LIVE from the Camino Estrecho & Augusta

[Madrood]

Day 0 - Arrival in Gibraltar

After many abandoned plans I'm finally on the way. The plan is to walk these two together, then onto the VdlP and Sanabres before finishing up in A Coruna. I make it as 7 weeks.

My staging is going to a bit different from what's usually done, mostly on account of the search for cheap private accommodation but also to not miss out on some interesting diversions. I'm staying in La Linea rather than Algericas tonight for the same reasons.

Today, I got the avanza bus from malaga to La Linea, one pair of earphones lighter than when I flew in but whatever. Weather is quite comfortable, highs of 20ish degrees with a persistent breeze. Should stay like that until Cadiz, but then it's already looking like the 'frying pan of Spain' is starting to sizzle. Fingers crossed for a weak El Niño.

Didn't tarry for long in either malaga or Gibraltar. Id like to walk from either of those some day so no rush.

 

[Philtration]

Looking forward to your updates.

Buen Camino!

 

[Madrood]

Day 1 - Algeciras to Tarifa (34 km/994 m/6hr 15m)

Ups and downs.

I slept well last night in Pension La Esteperona (25 ppn w p bathroom), it's a bit dated but the price is fair. A late morning bus to the north of Algeciras. The Estrecho proper heads South from the city between the road and the coast, but I went west instead into the mountains.

After 20 mins of pavement and road the path turned to sand and gravel and stayed that way to the peaks. Not too steep and easily done in 18 degree heat with the wind at my back. Grand views of Gibraltar and the bay, with just a few bikers and one horseman for company.

The descent is shadowed by a deep cork forest, with Gibraltar slipping behind the mountains and the smokey outline of Morroco coming into view. Had to delay not to get on the bad side of some dogs herding the goats themselves, alpine style. The border collie was hyper and the goats were in no hurry to move along the only path but fortuenalty the bigger dog who took over coaxed them away and wasn't bothered by my walking past.

Some hard shoulder walking to get to the bus stop where I'd go into Tarifa from, bussing back tomorrow to resume. The bus never showed, or showed 15 mins early, and with the next not due for 2 hours I decided I'd rather walk to Tarifa in the same amount of time. I stuck with the hard shoulder since I'd rather walk with animals that wouldnt hope for a belly rub after hurting me. Wasn't especially pleasent but I got there in the end, regretful owner of my first blister already.

Thankfully today's extra Kms came from tomorrow, so with only 8 km left to walk I can slap a plaster on and take it easy, which is what you're meant to do in Tarifa if the tourist tat messaging is to be believed.

That spec in the second picture is an eagle or vulture btw, pale head so not sure. Some deer knocking around too.

 

[Philtration]

Not the day you planned, but you're on your way. Enjoy your easy day.

 

[Madrood]

Day 2 - Tarifa to Valdevaqueros (10.3 km/50 m/2hr 20 mins)

Checked out in the late morning from La Calzada (35 pppn w p bathroom), a brightly paint pension right beside the church. Tarifa is a not a bad place to spend an impromptu near-rest day. Old contests over the strait have bequeathed with both moorish fortifications as well as some later towers and batteries.

Nowadays the town is more well known for being a kite surfers paradise due to a stubborn wind that blows "over 300 days a year". After strolling around town I watched the surfers for a while as the more confident ones did corkscrew jumps into the air off the back of 1 metre waves. Must look into giving it a go when I'm back home.

A little after lunch time I figured it was time to get going, walking along the quiet beach for 2.5 km until a channel made me go inland, first onto a boardwalk, then a rut by the roadside for a few Kms. It's a shame since there was so much more beach to go on the other side of the channel; I suspect it might be privately owned by campsites. Some more beach later on, some more road, a nameless medieval tower perched on a rock, and I'm at my hotel.

Blister gave no trouble, balls of my feet are bit sore though, hopefully both improved enough to tackle ~35 mostly flat Kms tomorrow.

 

[islandwalker]

I’m so glad to read your reports and know that you are on your way. What a grand route you have mapped out! I’ll be looking forward to the next posting. Great photos too.

 

[Madrood]

It's been a while. My blisters were getting bigger and more numerous and I realised my shoes (Merrell Moab 3 fwiw) weren't broken in enough and, taken with some abnormally high temperatures around Seville (pushing 40 C/ 104 F), would make for some unpleasant walking. I decided I had nothing to gain from walking after Cadiz compared to restarting the trail some other time. I'm not disappointed though since now that I've experienced what it's like to walk (this was my first experience trekking) I know my future caminos will be better planned.

Day 3 - Valdevaqueros to Barbate (40.7 km/571 m/9 hrs 11 mins)

Lots of sand on this stage. The long day started just across the road from that night's resting spot, Hotel Restaurante La Torre, €33 for a private room in a resort style set up).

The first stage was pleasant, the receding tide creating a pretty ideal walking surface of pristine hard sand punctuated with the odd collapsing WW2 bunker. Heading inwards and passing a road struggling to stay visible amidst the dunes, the route passed into a pine forest with a much looser and softer sandy path which was tough going, until I noticed some other wanderer had beaten a path on harder ground. There were some camino arrows in here as well as some GR marking.

The forest path ends some 15 minutes away from the entrance to what was once the coastal Roman town of Baelo Claduia. This municipium grew prosperous from the trade of garum, leaving behind not only the works themselves but also a well preserved civil core, featuring a forum, theater, temple bases, courthouse, and numerous other bits of foundation and paving. The path continues up into the forested mountains that shadow the town; the official camino heads north east towards the routes only albergue in Tahiville, but I stuck with the coast and the surer surface of EuroVelo 8 (which is in continual development) to the 16th century lighthouse at Camarinal.

From here it's your choice of beach or tarmac to Zahara de los Atunes for 30 km, or further still to Barbate. I should mention though the EV8 is blocked in some places by fencing so like me you'll probably have to mix it up.

 

[Madrood]

Day 4: Conil to El Colorado
Slept in Hostal Barbate, a bit basic for €35 and with weak aircon, but still content. Because of the blister situation I ended up busing most of this. The plan was to walk to Trafalgar lightouse mostly sticking with EV8, though I did also consider heading to Vejer which would also make for a good place to break a stage. After getting out at Conil I walked from there to El Coloardo, losing the beach for a pastoral sprawl of campsites, farm houses, regular houses, garden centers, and farms.

 

[Madrood]

Day 5 - El Colorado to Cadiz (36 km/350 m/6 hr 42 min)

Not entirely pleased with my hotel in El Colorado (Hostal Las Cumbres, €30) on account of some pretty thin walls, I made an early start with the intention of catching a bus to skip some of todays planned walk. By the time I got to the bus stop though I stopped noticing the blisters and decided to make the most of the cool morning to get to Chiclana at least. Mostly on the side of the road, except for a brief interlude through a bit of pine forest, I breezed through Chiclana to get onto the new and quite busy trail through the wetlands that separate the city from San Fernando. Sadly no flamingos to be seen, or much of anything else to be honest.

I kept the momentum up and only briefly stopped in San Fernando before rejoining both EV8 and the official Estrecho route at the start of the only footpath into Cadiz from the mainland, since pedestrians are barred from both bridges. It's a very straight walk with the railway to the left and the bay to the right, with Cadiz and it's bridges always in view. The entrance to the city is through the industrial zone, but the beach and promenade of the new town are only a few minutes away.

 

[islandwalker]

Wonderful photos of Baelo Claudia and Cadiz. Thanks for detailing the one possible way into the city if walking - good information. You walked a beautiful stretch of the coast! Thanks for all the write-ups.

 

[Madrood]

Wonderful photos of Baelo Claudia and Cadiz. Thanks for detailing the one possible way into the city if walking - good information. You walked a beautiful stretch of the coast! Thanks for all the write-ups.

Thanks IW, who I should mention gave a lot of help with the planning and encouragement too!

 

[Madrood]

Hi all

Alltrails isn't cooperating and so instead of sharing my gpx files I have done out my route on google maps instead. For the most part it corresponds to the lighter blue line, where black lines paths which while not on the map are actually there. I've also included the official camino estrecho in darker blue. Note that between Bolonia and Valvedequeros, I used the path closer to the sea (i.e. not the one through Villa Selene).

Camino Estrecho - Google My Maps

Camino Estrecho

www.google.com

I should probably add some closing thoughts. Since this was my first camino (and thru-hike) I don't have a point of reference to compare it to. Going by what people generally comment on, I'd say this is a pretty good route.

On the one hand there are no albergues (apart from that one in Tahiville I didn't use) and the way marking is incidental. There are unavoidable sections of roadwalking and there are no other pilgrims.

On the other hand, I spent 30 euro on average for a private room which isn't too expensive compared to e.g. the Frances, and had a private bathroom too everywhere except Cadiz. This is contingent on walking the route in the off-season though. While there were no other pilgrims, there were plenty of tourists about so I wouldn't call it lonely either. Restaurants, grocery stores, and hotels were easily found. The weather was pleasant and compared to the more inland regions in Andalusia was cooler because of the sea breeze, something which is true during summer too if the climate data is to be believed. There's plenty of history to be seen, and following the coast means being able to see where you came from and where you're going all day.

To be honest, at times, walking felt like purgatory. Most of this was down to circumstance, specifically the intersection of my stages being too long for how broken in my shoes were, and now I miss being outdoors all day. I didn't find the long stages boring, once I factor out the pain. Even so, I think I would change the staging:

Algeciras-Tarifa
I think this was actually fine as planned, if only the bus had shown and those dogs hadn't been out. I think the high road I took probably is more scenic than the official route which is closer to the sea, since there's plenty of seaside walking down the way, but I don't think it's leagues ahead either.

Tarifa-Valv
Ditto. Tarifa is a nice camino town. It's a shame that an unbroken beach walk doesn't seem possible and so the roadwalking here is unavoidable.

Valv-Barbate
Probably too long. It's possible to stay at Bolonia in the summer/shoulder season but it's a bit pricier. In retrospect I'd have either sucked it up or else stopped in Zahara.

Barbate-El Colorado
If I'd walked this I would have stuck with the coast, passing Trafalgar lighthouse, rather than head inland to Vejar. It has some cheap beds but it's quite hilly and seems to be mostly pavement in the surrounding countryside. I'd also stop in Conil, since I didn't like my hotel in EC. I didn't do this in the first place because prices in Conil were considerably higher at the weekend, but I'd just deal with it now, and also stick with the coastal path.

El Colorado-Cadiz.
It was actually quite difficult to find budget accommodation between EC and Cadiz. Conil-Cadiz would be too far imo, so I think I'd break it in either Chicalana or San Fernando, not much difference between them. I'd also stick with EV8 via Roche, since it seems quite pleasant.