- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2024 León to SDC
For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here. (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation) |
---|
@Aidan21
I have walked both routes and my experience was somewhat similar to yours, but perhaps for different reasons. I found the first half of the VdlP to be uncomfortably hot and dry (beginning on Oct. 3, 2017). My memories of the scenery are of hot, dusty gravel roads through flat farmland. I was not interested in the Roman ruins which are the main points of tourist interest along the route. I missed any pilgrim focus: I think that I was only able to attend two or three evening masses during the fifty days that I walked that camino. I was happy enough to walk alone and able to manage any lack of facilities or convenient hours. I much preferred the scenery on the Sanabres and the better availability of albergues. I see the VdlP as a suitable long walk during more comfortable weather, but with little for me as a pilgrim.
we didn’t get on with the other pilgrims, far from it. And I think that coloured my experience. Thinking back about it, it was a nightmare! But hey!
Back in 2010 I was told the VdlP was like the CF twenty years earlier. That's probably largely still true. Imagine that.
I think that in the spring, the VDLP does fit in that middle ground, which is why I especially like it.I now find myself looking for routes somewhere in the "middle" of all the opinions of the Plata!
C clearly I recognise that concrete arrow! I think the type of pilgrim on the VDLP can be very different. There are a lot more older and very seasoned walkers, and not many party animals. So even when you do walk with others, it's a very different vibe. And it can be very hard: I walked from Salamanca to Sanabria this summer during the heat wave.
I too, did the Via de la Plata after walking de Frances twice. I loved it for all the reasons you did not. Solitude, no commercialism, camaraderie with pilgrims you meet day after day because there are no other options, and so many kind Spaniards not affected by the crowds of the Frances.Hi,
I have just finished walking from Sevilla to Salamanca along the Via and have previously walked the Frances twice. I noticed many differences in my experiences on both routes. I wonder if anyone else has walked both and how they felt them to be different.
Personally I enjoyed the Frances much more than the Via. If the Via was my first Camino, then it would be a case of one and done. I found it hard to get a positive buzz from walking the Via, whereas I loved walking the Frances. I know it has been said that the Frances is getting more commercialised and of course many more people are walking the Frances and in some ways this can detract from the pilgrimage, but I experienced many meaningful personal interactions along the Frances but few along the Via.
I also noticed that in the rural parts of Spain through which I walked little or no effort was expended to meet the needs of the peringrinos. Frequently the walking day ended just as siesta was beginning and it could be difficult to find places open (including Albergues). And of course finding somewhere to serve food at that time of day could be a challenge and worse still it could be after 8 pm before bars/cafes were open to serve dinner. Whereas on the Frances, finding somewhere to eat/drink/rest/talk etc. was very easy and added positively to the whole experience.
Finally some of the stretches on the Via could be more than 30 Kms long with no human habitation in between. So food and water had to be carried, which for me took away a little from the enjoyment of walking - it was a day's tough hike instead of an enjoyable walk that could be shared (or not if you so choose) with other pilgrims.
All of the above is just my personal experience, neither right or wrong, but I would be interested in how others may have found the routes to be different.
Aidan
Back to the VdLP, the thing that really stands out for me is the friendliness of local people but yes I would agree there is less of a Camino feel to it given there are few people walking it.
But to me it does feel like more 'real Spain' if less 'classic Camino'.
Thank you @masomenos "more real Spain if less classic Camino" sums up exactly my current experience of the VdLPI guess VDLP generally lacks that whole pilgrim-made artefact thing, that you get on the CF, like piles of knick knacks, funny little graffitis, crosses made of grass in the wire fences etc, the most substantial being at the cruz de hierro. I felt like I was part of a bigger historical thing to do with the Romans, transhumant agriculture, etc, but felt less of a sense of being part of a historical flow of pilgrims. Some more recent monuments have tried to make up for this, eg the round stone pillars with the metal pilgrim staffs. But to me it does feel like more 'real Spain' if less 'classic Camino'.
Yes, I agree. I've walked the Norte and Primitivo already, so am now looking for other "middle" routes.The middle, you mentioned, may be the Norte. Not as crowded as the Frances, the distances are manageable, good accommodations (sometimes not in a albergue) and diverse scenery.
Jim Michie
Yes you have to stick to Spanish mealtimes, it's not a 24/7 smorgasbord. But I have received plenty of outstanding kindness and hospitality on the VDLP.little or no effort was expended to meet the needs of the perigrinos
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?