tangata hikoi
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Le Puy to Pamploma (April/May 2014)
VDLP March 2019 Sanabres April 2019
Finisterre/Muxia April 2019
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Hi ThereHi there
My wife and I are also going to do the section from Seville to Merida. We start in 10 days. So I would love to know if you are having any problems finding accommodations? Also if there are any you particularly liked or disliked? Any other tips would also be appreciated.
I think that is the Convent?What about the beautiful Albergue San Francisco in the centre? Haven't heard anyone mention it for a while.
It had a great ambience.
We have been calling ahead because we are now sort of traveling in convoy...about 8 or more of us seem to be meeting up most nights with our resident Spanish speaker booking for us. Mostly not essential to book yet but here today (inTorremeljia many more people I've not seen previously so perhaps the Way is getting busier?
Most towns have more than one option accommodation wise.
I've needed to use my sleeping bag only once but others are using theirs most night to increase warmth. Most albergues have one blanket per bed but one had none so far. I have a silk sleeping bag liner that I use with the provided blankets and if needed I can break out my sleeping bag too. Think it is a route that needs a sleeping bag.
All beds so far have a bottom sheet. You really need your own bag liner to use on the bed too.
Megg
That's good news that the albergue at El Carrascalejo has finally opened. It has been sitting there for several years, fresh and new and closed!There is a brand new albergue and cafe/bar at El Carracalejo about 35 minutes before Aljucen. Stopped there for breakfast this morning. People here tonight stayed there and said it was very good.
Hi MeggMeant to say the pilgrim meal I had at El Rincon here in Valdesalor is probably the best I've had since starting. Was excellent.
It was much like a lot of the other menus but just really well made. I had soup that was garlic, ham and egg and then a pork chop with chips - the chips were the best I've had not soggy and oily. The salad was good and we had a little desert of fruit and cream.Hi Megg
Now you’re tantalising my tastebuds because I’m wondering what you chose to eat at El Rincon that was ‘excellent ‘.
Buen Camino
Annie
El Rincon de Julia is a great place - friendly, helpful and good meals. I've dined there twice.El Rincon here in Valdesalor
Megg, I have been following your reports, I am a week or more behind you on the route from Huelva, but I join the VDLP tomorrow when I reach Zafra. I had read about a very bad stretch between Cáceres and Casar de Cáceres with a scary bridge and tunnel crossing (due to the train construction project). Did you have to deal with that, or has the Camino been rerouted? Thanks for your help.
Hi, Kaufer,
I think the scary bridge and tunnel crossing you are talking about is on the Sanabres before Lubian. https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/terrifying-bridge-then-tunnel.60287/
The scary part out of Caceres to Casar de Caceres is that if you walk early in the morning on a weekday, the commuter and truck traffic is extremely heavy and extremely scary. There is a turnoff a few kms before Casar de Caceres that puts you on an agricultural track, but those kms alongside the road are among the worst. Be careful.
Good for me to be aware of that too...thank you!
@tangata hikoi If I understood your last post correctly, you went through Riolobos in the middle of the day. Normally, a pilgrim would skip Rilobos unless they are spending the night there, because it definitely adds several kilometers and (as you mentioned) it adds a LOT of asphalt walking. I am mostly asking for future pilgrims. Was there a reason to take this detour? Thanks!
@tangata hikoi If I understood your last post correctly, you went through Riolobos in the middle of the day. Normally, a pilgrim would skip Rilobos unless they are spending the night there, because it definitely adds several kilometers and (as you mentioned) it adds a LOT of asphalt walking. I am mostly asking for future pilgrims. Was there a reason to take this detour? Thanks!
Two nights in Salamanca... lovely city. Staying in a very cheap but very good hotel near the Plaza Mayor. Great value.
Really felt the need of the rest. My body fine but tired and my feet were tired too. Starting to feel refreshed somewhat and ready for the day tomorrow.
Have decided to cheat and will walk the 16 kms to Calzada de Valdunciel and then bus to El Cuba. Just can't face the 20+ Kms beside the highway.
Glad to have stopped an extra day here both for the rest to my body but also having time to see some of the loveliness here.
Salamanca is great! Enjoy! I hope the weather is good to you. The Plaza Mayor is said to be the biggest in Spain, even bigger than in Madrid.Two nights in Salamanca... lovely city. Staying in a very cheap but very good hotel near the Plaza Mayor. Great value.
Really felt the need of the rest. My body fine but tired and my feet were tired too. Starting to feel refreshed somewhat and ready for the day tomorrow.
Have decided to cheat and will walk the 16 kms to Calzada de Valdunciel and then bus to El Cuba. Just can't face the 20+ Kms beside the highway.
Glad to have stopped an extra day here both for the rest to my body but also having time to see some of the loveliness here.
You MUST set off time to see the Roman remains in Merida: The theatre, in particular, is spectacular!Really enjoying your great posts @tangata hikoi . Brings back memories of my own VdlP part walk late September. Loved Salamanca. Looking forward to Seville to Mérida in a couple of weeks.
Hostal Concejo in plaza Libertad
Shame to hear about Albergue F &Y. It was up for sale last Sept when I stayed there. We had a meal in a bar in the square. The food was fine but the bullfighting on the TV wasn't great for me!
It's been perfect...1/2 day rain in first week and yesterday cold wind but otherwise perfectHow's the weather?
@tangata hikoi, do hope you rest up and your foot heals. Sound like a couple of days rest are essential.Few days since I posted walked from Zamora to Granja de Moreruela 41kms and was tired but ok when arrived. Just me and one other in Albergue.
Then onto Tarbara yesterday. Easy walking but lots of gravel/metal roads. The best part was around the river Esla...quite lovely there.
Stayed at El Robles but wouldn't recommend. Shower nozzle snapped, bathroom door wouldn't shut/lock and light blew out...decided it was all a bit Heath Robinson! Couple of pretty good bars in the town with good tapas.
However have unfortunately been forced to stop today as a niggling pain in my right foot has become too much to ignore. The top surface of my foot on the outer edge is a inflamed and painful. Has been like it for a while but maybe the 41 km day was just a step too far. Guess it is just overuse but getting hard to walk so time for a rest.
Have taken a bus Mombuey and will rest one, possibly 2 days and see how it feels.
Weather fine but unusually pretty cloudy.
In Tabara last night I think 6 pilgrims. 2 Spanish, 1 Dutch, 1 French, 1 Belgium and me.
@tangata hikoi, do hope you rest up and your foot heals. Sound like a couple of days rest are essential.
Echoing lainey’s good wishes. I hope you find that the rest is just what you need. It is always a hard decision to make, even for us “adults” who know in our brains that we need to stop, but are just pulled by this force that says keep walking. Thinking of you, LaurieFew days since I posted walked from Zamora to Granja de Moreruela 41kms and was tired but ok when arrived. Just me and one other in Albergue.
Then onto Tarbara yesterday. Easy walking but lots of gravel/metal roads. The best part was around the river Esla...quite lovely there.
Stayed at El Robles but wouldn't recommend. Shower nozzle snapped, bathroom door wouldn't shut/lock and light blew out...decided it was all a bit Heath Robinson! Couple of pretty good bars in the town with good tapas.
However have unfortunately been forced to stop today as a niggling pain in my right foot has become too much to ignore. The top surface of my foot on the outer edge is a inflamed and painful. Has been like it for a while but maybe the 41 km day was just a step too far. Guess it is just overuse but getting hard to walk so time for a rest.
Have taken a bus Mombuey and will rest one, possibly 2 days and see how it feels.
Weather fine but unusually pretty cloudy.
In Tabara last night I think 6 pilgrims. 2 Spanish, 1 Dutch, 1 French, 1 Belgium and me.
Echoing lainey’s good wishes. I hope you find that the rest is just what you need. It is always a hard decision to make, even for us “adults” who know in our brains that we need to stop, but are just pulled by this force that says keep walking. Thinking of you, Laurie
Yup, closed. Last time I was there, probably five years ago now, they were trying to broaden their business by also having summer camps for kids to learn English or something like that, so maybe they just couldn’t make a living. The municipal in Santa Marta, a stone’s throw away, must either be new or reformed or enlarged, because it gets reviews that tell me it is a very different place than what was there a few years ago.I am wondering if anyone knows if Casa Anita in Santa Croya is still open, the stage after Tábara? A couple of messages online appear to suggest that it is closed?
Another slightly off camino option is what I did when I walked the Levante, went to a nice 1 or 2 star hotel with my French buddies, in Carmazana de Tera. No short stages for those guys!Thanks Laurie, Santa Marta it will be then!
Laurie, many thanks for that great suggestion! Looking at Gronze would I be right in thinking that the turn off for Carmazana is about another 10k from Santa Marta? Although your log suggests only 26k from Tábara to Carmazana?Another slightly off camino option is what I did when I walked the Levante, went to a nice 1 or 2 star hotel with my French buddies, in Carmazana de Tera. No short stages for those guys!
Laurie, many thanks for that great suggestion! Looking at Gronze would I be right in thinking that the turn off for Carmazana is about another 10k from Santa Marta? Although your log suggests only 26k from Tábara to Carmazana?
Thanks both Laurie and @tangata hikoi , it is always so useful to have another option.Some Spanish chaps told me yesterday they are staying there tonight and highly recommended it. It is a very short detour off the route and easy to see on Google map
Went thru Santa Marta last year,,,, don't forget to see the oldest statue of Santiago at the church,, to get to Carmazana last year, ,stayed in hotel there,,, but then the next day to Rionegro Del Puente,,, and the fantastic " me Gusta comer" just to the left of the Albergue,,, the best food and value on any Camino!!!Thanks both Laurie and @tangata hikoi , it is always so useful to have another option.
There are a few, perhaps one or two a day. Have only stayed in two albergues with bicigrinos but they do a lot more miles each day of courseI’m planning on cycling the VDLP beginning mid-April. Are you seeing many bicigrinos along The Way?
Can anyone who has had time to sightsee in Sevilla, tell me if it is worth buying a ticket for El Alcuzar in advance or just turn up ? I have a note in my vdlp file that you can buy a ticket on the day to see the gardens, but maybe I have it wrong? I only have a spare afternoon in Sevilla at the start of my walk and thought about a bit of sightseeing.
Megg more important question, how is your foot?
Hi MeggI'm in Mombuey. I think I've worked out that the problem might be my shoe being to tight over the top of my foot. I've spoken to a friend who had the same problem solved with a few days rest and relacing her shoe to reduce the pressure on the top of the foot and another walker here today has said the same thing happened to him.
If that is so I will try changing the lacing on my shoe and doing a short day tomorrow to Asturianas and hope that it improves from there...if not I'll go somewhere for a rest.
Fingers crossed
Don’t want to take this too far off topic, since I don’t want to go on about foot problems on such a nice Vdlp thread, and it looks like Megg may have found the answer for her. I have had that problem of too tight lacing across the top, it is one of those “oh duh” kinds of problems, but it is great that the solution is easy! But if what you have are corns between the toes, it means that the toe box of your shoes is too narrow. I know you have figured this out, Annie, but for others, the corns are formed by pressure. I finally listened to reason (meaning DaveBugg) last year, got a pair of Altras (probably the widest toe box ever), and had no corns for the first time in 7 or 8 caminos! Hoping for a repeat in June. Buen camino, LaurieHi Megg
Thinking of you with ‘that’pain in your right foot ..
Just to add my 2cents. If the reason for the soreness ‘isn’t’ any of those mentioned above - check between those two toes. IF you’ve developed corns from the pressure of squeezing that section too much - you need to have them taken care of .
The pain you describe finished me on the Le Puy in 2016. I had my pack carried the last 7 days into Sjpdp and decided not to continue. I couldn’t bear anything touching the top of my foot. So I took myself off by bus for a break in San Sebastián and went to a clinic. Feet were in a mess as I’d not known anything about corns and hadn’t used the corn pads correctly. They can burn away your skin as well as the corn if used incorrectly.. after returning home ., my podiatrist advised never using those corn pads ., just get to a ‘feet’ person/specialist/podiatrist or clinic and have then attended to. In between the toes is just too hard to see and work in yourself.
I hope it’s only the lacing that is the culprit for yours. The rest should do the trick.
Buen Camino
Annie
I'm in Mombuey. I think I've worked out that the problem might be my shoe being to tight over the top of my foot. I've spoken to a friend who had the same problem solved with a few days rest and relacing her shoe to reduce the pressure on the top of the foot and another walker here today has said the same thing happened to him.
If that is so I will try changing the lacing on my shoe and doing a short day tomorrow to Asturianas and hope that it improves from there...if not I'll go somewhere for a rest.
Fingers crossed
Hi LaurieHope you have solved the issue. I have had that problem, particularly with higher hiking shoes. Hoping you have had a good day today without pain and are in ASturianos, where I believe the albergue is in the polideportivo, is that right? Buen camino to you, Laurie
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