DeansFamily
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances 18/916/10/17 Muxia/Finisterre 18/10-22/10/17 Norte 21/4-29/5/18 Primitive 20/9-5/10/18 VdlP
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So far, amazing! A small number of walkers and occasionally a cluster of cyclists from Seville to Villafranca de los Barros. We have lost one at Zafra due to work commitments and one has a job interview so will leave tomorrow. All lovely people, even if there are limitations in language. The albergues are of excellent quality, especially the parish run Monesterio one (thank you again everyone there) and the Convent de San Francisco at Zafra (the dinner and breakfast were excellent and the convent atrium so peaceful). There has been no stress whatsoever in worrying whether we book ahead as many times we get a room all to ourselves. The weather cooled straight after the full moon last Sunday as everyone assured us it would and we have had perfect walking conditions until yesterday when the drizzly mist started. The wind is rising this afternoon and rain is due tonight but it should be clearing tomorrow. I love the scenery, so reminiscent of outback Australia especially the corridor through the red dirt before here. It felt like walking beside the rabbit proof fence. I’ll make the effort to keep you posted on our way to Santiago.I don't know the answer but I'd like to follow you, as I plan on walking the route again in the Spring.
Are you keeping a blog or could you do a "Today on the VDLP" thread here?
From my experience on the first two times I walked sections, it might be good to book beds in the larger cities and maybe call a few days ahead in the smaller villages. I believe there is a current lodging list in the resource section.
Wonderful to meet you all yesterday! We ended up walking on to Merida to meet up with a cycle peregrino and really enjoyed the walk (43km) especially the opportunity to observe a local hunting rabbits with his falcon and 2 spaniels, and so many huge vultures wheeling overhead on the thermals. The hospitaliers at Merida were so attentive and there were many interesting pilgrims staying the night (all the bottom bunks were taken, leaving me the only one sleeping above). If anyone gets a chance make sure you try the local specialty “casar torte” dish of a wonderful cheese that is served hot with items to dip into it. Our friend and us walked the city after breakfast and took in all the Roman had built. The aqueduct system is mind blowing when you take in the reservoir built by the Romans that you walk past on the way out of Merida. 16 km past Merida is a beautiful new albergue with only 5 of us staying here tonight. A good kitchen but no tiendas, and the cafe next door has a great menu del día. Buen Camino Oppis and I have been told the wind will favour your direction for the next few days.Nice to meet You DeansFamily today on route. Like to tell all the others on VdlP, that the albergue Rojo Plata in Torremejia is under renovacion, (cerrado), BUT if you go to Cafe Bar Rojo on the main road, you get the key to albergue. The owner is so wellcoming, and the menu at bar is exellent. If you take the bed and menu, you get breakfast included.
Btw. We are on the way to Sevilla after walking the Mozarabe from Malaga to Merida and now VdlP in reverse direction. Intressant, but easy with maps.me on iphone.
Buen Camino, DeansFamily, and others on VdlP. A&K
Wonderful to meet you all yesterday! We ended up walking on to Merida to meet up with a cycle peregrino and really enjoyed the walk (43km) especially the opportunity to observe a local hunting rabbits with his falcon and 2 spaniels, and so many huge vultures wheeling overhead on the thermals. The hospitaliers at Merida were so attentive and there were many interesting pilgrims staying the night (all the bottom bunks were taken, leaving me the only one sleeping above). If anyone gets a chance make sure you try the local specialty “casar torte” dish of a wonderful cheese that is served hot with items to dip into it. Our friend and us walked the city after breakfast and took in all the Roman had built. The aqueduct system is mind blowing when you take in the reservoir built by the Romans that you walk past on the way out of Merida. 16 km past Merida is a beautiful new albergue with only 5 of us staying here tonight. A good kitchen but no tiendas, and the cafe next door has a great menu del día. Buen Camino Oppis and I have been told the wind will favour your direction for the next few days.
It was the brand new municipal albugue at Aljucen built this year. The lady who runs the bar alongside is very nice and the menu del día was tasty, filling and a good price. Only 5 of us there last night and we felt very spoilt. Good kitchen / dining area and great bathrooms with 2 toilets and 2 showers each for males and females. I thought it was well set out. Sheets and blankets were spotless and smelt newly washed. A good choice to shorten the distances if you need to. Walked to Aldea del Cano today (just over 40km) and felt the history of walking the authentic Via de la Plata. A photographer spotted us about 6 km before and waited to take shots of us with a very dramatic thunderstorm looming behind us as we approached the Roman bridge. Silly us didn’t think to ask him to send us a copy until 500 m up the road. No one else here at the Municipal albugue, a basic stone walled facility that does the job. Onwards to Caceres tomorrow for a few days of rest
I will second that, having followed Sabine’s recommendation myself last year. I had a Sunday afternoon tasting menú that was a little pricey but delicious. I made the mistake of ordering too much food, however. Sitting outside on a nice afternoon in that plaza, eating a good meal, well it’s pretty close to perfect.If you want to treat yourselves to a nice restaurant : La Minerva.
On the Plaza Mayor but no tourist trap.
Tapería en la Plaza Mayor de Cáceres - Restaurante La Minerva
Restaurante Tapería en la Plaza Mayor de Cáceres. Tapas y platos de alta cocina acompañados de los mejores vinos de bodega y cervezas.www.laminervacaceres.com
Without more information, it's difficult to know what's going on there. I have heard that there are some people who travel by bus or car (or are part of an organized tour) and present themselves as walkers to use albergues that are exclusively for credentialed pilgrims (bearing in mind that the credential requires the bearer to travel on foot, by bicycle, or horse ... or boat but that's not unlikely on the VDLP).Now we are worried that there is this cluster of supposed walkers heading for Zamora. Does anyone have any ideas what happened today as we have been alone on the VdlP for a couple of weeks now and this seems very strange
Just reading what you wrote Raggy, and I wonder if it was what our Spanish friend explained to us. He told us that having a Compostela is a highly desirable addition to a person’s resume to gain employment and that it was common for people to be “creative” in their methods of gaining one without putting in the full effort. Maybe that was what they were doing.Earlier this year, I heard from one friend that he met the same group of guys every evening at the albergues on the Camino Mozarabe. My friend walks very fast and he is first to leave the albergue in the morning - but these guys always reached the day's destination before him without a spec of dust on their clothes. They did not hide the fact that they were taking local buses daily. They told him that they didn't think that they could manage to walk the distances - although they appeared to be younger than my friend and with no visible disabilities. I would have told them that they should not carry credentials and they should only stay at accommodations that accept non-pilgrims, but my friend is a tolerant person and he didn't complain. He was mostly just puzzled by their approach. It made no sense to him that they would skip the walking and it made no sense to him that they would cover just 30km to 40km per day if they were taking buses.
I would expect to encounter such people in the last 100km before Santiago, but not on the VDLP around Zamora or the Mozarabe near Cordoba. In those distant areas, I think the people who imitate pilgrims but don't actually travel on foot or by bicycle might be regular tourists who have "discovered" a cheap way to get accommodation or folks who like the idea of a camino itinerary but don't buy into the idea that it ought to involve walking or cycling. I don't want to start an argument about what makes someone a genuine pilgrim... so I'll not speculate any further.He told us that having a Compostela is a highly desirable addition to a person’s resume
Try using the app called “Windy”, a very useful tip we got from @VNwalking in a recent post on the forum. It has overlays for such information as new snow predicted to fall over various time periods or total accumulation at a selected time. I find it extremely helpful for making decisions about where to go next! The black arrow points to the pass we were debating whether to cross on the Francés two days ago.a number of people warned us that we will be walking through snow as we move through the pass. Which stage should we be expecting this to happen? If anyone reading this can let us know it would be appreciated.
The pass that people are most likely thinking of is between Requejo and Lubian. The highest altitude on the Sanabres is on this stage,just before Padornelo. Frankly, it’s not a great walk, since much of it is along the busy highway out of Requejo.number of people warned us that we will be walking through snow as we move through the pass. Which stage should we be expecting this to happen?
Tomorrow’s weather is looking good for our walk to Lubián where we plan to stay the night and look for Peregrina 2000’s scallop shell.
Ah ... coffee .... [makes self a coffee] ... Don't miss the cafe/restaurant in the first village after you enter Galicia. (Down the hill from the A Canda pass). Nice coffee in a humorously (and stylishly) decorated cafe. Check out the monkeys on the wall and work out which one describes your outlook on life the universe and everything.the owners of the two bars were very “vagos.” (Lazy). So no coffee for me there.
Ah ... coffee .... [makes self a coffee] ... Don't miss the cafe/restaurant in the first village after you enter Galicia. (Down the hill from the A Canda pass). Nice coffee in a humorously (and stylishly) decorated cafe. Check out the monkeys on the wall and work out which one describes your outlook on life the universe and everything.
No. The place I'm talking about is called "Bar ON"Raggy, do you mean the hotel/spa Vilavella? Sounds like you may be talking about something else, but that was the only place we found. (I know there is another place on the national highway, but that was even further off-camino). The Vilavella is a bit off camino, but the people were very nice and gave us a very generous breakfast. There are special prices for pilgrims at the spa/hotel as well, if anyone is interested in a day of massages and baths. I remember meeting someone who had stayed there and felt quite invigorated the next day.
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