Bachibouzouk
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Voie de Soulac, Frances, De La Plata, Sureste/Levante, Manchego, Ruta del Argar.
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) |
---|
Any accommodation in Belmonte? It looks very small.
Are the hikes out to Campo de Criptana and Consuegra both worth the (long) detours?
Any recent guidebook, preferably in English, published on either of the two Caminos? Failing that where can I get a list of the albergues and hostales with their phone numbers?
4) Any accommodation in Belmonte? It looks very small.
6) Any recent guidebook, preferably in English, published on either of the two Caminos? Failing that where can I get a list of the albergues and hostales with their phone numbers?
Muchas gracias
Steve
Four days to get from Valencia or Alicante to Albacete.
Don't forget that the Camino de Levante makes a turn southwards before going up again. The Camino del Sureste is more straightforward. "Four days": your avarage kms of walking will differ, depending on which way you go.
From Albacete I want to follow the Sureste with some Quixotic diversions into Toledo. Something along the lines of:
Albacete to La Roda
La Roda to San Clemente San Clemente is actually on the Levante
San Clemente to Belmonte
Belmonte to El Toboso
El Toboso to Don Faldrique via Campo de Criptana
Don Faldrique to Tembleque
Tembleque to Mora via Consuegra Mora is also on the Levante
Mora to Toledo
1) Are there any museums in Valencia with anything by Salvador Dali? I can't find any indication that there are but would hate to miss anything that is there.
I think it would be easy to find out on the Internet! If you haven't found anything, I guess not... Or ask Peregrina2000 on this Forum (Laurie), because I think I remember from her 2013 blog that she went back to Valencia by train one day/evening to go to a museum(s). And she is not a cultural savage, like me...
2) Any preferences between Levante or Sureste as far as Albacete? The first day out of Valencia doesn't appear to inspire anyone very much.
That's right. I did Levante from Valencia in 2014, and Sureste from Alicante in 2015. The first three stages (more or less) on the Levante is almost entirely on asphalt. Leaving Valencia you pass a lot of suburbs. I don't have any problem with asphalt at all so I wasn't bothered. But I lost the arrows quite a few times in that urban environment the first day and had to rely on maps and compass.
On the contrary, leaving Alicante, you are thrown out in the wilderness right away (the asphalt continues a bit, though). You can read more about it in my report from last year in the Sureste section of this Forum. It's not really inspiring either, in June or July, when everything is burned... different shades of brown... And there's no bar or albergue for the first 24 kms as I recall it.
It's a close call between the Sureste and the Levante until Albacete. On both ways, there are interesting towns, of the same size, a lot of castles... The landscape is similar as they are in the same area and finally converge in Albacete. I think it's only those first stages of the Levante that bored me a bit, and that would make me choose the Sureste before the Levante. Especially I did like the first stage to the village of Orito on the Sureste. There's a beautiful ermita, La Cueva de San Pascual, upon a hill, that made my first day feel like I was thrown out on a pilgrimage from the very start!
3) Is there anything related to the International Brigades in Albacete, other than the monument, to visit?
Sorry, no idea. I'm a "fan" of the Spanish Civil War myself, so I'm ashamed I don't know.
4) Any accommodation in Belmonte? It looks very small.
I don't recall that name: is it out of the official caminos?
5) Are the hikes out to Campo de Criptana and Consuegra both worth the (long) detours?
Same answer as above.
6) Any recent guidebook, preferably in English, published on either of the two Caminos? Failing that where can I get a list of the albergues and hostales with their phone numbers?
Sorry, I always use guidebooks in Spanish when available. I remember that the English guidebook of the Levante was not being as up to date as the version in Spanish. If there's an English version of the guidebook of the Sureste I do not know.
When I ordered the Sureste guidebook from Alicante, the Asociación also sent a list of the albergues along the way. It's the same list as the one I attach here (if I can find out how...). So it's a list of albergues and accomodation on the Camino del Sureste as of June 2014.
Muchas gracias
Steve
.
...So any further thoughts on...the Quixote detour welcome.
So any further thoughts on Yecla to Almansa and the Quixote detour welcome.
Almansa - Higueruela (30 kms)
Elda - Yecla (40 kms)
Yecla - Almansa (40 kms)
Uh-oh, are you sure about the distance? This could be a 40 kms stage (different sources give different kms) but I'm sure it's more than 30.
/BP
in the vicinity of Oseira, I read Graham Greene's Monsignor Quixote,
BTW, there is a great family restaurant in Alpera, on the ground floor of the Pension Stop.
Break it in Alpera. Alpera to Higueruela showed me 26kms.Uh-oh, are you sure about the distance? This could be a 40 kms stage (different sources give different kms) but I'm sure it's more than 30.
/BP
Yecla: think I was drawing on the info in someone's blog (Bad Pilgrim?).
Yes,Break it in Alpera. Alpera to Higueruela showed me 26kms.
Wikiloc tracks show 39-42 kms and that is consistent with what they told us in Almansa. My little group of three decided to take a detour over to Alpera to break the stage up into two. We then backtracked about 3 km to get back on the off-road route into Higueruela, but you could just continue on the road from Alpera. We were the very first pilgrims to stay in Alpera, a nice albergue with little patio, kitchen on ground floor (I think). There are also cave drawings up in the hills nearby, and a local curator drove us up (since we had no car) and gave us a tour and explanation. It was kind of hard to make out the drawings, since they had suffered so much degradation from human touching, but the views were great, and it is always humbling to make contact with things done by humans so many thousands of years ago.
BTW, there is a great family restaurant in Alpera, on the ground floor of the Pension Stop.
Buen camino, Laurie
Haven't checked the distance of that asphalt stretch but to me it felt like neverending in the heat althought I was walking "only" from Alpera (another 25kms or so). I think detour to Alpera is signed as 3km but I'd say it's more. And the next day back to Levante is similar distance or a bit more, so it's makes equation correct at 40kms from Almansa to Higueruela.Yes,
That's better. I did Almansa-Higueruela though. I couldn't measure it but it sure felt like 40+ kms. There's nowhere to get water. The last 11 kms were on asphalt if I'm not mistaken...
/BP
Hi K1,Haven't checked the distance of that asphalt stretch but to me it felt like neverending in the heat althought I was walking "only" from Alpera (another 25kms or so).
And that's the turn off marker for Alpera - 3,6km
View attachment 28231
My photo shows turn off from Levante to Alpera soon after crossing CM-3201. From Alpera you don't have to backtrack to the same point (photo) but you take Ctra.Estacion, which is marked, past train station (could also take Ctra.Higueruela further to the west) and soon reconnect with Levante.This may already be clear from the earlier posts just in case. If you go from Alpera to Higueruela directly, it is all asphalt (21 km). If you backtrack from Alpera to the Levante to the place that Kinky's photo shows on the previous post (I think that's the intersection at the Carrascal ranch), you still have some asphalt at the end of the walk into Higueruela but it is much less (roughly 8 km asphalt vs. the 21 km if you go directly from Alpera). The stage is short anyway with the backtracking (it's about 25 km total), so those extra 3 km are not going to make much difference. And you save, if my arithmetic is correct, about 13 kms of asphalt, which is not trivial.
I think they may have updated the guide in the past two years going by tHi, Steve,
Welcome to the forum.
4. Is there a reason to go to Belmonte? If not, my stages in 2013 were San Clemente to Las Pedroneras (24) and Las Pedroneras to El Toboso (31). There is a small parroquial albergue in Las Pedroneras, but we went to the perfectly fine hostal on the highway that had a decent menu del dia if my memory is working right.
6. The only Levante guidebook I'm aware of is in English and Spanish, but the English version is a few years older. I think the Spanish version is 2013. Even if you get the older English version, you'll get the more up to date maps for any changes in the route. The book is published by the association. http://www.vieiragrino.com/asociacion/publicaciones.asp
Hi,Been trying to do some online research on these routes. Its all pretty skinny but some here have been of great help. I still have a number of questions.
I'll be setting off at the end of September. I've got 18 days.
Haven't decided on whether to set off from Valencia or Alicante. I'm open to persuasion. I fly into Valencia and would ideally like at least a couple of days there. I aim to walk as far as Toledo this year and have a day or two in Madrid before flying home to London. Allowing for a days travel on either end that leaves me with say 12 walking days.
Four days to get from Valencia or Alicante to Albacete.
From Albacete I want to follow the Sureste with some Quixotic diversions into Toledo. Something along the lines of:
Albacete to La Roda
La Roda to San Clemente
San Clemente to Belmonte
Belmonte to El Toboso
El Toboso to Don Faldrique via Campo de Criptana
Don Faldrique to Tembleque
Tembleque to Mora via Consuegra
Mora to Toledo
Long days, I know, but I like the heat and the distances. I carry about 6 kg (+2 litres of water), I'm a regular runner (up to 2 hours a day) and I've done the Camino de la Plata in June (hot but do-able). So here are some questions (not all Camino related but perhaps some here will know the answers).
1) Are there any museums in Valencia with anything by Salvador Dali? I can't find any indication that there are but would hate to miss anything that is there.
2) Any preferences between Levante or Sureste as far as Albacete? The first day out of Valencia doesn't appear to inspire anyone very much.
3) Is there anything related to the International Brigades in Albacete, other than the monument, to visit?
4) Any accommodation in Belmonte? It looks very small.
5) Are the hikes out to Campo de Criptana and Consuegra both worth the (long) detours?
6) Any recent guidebook, preferably in English, published on either of the two Caminos? Failing that where can I get a list of the albergues and hostales with their phone numbers?
Muchas gracias
Steve
I think they may have updated the guide in the past two years going by t
Hi,
Just to say it is nice to know another person will be on this walk in September, I am starting on the 7th from Valencia at your pace you will catch and pass me very quickly but keep an eye out for a pilgrim just sauntering along or having a nap outside a bar. It will be good to have a chat. Trevor
Thanks one and all for your posts and time, of great assistance in helping me crystalize my plans.
I discovered yesterday that I can fly out to Alicante straight after work, thus gaining me an extra day. I'll put Valencia on the backburner for another visit. Unlikely to spend more than a day in Alicante, so that'll be a second day gained.
Alicante - Elda (40 kms)
Elda - Yecla (40 kms)
Yecla - Almansa (40 kms) to join the Camino Levante, though I've no idea what sort of a route that might be.
Almansa - Higueruela (30 kms)
Higueruela - Chinchilla (30 kms) - taken on board your recommendations, Peregrina and Bad Pilgrim.
Chinchilla - Albacete (18 kms) - still want at least an afternoon there. International Brigades, Laurie Lee, .....
Albacete - La Ronda (40 kms)
La Roda - San Clemente (32 kms)
San Clemente - Belmonte (36 kms) - a fine looking castle there, Peregrina, which I understand is mentioned in Don Quixote*. I'm only on Part II of Book I and there's no mention of Belmonte yet. Like everything else it is probably an inspiration rather than an exact location.
Belmonte - El Toboso (25 kms)
And here I am coming over to your recommendation, Castillan. Poring over the map yesterday I was reaching a similar conclusion. Leave the Camino to take in Campo Criptana and Consuegra. This would also allow me to go via Puerto Lapice, where Don Quixote makes his night vigil and is knighted by the inn-keeper. Perhaps over(k)nighting at Alcazar de San Juan and Consuegra before rejoining the Camino at Tembleque (don't want to miss that famous town square). I've no idea if there even is a walking route El Toboso - Campo de Criptana - Puerto Lapice - Consuegra - Tembleque. My map isn't detailed enough for that but presumably there will be a way. Three days/two nights? If you have any further thoughts I'd very much appreciate them.
Tembleque - Mora (24 kms)
Mora - Toledo (31 kms)
Re: Levante Guidebook, Peregrina. I emailed the office in Valencia some months ago to find out how I could purchase this one but got no reply. I'm assuming it is the same guidebook that has been described as very heavy. So I'm now of a mind to wing it and pick up information as I go along particularly as I'm going to be switching Caminos and routes.
Thanks for the list of distances Evan, very useful. I intend to resume the walk in 2018 (GR20 across Corsica is on the cards for next year) from Toledo up to Benavente (Camino Sureste) as I've been to Zamora a couple of times and Tordesillas (and Valladolid) are places I must visit. But that's all a long, long way away .......
So any further thoughts on Yecla to Almansa and the Quixote detour welcome.
Steve
* I've had about three attempts over the decades at reading Cervantes' classic and have always stumbled (like Rosinante) and been thrown off (like Don Quixote). Last year while completing the VdlP, and in the vicinity of Oseira, I read Graham Greene's Monsignor Quixote, a wonderful novel. This convinced me to give Cervantes another try, particularly with this walk across La Mancha in mind. Well, it may be all in the translation, but the Edith Grossman's version is so readable and has such great footnotes that I'm wondering why I never persevered with the novel in the past.
No sign of any other walkers. Fine if, like me, you like sun, solitude and cerveza. So no problem with accommodation. Two of the places I have stayed in only had 3 beds, so nonetheless a good idea to phone ahead. Would be disheartening to get turned away or to have to sleep on the floor. Also means I've not been bothered by snoring, farting and smelly feet - except my own of course! And none of those irritating walkers, who set their alarms for 04:00 am, two hours before daybreak, and spend the next half an hour rustling and rumaging around repacking their backpacks, dropping stuff, and with their head-torches on full beam. Invariably these are the same middle-aged men with harsh guttural accents, who get bolshy when you arrive at the next place at 04:00 pm and disturb their afternoon siesta. What's going on? They're walking in the dark and sleeping half the day.
Thanks for this Steve - lots of memories from seven years ago!
(Like you, no other pilgrims at all then).
For some reason, I couldn't get into the La Roda albergue, but I remember miguelitos!
I remember some very fine carvings on the Catedral in Albacete, and also Mass in a wonderful modern working class Church
Buen Camino!
Andy
Been trying to do some online research on these routes. Its all pretty skinny but some here have been of great help. I still have a number of questions.
I'll be setting off at the end of September. I've got 18 days.
Haven't decided on whether to set off from Valencia or Alicante. I'm open to persuasion. I fly into Valencia and would ideally like at least a couple of days there. I aim to walk as far as Toledo this year and have a day or two in Madrid before flying home to London. Allowing for a days travel on either end that leaves me with say 12 walking days.
Four days to get from Valencia or Alicante to Albacete.
From Albacete I want to follow the Sureste with some Quixotic diversions into Toledo. Something along the lines of:
Albacete to La Roda
La Roda to San Clemente
San Clemente to Belmonte
Belmonte to El Toboso
El Toboso to Don Faldrique via Campo de Criptana
Don Faldrique to Tembleque
Tembleque to Mora via Consuegra
Mora to Toledo
Long days, I know, but I like the heat and the distances. I carry about 6 kg (+2 litres of water), I'm a regular runner (up to 2 hours a day) and I've done the Camino de la Plata in June (hot but do-able). So here are some questions (not all Camino related but perhaps some here will know the answers).
1) Are there any museums in Valencia with anything by Salvador Dali? I can't find any indication that there are but would hate to miss anything that is there.
2) Any preferences between Levante or Sureste as far as Albacete? The first day out of Valencia doesn't appear to inspire anyone very much.
3) Is there anything related to the International Brigades in Albacete, other than the monument, to visit?
4) Any accommodation in Belmonte? It looks very small.
5) Are the hikes out to Campo de Criptana and Consuegra both worth the (long) detours?
6) Any recent guidebook, preferably in English, published on either of the two Caminos? Failing that where can I get a list of the albergues and hostales with their phone numbers?
Muchas gracias
Steve
Well, that Valencia suburbs are not really that bad. Couple of hours or first day at the most. Next 2-3 days (depends on length of the etapas) are also on tarmac but through orange groves mostly. So a bit of shade with pounding on your feet.Thanks for that Verity. As it went I flew into and set off from Alicante, rather put off by talk of all those suburbs out of Valencia.
I was going to suggest that you consider the Cami St. Jaume till I saw you had already been to Figueres, which was one of my stopping points. But I will suggest it anyway, since it is a fabulous walk between Port de la Selva and Montserrat! Passes through Vic and Girona, both of which are lovely.Thanks for that Verity. As it went I flew into and set off from Alicante, rather put off by talk of all those suburbs out of Valencia. One day I will get to visit Valencia. Thanks too for Dalí information. I could find no mention of any of his works in Valenciano museums so assumed that there weren't any. I gather the Royal Academy in London is holding some sort of an exhibition later in the year of his surrealism period. I'm familiar with Port Lligat, Figueras, Pubol, so hoping there will be works from other more distant places (St Petersburg) and from private owners.
Steve
Well, that Valencia suburbs are not really that bad. Couple of hours or first day at the most. Next 2-3 days (depends on length of the etapas) are also on tarmac but through orange groves mostly. So a bit of shade with pounding on your feet.
Definitely want to try Alicante start but on "original" Sureste though
As far as I can tell about waymarking, and that's only for the stretches where Levante and Sureste ovelapse because I did only Levante, I think Sureste Amigos did the job better than Levante Amigos.How does the Sureste and Levante differentiate themselves with the Waymarking? It seems both routes follow each other from Almansa/Albacete to Medina del Campo. Then at Medina, the Sureste goes north to intercept the CF.; and the Levante goes west to Zamora to intercept the La Plata. Is this accurate? I am not a fan of intercepting the CF (too many people) and prefer the Sanabres via Zamora.
As far as I can tell about waymarking, and that's only for the stretches where Levante and Sureste ovelapse because I did only Levante, I think Sureste Amigos did the job better than Levante Amigos.
You're right about Levante and Zamora but after Medina Sureste goes NW to Benavente which is on VdlP. So you can go further up north to Astorga on CF. To avoid CF crowds and to join the Sanabres route (which is beautiful BTW) you can walk from Benavente either south to Granja de Moreruela (2 days approx.) or directly to Santa Marta de Tera which is on Sanabres. I haven't walk this last option but I saw markers in Sta.Marta that indicates Camino from Benavente.
One other option is to walk either from Zamora (Levante) or Benavente (Sureste) on VdlP to Astorga, then to Ponferrada on CF and from Ponferrada on Camino de Invierno which joins Sanabres in A Laxe. So, plenty of options there
Ultreia!
On my map there are two Caminos that emerge from Almonacid leading to Toledo. One that goes via Burguillos de Toledo, the other via Nambroca.
From Almonacid (and from memory) you have two options. One route goes via Nambroca and the other via Burguillos de Toledo but I'm afraid I no longer recall which is Levante and which is Sureste.
According to the official guide book the Levante camino goes through both Nambroca and Burguillos. I am sure that from Almonacid I simply followed arrows and got to Nambroca, after that I don't remember the signage but the book says that when leaving Nambroca it is signed as the 'Ruta del Quixote'. It goes under the major road and then continues on paths. The whole route is well signed. The only place I got lost was leaving Mora and I am sure that that was my fault, the rest was fairly easy.
Hi, sulu, I had to check my blog to make sure that Nambroca was the cute little town with everything locked up tight because of a post-fiesta slumber. Like you, we had no problem with the signage, but there was a ton of asphalt. Arriving at the lookout spot across the Tajo to old Toledo, however, was one of the most special of any camino views anywhere!
http://levante2013.blogspot.com/2013/05/camino-magic-arriving-in-toledo.html
p.s. Though I didn't have a GPS, the wikiloc tracks for this stage show that, as you suggested, the route goes through both Nambroca and Burguillos -- was Burguillos that suburb type place where the route took you through a long stretch of housing subdivisions of little chalet type structures? (sorry, I guess that won't distinguish it from many other little towns around big cities, but I remember climbing up a hill past endless small houses all the same, and then, pop, was in the countryside).
Great stuff but, at the risk of being pedantic, Mary was Philip's first cousin once removed (great-nephew of her mother Katherine), so not actually incest. If she had lived longer and they had had children, European history would have been very very different ...
When Ironman had nodded off I finished reading the last story in Cervantes Exemplary Novels, The Two Damsels.
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?