food: it was usually possible to get a good meal at even the smallest places. At Benaoján, the village restaurant was shut (on a Saturday?) but the station bar did excellent and varied tapas, more than enough until I caught my train "home". Most days I had excellent salmorejo, which I never realised could be so varied. Also a lot of good fish - in fact, other than occasional taquitos in the salmorejo, I had almost no meat the entire camino. Some decent wine too, including Ronda's own - although, at 14%, to be treated with caution.
Signage: mostly pretty good. Going from Jimena de la Frontera to Ronda you are mostly in a lovely valley on a cañada real with a river and a railway for company, so virtually impossible to get lost. After Ronda I did lose the arrows on a couple of days, but that was probably me rather than them. The wikiloc tracks the Cádiz Jacobeo people have produced are excellent.
Accommodation: there is effectively no pilgrim infrastructure, other than an albergue/homeless hostel shortly before Seville. Places near the coast, indeed most of the way to Ronda, can be pricey, so it was probably my most expensive camino per day. I arrived at El Colmenar (on Columbus Day) to find everything full, so got a train back to Jimena de la Frontera and stayed another couple of nights at the station hostal, Los Arcos, old fashioned but fine, catching a 6.53am train back to the next day's starting point (with the added advantage of not having to heave my rucksack up the Cañon de las Buitreras). After Ronda there are reasonably priced hostals in every town - or, in the case of Setenil de las Bodegas, a large house to myself for 25€. There were no other pilgrims, even after the Serrana joined the more popular Vía Augusta at Utrera.
Landscape: I think this was probably the most beautiful camino I've walked, especially the hilly section from Jimena de la Frontera to Coripe. It was quite hard work in places, mainly because of the unseasonable heat, but well worth it - fabulous views, flowering pueblos blancos, eagles and vultures, deer and rabbits, the river singing beside you. Every turn in the valley produced another magnificent vista. Much of the walk was through beautiful forests, providing much needed shade. I didn't like the last few flat days to Seville, but again the heat (and mostly shadeless conditions) didn't help.
Food: it was usually possible to get a good meal at even the smallest places. At Benaoján, the village restaurant was shut (on a Saturday?) but the station bar did excellent and varied tapas, more than enough until I caught my train "home". Most days I had excellent salmorejo, which I never realised could be so varied. Also a lot of good fish - in fact, other than occasional taquitos in the salmorejo, I had almost no meat the entire camino. Some decent wine too, including Ronda's own - although, at 14%, to be treated with caution.
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