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Buen CaminoQuick intro about us so you get a feel for who we are. I'm Donna and I'm a Kiwi who has been living in the NT of Australia for most of my adult life. And over 20 years in Darwin where the temp is usually 30-35 deg C maximum and the humidity varies between 20-100% depending on the time of year. I did grow up in Dunedin, NZ but it has been a long time since I had to rug up against the cold.
I walked the VDLP in Jun/Jul 2015 and loved it. So I wanted to do something special for my 50th birthday in March. Kilimanjaro is on the bucket list. Problem is that Darwin is very flat so I thought a short camino could help with the training and I was eyeing up the Invierno. While it is cheap and easy to fly from Australia to Tanzania to Europe it is unaffordable in the other direction. So I started thinking Spain again. In the albergue in Zamora there is a map with camino routes and the Levante and Sureste looked interesting. I did want to do the Astorga leg of the VDLP too. And so the idea of a coast to coast Camino Mixto was born a couple of years ago. Then I meet Barrie. It gets kind of serious quite quickly. He proposes. We talk about building a new house. And then I know that he needs to experience a camino if we are to be on the same page. So I invite him along and he doesn't run away in the opposite direction. There is a slight catch. I was hoping to be on the camino on my birthday. He has to be in NZ over Easter to photograph some planes. So looking at dates that would allow enough time meant we left Australia on Feb 1st. Winter. Guess that will be the challenge.
We arrived in Barcelona on the 3rd and were there for 2 days to acclimatise a little and work out if we had gotten our gear right while we could still access a sports shop.
And play total tourist. Barrie was born in the UK but grew up in Australia. He has never been to Spain. He does a very good Manuel of Fawlty Towers impression. So I am it re our Spanish. The weather is cold but clear. We have a good selection of clothes. His asthma so far has remained under control which is one of my fears for this trip.
We got our Gaudi fix, and I signed us up for a Tapas, Taverns and History tour with Devour tours who I recommend to all the foodies out there. We stayed at the K+K Picasso Hotel which is a brilliant location. Compared to 2015 the things that strike me about the city is that the homeless are visible, there are many more Catalonian flags and yellow ribbons, more vacant places to rent and they are losing the battle against tagging and graffiti.
Anyway we took the train from the Frances station and it does a loop to Barcelona Sants and is direct to Sevilla with Valencia on the way. We left at 9am and got in by 1 pm to the Valencia Nord station. We are staying at the Pension Alicante.
Useful things so far:
My Paramo hiking pants.
My compression thermal leggings. The down vest.
Apps: Wikiloc, OsmAnd.
SettleUp for tracking expenses between the two of us.
SpanishDict and Google Translate. El Tiempo for weather.
I love instagram as it gives me a place to put the photos I am always snapping so if anyone wants to check that, look up "missywombat".
Today is the day for playing tourist, getting our first sellos and working out where we start walking tomorrow.
Hi, Donna,Day 1:
We started about 9ish. Getting out of Valencia was easy thanks to all of the scallop discs courtesy of the local Friends of the Camino. Having said that we did manage to get off track in Alfafar and I suspect we missed a marker at the Palm gardens. Easily fixed once we got onto Wikiloc.
Lots of industrial zone type walking and you could smell a lot of gunga being used despite rarely seeing anyone especially around Catarroja.
The weather has been pretty warm. I started off wearing a smartwool baselayer tshirt with my thermal compression leggings with my thin windbreaker and a down vest. By the time we got to Silla at exactly 2 pm, it was hot enough for me to change into my light hiking skirt and get rid of the vest. Compared to the VDLP people are a little more reserved with only the very occasional Hola or Buen Camino. And I am one of these people that tends to say Buenas to anyone that makes eye contact. We did have a lovely lady stop and chat in Silla in the Plaza.
After Silla you get farmland with lots of oranges, onions(?) and the blossom is just starting. Then came those wetlands (Albafera) and I assume ricefields. Lots of herons. Barrie is a professional wildlife observer so knows his Aussie birds so was pointing out the differences between our local herons and kites and the ones here.
It was nice to get into this area and you see a few cyclists and runners between Silla and El Romani which is just before Almussafes. It was getting late and we got to that point of both wanting to stop for the day so we quickly booked a room at the Hotel Isabel in Almussafes as we were walking before the railway overbridge into El Romani. Of course then we realise we still had a couple of kilometres to go and I remembered how the last couple of km are always the hardest of the day. Cost of the room with breakfast was 63€ on booking.com and they charged us 50€. We ended up with a twin but the bathroom has a bath.
Tried to contact my Aunt and ended up chatting with my Dutch cousin because my Movistar phonecard seems to be data only (Grrrr...) and I couldn't phone my aunt when I tried. The instructions are all in Spanish. My Lebara card last time was in English.
She didn't have wifi so I was FB messaging my cuz in Holland who was phoning his Mum. Then to top it off the restaurant (Innusual) that sounded nice on Google no longer exists so I was trying to change things at the meeting point with no phone capacity, a phone that was about to die and me leaving messages all over FB and Messenger via Barrie's phone. So we never did catch up ;( . The late meal we had at a bar on the Hotel side of Carrer Ausiàs March was great though and boy did we need that bottle of wine by that time!
According to my notes and I always use the higher estimate, today was a 23.3 km day. Google Fit tells me we did 21.5 km. Barrie's phone says at least 27+ km and 35K steps. Who knows!
Today will be a shorter day as we are both feeling a bit sore. Getting to Xativa is going to be a 3 day effort rather than a 2 day one.
Thank you for the updates on the Levante. I will be starting out from VALENCIA March 1 and your posts are quite helpful. However I am hoping for the cooler weather. Looking forward to your continued posting. Stay safe!Day 3: Algemesi to Xàtiva. Early start and it was about 4 deg to begin with. Alzira is a lovely town and very friendly. Started getting regular Buen Caminos, little chats and a bloke in a car even stopped to give us some blood oranges. And yes, I did spot some locals taking photos of us with our crazy Aarnpacks!
More horticultural land -oranges, pomegranates. Love all the fruit and it is pretty countryside. Coming out of Alzira there is a ton of extreme right graffiti and Vox seems to have support here. Real contrast with the friendliness of the people.
Watch out in the industrial area near Alzira. Drains with no covers. I fell into one when I took my eyes off the ground to look at something Barrie was pointing out and got my boot stuck. Got it out finally but it was lucky I was wearing boots not shoes. No damage.
Unseasonably warm and the temp has been up to 24 degrees C. Last year they had blizzards. We came prepared for blizzards. Thank God my pants have entire leg vents.
It's taking us longer than I expected to get from A to B. We stopped in Manuel and took a taxi up to Xàtiva as it was late. And the reality of the camino is hitting Barrie. I think he was expecting more leisurely vacation than pilgrimage. He's got a bit of chafing from the boxers that were supposed to stop chafing. My damn boot keeps rubbing on my right lateral malleolus and it's annoying and my woollen injinjis made my little toe blister worse. Minor things but painful. But lSo given it was getting too close to 5 pm and we still had 10 km to go and to make sure our relationship survives, we got a cab from Manuel to Xàtiva as I had already booked accommodation there. We are staying at the Casa de Cigroner and have decided to have a rest day.
I had to laugh that when we were checking in we bumped into someone else with a pack. "Peregrino?"
We were both astounded as we thought we wouldn't see another pilgrim for at least several hundred km and we bump into an Irish pilgrim.
Camino lessons? Compromise which I'm not especially good at. I tend to make friends of my travel companions not make travel companions of my friends and loved ones.
However we do travel well together in the sense of he is much better at scanning the environment and spotting things. And stopping me from getting myself killed by cars coming from the 'wrong' side. He needs my language skills (ha!) and someone who can deal with really bad Dad jokes. I have no idea how his brain does it so rapidly.
I'm using Wikiloc under my forum name to keep track of kilometres. Probably taking too many photos along the way. Some on wikiloc, some on IG.
So rest tomorrow, play tourist a little, maybe catch up with that aunt of mine!
Keep positive, despite the pain. Another Iirish Pilgrim. Stephen?Day 3: Algemesi to Xàtiva. Early start and it was about 4 deg to begin with. Alzira is a lovely town and very friendly. Started getting regular Buen Caminos, little chats and a bloke in a car even stopped to give us some blood oranges. And yes, I did spot some locals taking photos of us with our crazy Aarnpacks!
More horticultural land -oranges, pomegranates. Love all the fruit and it is pretty countryside. Coming out of Alzira there is a ton of extreme right graffiti and Vox seems to have support here. Real contrast with the friendliness of the people.
Watch out in the industrial area near Alzira. Drains with no covers. I fell into one when I took my eyes off the ground to look at something Barrie was pointing out and got my boot stuck. Got it out finally but it was lucky I was wearing boots not shoes. No damage.
Unseasonably warm and the temp has been up to 24 degrees C. Last year they had blizzards. We came prepared for blizzards. Thank God my pants have entire leg vents.
It's taking us longer than I expected to get from A to B. We stopped in Manuel and took a taxi up to Xàtiva as it was late. And the reality of the camino is hitting Barrie. I think he was expecting more leisurely vacation than pilgrimage. He's got a bit of chafing from the boxers that were supposed to stop chafing. My damn boot keeps rubbing on my right lateral malleolus and it's annoying and my woollen injinjis made my little toe blister worse. Minor things but painful. But lSo given it was getting too close to 5 pm and we still had 10 km to go and to make sure our relationship survives, we got a cab from Manuel to Xàtiva as I had already booked accommodation there. We are staying at the Casa de Cigroner and have decided to have a rest day.
I had to laugh that when we were checking in we bumped into someone else with a pack. "Peregrino?"
We were both astounded as we thought we wouldn't see another pilgrim for at least several hundred km and we bump into an Irish pilgrim.
Camino lessons? Compromise which I'm not especially good at. I tend to make friends of my travel companions not make travel companions of my friends and loved ones.
However we do travel well together in the sense of he is much better at scanning the environment and spotting things. And stopping me from getting myself killed by cars coming from the 'wrong' side. He needs my language skills (ha!) and someone who can deal with really bad Dad jokes. I have no idea how his brain does it so rapidly.
I'm using Wikiloc under my forum name to keep track of kilometres. Probably taking too many photos along the way. Some on wikiloc, some on IG.
So rest tomorrow, play tourist a little, maybe catch up with that aunt of mine!
Sí! He's probably a day ahead of us now which is probably fortunate for him. Barrie's sinuses are playing up and he's become a champion snorer.Keep positive, despite the pain. Another Iirish Pilgrim. Stephen?
Hey, does anyone have a good Wikiloc track from Alpera to Higueruela? Just trying not to kill Barrie with his asthma.
Hi Donna. Now that you have a very fresh perspective, I want to ask you for your thoughts on completing two sections in one day, Moixent to La Font de la Fuguera but then on to Almansa on the same day. The first section is about 17 klm, but from La Font to Almansa it is another 26/27 klm. That's long, a combined 44 klm, but I would like your thoughts on whether you think it is doable. I would be conscious of heat being a factor also as I will be walking in early June and especially conscious of the fact that there is NOTHING between La Font de la Figuera and Almansa. Would welcome your feedback Donna. I am also walking for only 8 or 9 days this time around and it seems a terrible waste of one of those days if I end up in La Font de la Figuera at 10.00am in the morning and don't walk anymore for the rest of the day. And being on my own, its a very long day to pass in a small place like La Font de la Figuera. So my urge is to go on.... go for it!! I previously walked a couple of 43klm+ days on the Via de la Plata.Stage 6: Font de la Figuera to Almansa.
Once again a lovely day with just the right amount of cloud. Lots of arid farmland, some vineyards before I crossed over into La Mancha. Lots of wind turbines and into forestry. Once that finished it opened up into farmland again. Saw goats and sheepGenerally heading downhill and then finally into the valley where Almansa lies. We are staying at the Hotel Blu which is on the camino but on the other side of town. It took me an hour to get across Almansa especially as my legs and feet were getting to that tired sore stage. Hotel Blu is pretty flash. Nice contrast with the donativo!
Nice one Martyduc, thanks.Wonderful free app called "windy maps " that you can then download the area of Spain (or wherever in the world )and has virtually every walking track known ,,,just checked it has the Camino Levante ,,so then you only need the gps part of your phone on and it will show you exactly where you are ,,and the Camino track
i found and then used it on the vldp and sanabres last year and is fantastic ,,and simple !!!!! oh and free
It's doable especially as the second part has flat and downhill walking. The last 10 km of looking at the castle in Almansa has the potential to drive you nuts once you are in the valley. Take into account where your accommodation is as this may add up to 4 km to your day wandering about town.Hi Donna. Now that you have a very fresh perspective, I want to ask you for your thoughts on completing two sections in one day, Moixent to La Font de la Fuguera but then on to Almansa on the same day. The first section is about 17 klm, but from La Font to Almansa it is another 26/27 klm. That's long, a combined 44 klm, but I would like your thoughts on whether you think it is doable. I would be conscious of heat being a factor also as I will be walking in early June and especially conscious of the fact that there is NOTHING between La Font de la Figuera and Almansa. Would welcome your feedback Donna. I am also walking for only 8 or 9 days this time around and it seems a terrible waste of one of those days if I end up in La Font de la Figuera at 10.00am in the morning and don't walk anymore for the rest of the day. And being on my own, its a very long day to pass in a small place like La Font de la Figuera. So my urge is to go on.... go for it!! I previously walked a couple of 43klm+ days on the Via de la Plata.
Dave
Didn`t you see also a group of men, generally with binoculars and radio handsets, observing those birds? These is a modality of pigeon fancying typical of Mediterranean Spain, somewhat extended to the rest of the country and latin América. They release a female pigeon, and a lot of male competitors. The winner is the pigeon who carries the female to his dovecot. The painting of wings is used to permit each owner to identify his bird while flying. those pigeons use to be expensive.We also saw this completely bizarre release of multicoloured birds (doves, pigeons?) from down in the old village while we were up at the castle. Hand coloured birds. Definitely not natural
Hi Donna. Now that you have a very fresh perspective, I want to ask you for your thoughts on completing two sections in one day, Moixent to La Font de la Fuguera but then on to Almansa on the same day. The first section is about 17 klm, but from La Font to Almansa it is another 26/27 klm. That's long, a combined 44 klm, but I would like your thoughts on whether you think it is doable. I would be conscious of heat being a factor also as I will be walking in early June and especially conscious of the fact that there is NOTHING between La Font de la Figuera and Almansa. Would welcome your feedback Donna. I am also walking for only 8 or 9 days this time around and it seems a terrible waste of one of those days if I end up in La Font de la Figuera at 10.00am in the morning and don't walk anymore for the rest of the day. And being on my own, its a very long day to pass in a small place like La Font de la Figuera. So my urge is to go on.... go for it!! I previously walked a couple of 43klm+ days on the Via de la Plata.
Thanks Donna, I guess it will come down to heat. Been Camino, Thanks for the blog.It's doable especially as the second part has flat and downhill walking. The last 10 km of looking at the castle in Almansa has the potential to drive you nuts once you are in the valley. Take into account where your accommodation is as this may add up to 4 km to your day wandering about town.
There is a Casa Rural on the Camino "Mas de Monserrat" between Moixent and Font. Don't know if that could be handy for juggling the distances. https://m.holidaycottagestorent.net/country-houses/mas-de-monserrat-casa-les-alcusses--c9558
I have taken a lot of photos that come up on my Wikiloc trails (donnasch) that may give you a better idea of the countryside. You can certainly restock water well in Font as the place is full of fountains.
Thanks JLWV, let me look at that. Again, there is a 17 in there, which is what I was trying to avoid.If you stay in Alpera, then Higueruela, Chinchilla and Albacete it will be a 3 days trip of 20, 29 and 17 km,
but if, when in Higueruela, you continue to Hoya Gonzalo, you can reach Albacete in 2 days of 31 and 35 km.
The last 17 km are completely flat. Hoya Gonzalo has good albergue for 16 pilgrims.
buen camino
Chinchilla to Albacete:
It was all downhill and flat. Wheatfields just starting to grow. No trees. Very cloudy day and quite chilly but pleasant. Managed to wander offtrack and we only realised when there was a little ruin that made a convenient toilet stop and I looked at the phone to check where the turn right was meant to be...oops. A bit of backtracking and cross country stuff...
The advantage of that however is that the sun had come out a little, there was a little less cloud...and we were in a great position to catch the takeoff of Typhoon Eurofighters which are Spanish Airforce made in Germany. Los Llanos Airbase. Barrie does aviation photography (and things that move fast) so this is completely his thing. They were heading north as was a Hercules which was there for refuelling. No way he could get his usual photos (that requires a rather large lens the size of a large tablelamp which definitely is not camino-friendly) but he could get good enough pics for ID purposes. Also some touch and go landings. I didn't realise that the Parador is on the Camino route. We stopped there for lunch. The chap in the bar has the best pokerface and the driest sense of humour. Nice trot into Albacete but you can't describe it as a pretty city. There are individual buildings such as the Gran Hotel and the gardens. But there seems to be a lot of 1880 onward type architecture and then late 20th ugly box stuff.
Do like their use of ornamental kale in their floral beds
But I was happy as I turfed my Movistar SIM which didn't recharge from online and never made phone calls/texts from Day 1. Now have an Orange card which works.
Hit a local bar for a St V's dinner.
Donna, Your commentary on the boots reminds me of Reese Witherspoon in WildHad an extra day in Albacete to hit Decathlon and tweak gear. My boots which have never before given me grief are driving me nuts and if I could find a pair of Vasque hiking shoes I would trade them in in an instant. I am a size 46 so am at the upper end of the mens sizes here too. So I have these little plantar gel pads now which means my big toe has stopped going numb. I want to do some big distances but these boots are annoying. Bought them to deal with the terrible weather we are not getting and no issues at home. Did a restock in tape as I am going through tons of it in preventative taping. Between Barrie's airways and my feet, 40 km to La Roda was not an option so we took a taxi to La Gineta. I tried emailing the ajuntamiento at gineta@dipualba.es to ask what was available accommodation-wise but their email failed. So we took a taxi there and walked to La Roda. Open farmland, quite rocky paths, pretty flat. I habe been looking forward to this stop and it did not disappoint. Smart move using the Plaza del Toros. +34 630 44 02 15 is the phone number to call (and I survived making the phone call!) and this tiny elderly gentleman wanders over with the key. Donativo. Nice wee town. Friendly people. Managed to escape the Aussie (pre) election campaigning but now the Spaniards have started on theirs. April 23 is the big day. Not seeing as much extreme right graffiti as previously so I hope that reflects the actual politics of the area.
Since I had visited all of Toledo's major sites a couple of times, we looked for some of the less popular places. This bracelet is GREAT (though it includes the synagogue and Santo Tome so maybe not worth it for you now). For 9 euros it takes you to places you wouldn't otherwise go, so it's also a nice walking tour of Toledo.Coming to you from Toledo and we are now planning to stay an extra night in addition to the two nights I had already planned. This city is a photographer's dream. And the military museum is shut on Mondays! Some things are free on Sunday but you really need to organise your times to account for opening hours and days. The Museo de Santa Cruz is excellent with some great El Greco works and the Alcantara bridge and areas around the river are lovely to walk around. Finally got photos of some more birds and our first reptiles, a few pretty skinks. We checked out the Jewish Quarter yesterday. Santo Tomé is a bit overrated and reminded me of the queues in the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa as everyone tries to see El Entierro del Señor de Orgaz. I was happily surprised to see a Black Madonna there though. My favourite town up to now was Salamanca but Toledo is giving it a run for its money.
Hi DonnaAs we got into Gotarrendura
Thank you Donna for your information.The bar is still closed. First chance for breakfast was Bar El Porsche in Hernansancho. Great cooking facilities in Gotarrendura so it's just a case of bringing some supplies.
Sorry about your breakfast but you seem to be able to cope with what comes at you. Thanks for your posts.Eek! Barrie's sinuses have started up again and given past issues with progression to pneumonia I don't want to stress his body too much so we took a taxi from Medina del Campo to Nava del Rey bypassing more of the plains and walked a shorter day. Nava is a decent sized town with an impressive church. The walk over into the next valley and into Siete Iglesias de Trabancos is pleasant. We saw some Great Bustards (Avutarda euroasiática) which are listed as being vulnerable and which are extinct in the UK. About half of the global population is found in Central Spain as they like rolling hills and grasslands. They look a little like geese with emu heads.
Also saw Lesser Kestrels (Cernícalo primilla) flying in and out of holes in the walls of the church in Siete Iglesias. The local priest just happened to stop by as we were outside the big church of San Pelayo and invited us in. Impressive interior with a walnut carved retablo.
Did attempt to get a room at the Casa Rural Calderon de Medina since we were close by but it is one of those places where you have to rent out the entire place ie for 6-7 people. So we wandered down to the Hostal de Volante which had a room. I suggest you get a normal doble not the matrimonio as the bed we have is an old one with bed springs and a giant dip in the bed. It does have radiators and a small bath so some urgent washing got done. The bar is friendly and the food is basic but decent.
There is the truckstop hotel a little further on if needed which seems very busy.
Addit: The hot water was non-existent this morning, and it was only warm in the afternoon. Breakfast was toast with a tub of margarine and a newly opened jar of jam straight off the shelf. You can probably do better for your 50€ elsewhere!
Comparison is the thief of joy. Hmm. Thanks for that pearl for today, Donna. I don’t remember ever hearing that before...happy walking onwards.One thing I have found about this camino was that I got over-ambitious so there has been a bit of peregrino-lite travelling with grabbing taxis. Not what I was planning but that's a lesson in itself. Just because 30+ km days are easy in summer, don't expect the same in cold weather. With extra gear and short days it puts the pressure on. Next camino, assume low 20s days.
And I've had to face my fear of using the phone with my basic Spanish. Boy do I love mobiles because then I can text people as my written Spanish is okay.
Today was Siete Iglesias to wherever we got to. And that was Villafranco de Duero. Today was rolling hills and farmland which becomes especially pretty once you are in the Duero River Valley.
Castronuño is a nice not so wee town with at least 2 bars, 2 casa rurals although one had a for sale sign in a window as well as the albergue. Woodpeckers in the area and I have a ton of photos of the tree it was in hoping that I have gotten lucky and got the bird. Bumped into a sweet old bloke who spotted us checking out his horses and invited us up to meet them. Barrie is the horse person and a few days ago one of the bars had sugar cubes which ended up in a backpack just in case.
It was after 2 pm by the time we got to Villafranco. Toro is visible from there but a long way away even if it is flat and along the valley. So we made a decision to go through to Villaralbo and stay at Casa Aurelia which is just outside Zamora by taxi (Javier Encinas +34 645 51 52 51 which is a mobile number and who is based in Toro. ) so we have more time in Zamora. Tomorrow will be the albergue in Zamora.
Toro is on the escarpment above the river and looks quite impressive. Javier the taxi guy was giving a running commentary along the way. There are some flash places to stay in places like Peleagonzalo which is off-camino which have wineries attached but not by much ie the river is quite close by. Tomorrow we walk into Zamora and due to the time constraints we will bus to Ponferrada the next day and start the Invierno. I did think about doing a total change of plan and doing the Sanabres again but something would have to be left out. And I had such a lovely time on the Sanabres last camino I wouldn't be able to not compare experiences. Comparison is the thief of joy and I know I would end up frustrated doing short stages.
I have missed the camaraderie and making of new friends along the way. Not just meeting others in albergues but walking and talking with them. The being with them.
This is not to say that I haven't enjoyed the Levante; I have. It would be an excellent camino to do on a bike apart from a few days before Ávila. It has been great for our relationship.
But now I have to plan another Camino to do the Astorga leg of the VDLP
Great advice Donna. You are in Zamora? Amazing. The rest is really nice. Did it last year.In hostals, no. In albergues, yes. The ones we have been in have had plenty of blankets but not much more.
There are quite a few places where if it is cold it is very cold.
The day we got rained on, I basically got straight into my sleeping bag as soon as I got dry gear on including my down vest and thermals. And to be honest I did not feel remotely warm for several hours. And that albergue had good heating. If you get the wrong weather there is a real risk of hypothermia and your sleeping bag is invaluable.
Might be because Camino Teresiano goes from Avila to Alba de Tormes (which is just one day of walking before Salamanca) but overlapse the first stage with Levante and going through Gotarrendura where St.Teresa of Avila was allegedly born (at least villagers of Gotarrendura told me so and showed me in which house)....The second part I walked alone and only bumped into four other pilgrims in Gotarrendura but they were walking another route - Camino de Santa Teresa if I recal correctly.
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