From Huelva on the Camino del Sur and Via de la Plata

[Alan Pearce]

Hello to Carole and others on the VdlP,
I have just wasted 2 hours on this site trying to put in details of my walk - I think that I am such a slow typist that I got timed out! So I am going to do a short-hand version that I hope may be of use to some one, starting from my time in Salamanca.
I spent 2 nights in Salamanca staying at Hostal Don Juan, 45 euro per night for a single room. Not great value but the position, right beside the Plaza Mayor, made up for the ordinary room. The Eastar parades went by outside the front door, and the bar downstairs served very good tapas.
From Salamanca I walked to El Cubo de Vino [ sounds like a wine cask ]. Phillipe was the lively and gracious host, at least he was after he chewed out the people who had ignored the No Passar signs and went into unoccupied dormitories looking for bottom bunks. It all ended well, and Phillipe came in at 7AM to cook desayuno in the morning. Beer and wine are for sale at the albergue, payment by the honour system.
The walk to Zamora was very pleasant, although it must have been very muddy only a couple of days before. The albergue is just great, and Jaimie was a lovely hospitalero. He even brought in everyones washing when there was a sudden storm in the afternoon and we pilgrims were out looking around the town. Breakfast in the morning was cold pre-packed toast, but you could get refills of cafe con leche at no extra charge!
It was a long walk to Riego del Camino, and when I arrived I found the arrows leading to the albergue were confusing. I eventually asked a local where the street I needed was. The Raju guide said the albergue was at Calle Espana 3, but that is where Dorita the hospitalero lives, and she has the key if you are the first to arrive. The albergue is at Calle Espana 32. We went to Bar Pepe [ which looks shut from some angles but is well and truly open] and when I tried to pay for a round of drinks with a 50 euro note I was directed to a notice on the wall that said the biggest note that can be cashed is 20 euro. Someone paid my bill and I paid them back that night when we had a meal at the bar and thay would accept the bigger notes for meals. For meals at Bar Pepe, the staff have to be told how many are coming for dinner [ tell them by 5.30], and there is no choice in courses - every one gets the same and you have to eat what is put in front of you. All 11 of us from the albergue went there for dinner and it was a lot of fun.

More later buen camino

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

A little more.
The walk from Riego del Camino to Tabara began with very easy walking until I reached the Rio Esla and crossed the bridge. The next session was as hard as some of the difficult sections on the del Norte between Irun and Bilbao, and was very slow going. It ends with a steep climb up a track on a hill, and halfway up I met Ilsa and Edith [ 77 and 67 respectively] and stopped complaining to myself! At the top of the hill there were no arrows that I could find, and I followed the mounds of rocks that other pilgrims had built, and eventually found a track and [some] arrows. Arrows are scarce for the next few km. Once into town,the albergue is a LOOONG way from the Plaza Mayor. I got my sello at the Hostal Scriptorium which is on the entrance into town. My guide book suggested that a sello could be had from the tobacconist, but he sent us to the Hostal. We had dinner at El Roble just off the Plaza Mayor. We had a menu del dia for 8 euro, and we ate with 4 Englishmen who all sat on one side of the table facing the TV so that could watch Manchester play someone or other.
The next day was the walk to Santa Croya, just a doddle of 24 km. After 12 km I went through the village of Villanueva de las Peras, but the Bar Plaza was not open by 10 AM so it was Santa Croya before I could get a cafe con leche. I stayed at Casa Anita which was a absolute highlight of my trip. It opens at 12 noon and the front person is Ana, the daughter of Anita, and she is a treasure of the camino. The meal at the albergue was excellent, and Ana made me a bocadillo to take with me for lunch the next day. The only downside is that the casa is right on the edge of town, but that is really only a minor point.

More later


Alan



Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

And a little more.
The walk from Santa croya to Rio Negro del Puente was as enjoyable as any on my whole walk. Lovely weather, flowers everywhere, and myriads of birds, all singing their hearts out. There was no traffic on any of the roads. The albergue is new, and was squeeky clean and very spacious. There were even 2 sinlge bunks. We were first into town so got the key from Bar Palacio nearby. We had our dinner in the Bar Palacio [ another bar, Bar Central only does bocadillos and similar] and the menu del dia for 8 euro was excellent quality as well as value. We had delayed taking our meal [ the bar offered to have it available from 7.30 ] but we waited for the hospitalero. Finally hunger beat us and when the hospitalero turned up at 8.45 she found us all enjoying ourselves at the bar. We gave her a round of applause for finally turning up and she took it all in her stride with a smile and a joke. We were given 4 bottles of wine between the 7 of us during the meal and I'm sure we could have had more if we had asked [ we had 2 Spanish guys in our group who had prodigious appetites for anything alcoholic ].
There were 7 of us at Rio Negro and supposedly only 6 beds available at Asturios but the big drinking Spaniards reckoned they knew that there were mattresses available so set off for Asturios next morning. My diary says it was a great days walk through solitary country lanes and picturesque country villages, with a very nice cafe con leche at Mombuey along the way [ Ismael from Brazil told me during my walk that " cafe con leche is the gasoline of the camino" and I have never found reason to doubt him ]. We walked into a bar in Asturios just as the royal couple were about to exchange wedding vows. The bar was run by a lady who was entranced by the wedding and we were totally ignored! Finally we attracted her attention enough to find out where the albergue was and while Wolfgang went to the mayors office to get the key, Matao and I headed off to find the albergue. It is actually right on the top edge of town, and is best found by first finding the church on the main street that has a lovely mosaic on it's front wall. Walk up the hill to the right of the church and you will find signs showing the next days walk to the left, and the direction to the albergue to the right. The albergue is in a big new sports centre, and sure enough there were only 6 beds and one mattress in the corridor. We were in town by midday so had to ask at the ayuntamiento for the key. Our guide book says that you can ask for the key at the bar next door but this bar does not open until 2 PM. The bar is actually in the same building, only 20 metres from the albergue, so was ideally situated for our Spanish friends. The bar does sandwiches, bocadillos, etc as well as supplying drinks. We had the menu del dia for dinner at Bar Carmen, where there is a dining room behind the bar. It was good value at 10 euro and we sat down at 8PM to begin. We got our sello at Bar Carmen as well. While in Asturios we chatted with some people who had stayed at the Mombuey albergue the night before and were not impressed, but this is second hand information only.

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

From Asturios we walked to Requego de Sanabria, on what was my worst day of the whole camino. I would strongly recommend that walkers stay on the main road until at least Palacios de Sanabria, if not longer.We followed the arrows off-road and had not gone far before we camme to a set of four arrows, 2 pointing to the left, and 2 to the right. The German and Dutch guide books agreed that we should go right, and as the track to the left petered out to nothing, to the right we went. It was a nightmare track of deep mud and running water. We followed it as best we could but were sorry that we had not kept to the road as others had done. Then it started to rain, quite heavily at times. Back on the road finally, we walked to Puebla de Sanabria, where we climbed the 130 knee-burning steps up to the castle. Once out of the town we were directed by the arrows towards the river, and having delivered us into a quagmire, they disappeared. The rain got heavier and we gave up all thoughts of following the trail and stayed on the road. When we arrived in RdS I stayed in the Casa Cervino at a cost of 12 euro for the night. The others stayed in the public albergue. Dinner at a bar in town, and I very happy with Casa Cervino.
The Casa Cervine had a coffee machine so we all had ccl's before leaving on the walk to Lubian next day. All the guide books agreed that it was wise to stay off the normal trails after heavy rain, so we followed the bitumen road to the top of the hill and walked through the tunnel to the other side. We had a great morning tea at Padornelo, and our 2 Spanish friends demolished a big breakfast complete with bottles of beer. After this we went off road and struck a lot of tracks with running water, but they were navigable! Arrived in Lubian and found the albergue - it is about the first building you come to in town - but it was a Sunday, when hospitaleros swap over, and the new hospitalero had not put up her contact details on the door, so we could not get in. We went to a bar
who rang one of the hospitalero team and who was able to tell us who to contact and where to find them. The albergue was cheap at only 3 euro, but the single toilet had no lock on the door, and one toilet for so many people is not enough. Bar Javi in the main street had double rooms for 35 euro and single rooms for 25 euro. We had dinner there, with the MDD for 9 euro pm, beginning at 8
PM

Alan

Be Brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

I have been posting about my recent camino on this heading which should be preserved for people actually on the camino. Apologies, and will put future posts under the VdlP/Mozarabe section of the forum.

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.