Sureste from Alicante to Santiago -- Alan´s 2014 camino

[alansykes]

Had a brief dip in the warm calm Mediterranean at Alicante this morning. Don't suppose my next dip, scheduled (dv) for Finisterra in about six weeks, will be as warm or as placid.

I then did the first 5km of the Sureste through Alicante's dreary suburbs, to the cemetery, on the city's edge, where l visited the tomb of the lovely Miguel Hernández, which implored the passing tribute of a sigh. Collected my credencial at the office of the local camino amigos, where the person on the desk, who has 18 compostelas, was amazingly helpful about the first days on the Sureste, where albergues are thin on the ground. So, Novelda tomorrow, having called Paco Serra, who looks after its albergue and has written extensively on the sureste, and is now expecting me - and is clearly a bit startled about how busy he has, having had a bicigrino and a couple on foot within the last week.

I knew starting so much earlier than my usual time meant that there was a risk of heat, but I didn't expect the temperature still to be in the 30s in late October. Just have to make sure I get going before dawn on the longer stages.

 

[nalod]

Good luck from a cold West of Ireland, must be tough with those temperatures in late October. Enjoy.

Regards Dermot

 

[george.g]

Best of luck Alan, walked from Alicante April this year and had a fantastic time, great route, was lucky to meet fellow forum members Bill and Don what route are you going to follow, no doubt Snr Paco will suggest Claudette.
Regards
George

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Alan, buen camino!

If I remember correctly, you've done a few bits of the Levante already. What's your route? Alicante to Albacete and then onto the Levante? I get kind of confused about the differences between Levante and Sureste, but I know there's a lot of overlap and then some diversions.

Hope you enjoy it a lot, keep in touch! Laurie

 

[alansykes]

Now safely installed in nice hotel in Sax, special pilgrim price (no albergue). First day was a bit tough, going over rough ground up to a saint's hermitage in a cave, where luckily there was lots of water - the temperature, absurdly for late October, was 35 ( it made the front page of the Información de Alicante, so it must be unusual). I also left Alicante later than I should have done as I had the fantasy of swimming on the empty beach as the sun rose out of the Mediterranean. Very nice, but it meant I only said goodbye to Miguel Hernández at about 9.30, and carried on partly on the senda del poeta (the route he took from his village to get to Alicante). So the day was longer and hotter than it should have been.

Novelda is a nice place with an amazing "five star albergue" - a posh 3 bedroom flat with kitchen, washing machine etc, all completely free (the owner is an expert on and enthusiast for the Sureste). This morning I was out and en route by 7.30, in the dark, and passed the amazing Gaudiesque (by his pupil José Sala Sala) Santuario de Santa María Magdalena just as the first rays of sun were hitting it.

Not sure how to go on - the others in Novelda were doing the Lana via Alpera, Cuenca, and Santo Domingo de Silos, which is very tempting, but I do want to see Toledo. If I get to Medina del Campo I will definitely carry on on the Sureste to Tordesilas and Benavente, avoiding duplicating more than one day of last year's brief bit on the Levante.

 

[alansykes]

Another day, another battlefield. Yesterday I set off from Sax at first light and was soon at the Colonia de Santa Eulalia, a 19th century model village on the site a a battle of the reconquista, where in about 1300 Saint Eulalia of Barcelona helped Berenguer VI beat a Moorish army, doing a bit of matamoros. Through Villena, handsome town with hilltop castle and on in blinding heat and baking light (or possibly the other way round, but too mazed to notice) to Caudete, with nice albergue (€5) and hospitalero but wish they hadn't put in on top of the hill.

Today a shorter step to Almansa, handsome town with hilltop castle. Crossed the battleground where in 1707 my 7x great- uncle James Fitzjames, commanding a mixed bag of Spanish, Irish and Walloons, defeated a mixed bag of English, Portuguese and Dutch, helping ensure his 2nd cousin Philip became king of Spain.

Staying with the esclavas de Maria, very OK (€7).

 

[alansykes]

Almansa to Alpera was a perfect Sunday walk. I met a friendly Estonian just out of town and we walked together for the next four hours. He was an agricultural graduate and I breed sheep and pigs, so we were soon talking about animal diseases. His Spanish was better than mine but, like me, he didn't know the Spanish for most illnesses. So if you were taking a stroll through the Sierra de Mugrón last Sunday, you will have met the slightly surreal sight of an Englishman and an Estonian talking in fair to poor Spanish about swine vesihuclar disease, bovine tuberculosis and foot and mouth (somewhere I dredged up the French for that one and transliterated it as "fiebre aftuosa", which he seemed to understand, although miming a foot and a mouth might have done it). Sadly, at about 1.30pm, he carried on to Higueruela and I went north to Alpera, as I was sure I couldn't do the extra km in the nearly 30 degrees, especially as I had no water left by then. Every time we had stopped for a break he had toasted "la flotta britannica", which apparent had helped secure Estonian independence in 1919.

Alpera is a charming town with an excellent albergue (with a fridge!), and I had a welcome menú del día in the bar nearby. Justo, a pilgrim from near Toledo, arrived soon after - we first met in Novelda, four days earlier, and overlapped in Caudete and Almansa. Sadly, it will be the last time as he heads on with the Lana.

Alpera to Higueruela was another good one, although 7km longer than it should have been as I missed a turn. The albergue there is very basic, but there is a fridge and a shower and it is free, and you get what you pay for - I was also lucky that the local band doesn't practice upstairs on a Monday, so I could sleep early. Another very good menú del día, in La Posada, where they keep the keys to the albergue.

 

[alansykes]

Higueruela to Chinchilla de Montearagón is a great day through corn and vines and flowers with plenty of trees for shade. I bumped into a jolly quartet of young soldiers out for a walk and they asked me to give the saint an abrazo for them, and the sergeant gave me an analgesic spray (specially designed for the Spanish army) for my blisters, which seemed a very fair exchange. At Chinchilla I went up to the slightly forbidding castle, where Caesare Borgia had been an unwilling guest. Perhaps if they'd kept him there rather than sending him north to Medina del Campo he might not have escaped and carried on making a nuisance of himself.

The next day I headed on to Albacete over flat dull corn land, saying goodbye to a Dutch couple I'd spent a few hours with since Alpera - they were returning to Valencia to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary with their children. Rather wish I'd stayed in Albacete, rather than carrying on in the heat to La Gineta, which is a bit of a dump. The albergue is in the sports hall, and is free. The casa de cultura was good, and the church OK, but the bars were a bit grim and I think Albacete would have better repaid an afternoon's investigation.

 

[alexwalker]

Thank you very much for your updates: They are pleasant reading (and pictures!) You will have my attention as you walk the land!

I actually walked a couple of kms on the Camino, starting at the church in Alicante, in late March this year, when I celebrated my 60th birthday there.

Buen Camino, and may the force be with you.

 

[alansykes]

I left La Gineta early and the 20km to La Roda passed quickly, with more shade and variety than the previous day. After the slight disappointment of La G, La Roda was a DELIGHT. A bustlingly, lively town, and by 2pm I was installed in the albergue, which is IN the Plaza de Toros. None of my friends will believe that I slept in a bull ring, but the albergue is in 2 decent sized rooms with 2 comfortable beds in each in the infirmary, presumably in case a matador gets gored, but very handy for passing peregrinos.

 

[alansykes]

If La Gineta was a disappointment, La Roda was a DELIGHT. 20 easy km over slightly less dull landscape and into a lively town with some very fine secular and religious architecture, mudéjar elements in the parish church and plateresque bits in some of the grander old buildings. The albergue (donativo) was great, it's in the infirmary inside the Plaza de Toros. 2 rooms each with two comfortable beds, presumably there in case a matador gets gored. None of my friends will believe that I slept in a bullring. Another surprise of La Roda was its miguelitos, a delicious sweet millefeuille with creamy insides and a tendency is explode icing sugar over you when you bit into it.

The next day was longer, but leaving La Roda at 7am meant that I was in the Posada del Reloj in San Clemente having a delicious menú del día by 3.30pm, having had well placed pauses for zumo half way and a caña 3/4s of the way. San Clemente is almost better than La Roda, if possible. Similar impressive secular buildings, and the parish church has a fine collection of renaissance and later sculpture, including a very fine pietà, and a quarter-sized Santiago matamoros, or rather matamoros as there was only one, and he'd lost his sword so it looked as if the fierce horse was doing most of the mata. Opposite the church, in the old town hall, was a surprising modern art gallery, with a colourful room full of works by Guillaume Corneille, much of the A of CoBrA. Not what I was expecting to see in the La Mancha prairie.

The albergue is a pleasant flat just by the camino on the way out of town, two bedrooms and a sitting room, free.

 

[Pelegrin]

Enjoy La Mancha. Now the"veroño" (summer/autumn) is over and autumn is coming

 

[alansykes]

Enjoy La Mancha. Now the"veroño" (summer/autumn) is over and autumn is coming

Veroño has been extreme this year - according to the telly this morning, it was the hottest and sunniest October for 50 years. Las Pedroñeras was a nice enough town and the albergue there is in the casa paroquial, a handsome 17th c house with a collonaded courtyard, with a room with 2 beds and a shower/loo for pilgrims (€10). The parocco recommended we eat in La Castilla, where we had an excellent mdd with pilgrim discount for €8. Las P being garlic central, it seemed churlish not to have the delicious sopa de ajo.

A very short walk next day saw me in Mota del Cuervo, where the smartly dressed children were coming out of church when I arrived, some of them having just had their first communion, and one of them gave me a sugared almond, which had a slightly Proustian effect, taking me back 45 years to my own. Then up to see the windmills, having checked into an unnecessarily big flat, complete with kitchen, just on the main square (€40), but the owner claimed none of her single rooms was occupiable.

 

[peregrina2000]

View attachment 14706 View attachment 14707
Veroño has been extreme this year - according to the telly this morning, it was the hottest and sunniest October for 50 years. Las Pedroñeras was a nice enough town and the albergue there is in the casa paroquial, a handsome 17th c house with a collonaded courtyard, with a room with 2 beds and a shower/loo for pilgrims (€10). The parocco recommended we eat in La Castilla, where we had an excellent mdd with pilgrim discount for €8. Las P being garlic central, it seemed churlish not to have the delicious sopa de ajo.

A very short walk next day saw me in Mota del Cuervo, where the smartly dressed children were coming out of church when I arrived, some of them having just had their first communion, and one of them gave me a sugared almond, which had a slightly Proustian effect, taking me back 45 years to my own. Then up to see the windmills, having checked into an unnecessarily big flat, complete with kitchen, just on the main square (€40), but the owner claimed none of her single rooms was occupiable.

You're bringing back lots of good memories, Alan. I remember thinking that Mota del Cuervo looked like a friendly place, glad you got a chance to walk up and around the windmills.

 

[alansykes]

Another very short day to El Toboso. Once again, I got me to a nunnery, this time the austerely beautiful convento de las Trinitarias, slightly grandiloquently described on the tourist panels as El Escorial de La Mancha (I've stayed in Oseira, called El Escorial del Norte, so I've only got the real thing to go, unless there are some other ones). The chatty young nun showed me how to close the heavy 17th C doors, explained the very liberal rules, stamped my credencial, gave me a key, led me to my cosy cell, with en suite, and view over a sunny walled garden with mulberry trees, herbs for the convent kitchen and lines full of the nuns' washing. €20.

 

[peregrina2000]

Another very short day to El Toboso. Once again, I got me to a nunnery, this time the austerely beautiful convento de las Trinitarias, slightly grandiloquently described on the tourist panels as El Escorial de La Mancha (I've stayed in Oseira, called El Escorial del Norte, so I've only got the real thing to go, unless there are some other ones). The chatty young nun showed me how to close the heavy 17th C doors, explained the very liberal rules, stamped my credencial, gave me a key, led me to my cosy cell, with en suite, and view over a sunny walled garden with mulberry trees, herbs for the convent kitchen and lines full of the nuns' washing. €20.

Hi, Alan, I must be the only Levante pilgrim who couldn't figure out where to knock for the albergue in El Toboso's nunnery. We wound up in the Don Quijote place on the highway, not too bad, but certainly not anything like you describe. I had arrived in El Toboso with Kevin's image of lace panels fluttering on the window pane, and wound up upstairs in a truck stop room instead!

Can you give a little explanation on where the entrance was, how you got in, etc? Buen camino, Laurie

 

[alansykes]

Dear Laurie,

I just rang 925 197173 from the little park in front of the convent, and the nun told to to wait outside the heavy doors of 2 Calle Juan Gil, which she heaved open and let me in, where Napoleon's troops had apparently refused to force themselves in, because of the fame of El Toboso. I had a perfectly decent lunch in your truck stop, but liked my night in the nunnery - although the weather has finally broken and I was woken in the middle of the night by the sound of rain sheeting down, never a pleasant sound to pilgrim ears. But the drop in the temperature is a bit of a relief to this pilgrim.

A mostly pleasant day on to La Villa de Don Fadrique, mainly on a grande randonée following a former railway line. Quintenar de La Orden has some decent stuff and the church, with its daunting defensive tower, was open, with much Santiago imagery. I'm staying with Juan at the rincon, and he has made me a delicious aperitivo, and generally fussed over me and washed all my clothes and it's greatly preferable to the polideportivo, and only €20.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks, Alan. I'll keep that information -- next time I WILL stay in the nunnery!

Ah yes, the very caring and very fussy Juan. I'll bet he follows you out in his car in the morning to make sure you don't lose your way. I hope he makes it with his casa rural, though, because he has had some really rough times. I had to keep dodging the politial comments, though! Laurie

 

[alansykes]

I liked Juan very much. His idea of an "aperitivo" is my idea of supper, and the breakfast he gave me on leaving was much better than I usually get, and having my clothes all properly clean was an extra bonus. We managed to keep off politics, other than a synchronised mutter when the daily corruption slot came on the morning TVE news, with its usual procession of officials and politicians with their fingers in the till. He asked me to recommend his rincón on TripAdvisor etc and I gladly will as I think he's really genuinely out to help. He also gave me numbers for a very decent casa rural in Tembleque, where I stayed the next night. The Balcón de la Mancha (€20), just off the fabulous Plaza Major, and above the Mirador de la Mancha, which does a very fine menú del día at €9.

The next day was a long one, as l rang the ayuntamiento in Almonacid de Toledo to check their acogida and they confirmed that, rather than mundicamino's "quarto sin aseo", what they actually offer is space in the changing rooms of the municipal swimming pool, where there are 4 loos and 6 showers with hot water. They've put a bit of foam out over some benches, so it's basic, but free, so adequate, and it's 2 hours closer to Toledo than Mora is.

 

[alansykes]

It may be arguably the most famous cityscape in the world, but nothing can prepare you for that first view of Toledo from the south. Ambling along quietly, 4-5 hours out from Almonacid, and you have to pick your jaw off the ground as suddenly you're standing where El Greco stood above the parador and looking at many things he would have recognised. And then from the different angles and elevations as you go down towards the Tajo gorge. Just amazing.

 

[alansykes]

The centre of Toledo was pretty amazing as well, so I spent a busy and tiring afternoon wandering around the obvious sites and sights, and getting my El Greco fix. In the evening it didn't let up as there was a tapas festival with 60 or more of the city centre bars offering their best tapa for €2 each, so it seemed churlish not to try out one or two (or 6, I think). I stayed in the Hostal Centro, perfectly fine, €35 with en suite, and a 4th floor roof terrace sandwiched between the towers of the alcázar and the cathedral.

The next day I left with the light and, for once, the signage out of town was excellent, so I was looking back for the last time by 10ish. Pleasant countryside, with proper bumps in the landscape again. The Tajo is much busier here than when I last saw it a couple of years ago and a couple of 100km downstream filling up the Alcántara reservoir near Cáceres. And the Guadarrama was even faster and very cold (and refreshing) when I crossed it and filled my bottle a little later.

Looking at the town map when I got to Torrijos, I was disgusted to see that there is a Calle del General Yagüe, named in "honour" of a man repulsive even by Franco's lax standards, and another named after Madame Franco. Hey ho, luckily there was also an impressive palace of Don Pedro, with a glorious two tiered internal cloister/courtyard of c1500, in which, slightly surreally, local children were practising a Chinese dragon dance.

 

[AZgirl]

The centre of Toledo was pretty amazing as well, so I spent a busy and tiring afternoon wandering around the obvious sites and sights, and getting my El Greco fix. In the evening it didn't let up as there was a tapas festival with 60 or more of the city centre bars offering their best tapa for €2 each, so it seemed churlish not to try out one or two (or 6, I think). I stayed in the Hostal Centro, perfectly fine, €35 with en suite, and a 4th floor roof terrace sandwiched between the towers of the alcázar and the cathedral.

The next day I left with the light and, for once, the signage out of town was excellent, so I was looking back for the last time by 10ish. Pleasant countryside, with proper bumps in the landscape again. The Tajo is much busier here than when I last saw it a couple of years ago and a couple of 100km downstream filling up the Alcántara reservoir near Cáceres. And the Guadarrama was even faster and very cold (and refreshing) when I crossed it and filled my bottle a little later.

Looking at the town map when I got to Torrijos, I was disgusted to see that there is a Calle del General Yagüe, named in "honour" of a man repulsive even by Franco's lax standards, and another named after Madame Franco. Hey ho, luckily there was also an impressive palace of Don Pedro, with a glorious two tiered internal cloister/courtyard of c1500, in which, slightly surreally, local children were practising a Chinese dragon dance.

Thank you so much for your wonderful updates, I enjoy reading them.

 

[alansykes]

From Torrijos to Escalona I was on the tracks of Lazarillo de Tormes. Half way was Maqueda, with its fine castle and horrific sprawling villas, where Lazaro worked for the miserly priest, who allowed him an onion every 4 days, and any funeral baked meats, so he prayed for people to die. Escalona was where he finally split up with his despotic blind master, after switching a succulent sausage for a rotten turnip in his bocadillo. It was Sunday when I got to Escalona - after nervously crossing the lovely but narrow bridge, with fast traffic on both sides - so the policia local, who have the keys to the albergue, were closed. The Guardia Civil, next door to the albergue, where in a sane world the keys would be kept, assured me that the locals would "probabilmente" open at 8pm and let me in. As it was then 3pm, and both of the town's hostals have closed down, I decided to carry on to Almorox, where there was the OK roadside hostal Beme, €30.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Alan,
You are close to the mountains! If you stop in Cebreros, instead of walking the killer stage from San Martín de Valdeiglesias to San Bartalomé, I will expect (well, at least hope for) a complete report on the Museo de la Transición, located in an old church in Cebreros, which is Adolfo Suarez's home town. http://www.museoadolfosuarezylatransicion.com/main.html
I had planned to stop there and spend the night, but I was so enjoying walking with two French guys (with whom I walked into Santiago, having met up with them on Day 4), that I just kept going. But I would have loved to visit this place.

And I´m assuming you loved the Toros de Guisando. We got there right at sunrise and it was a really nice stop. Oh, this is really a fabulous section of the Levante, hope you enjoy it a lot. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[alansykes]

Almorox to Cebreros was a lovely walk, and I had my picnic by the toros, beautiful mysterious beasts. So different, in the middle of nowhere, to the one on the bridge at Salamanca (which poor Lazarillo had his head smashed against by the nasty blind man).

I liked the clean air of Cebreros. As it's only 15km on to San Bartolomé de Pinares, I decided to have a late start so as to see the Museo de la Transición. I liked it very much, and it quite took away the nasty taste of Torrijos' Calle Yagüe by reminding you how vanishingly few of those there are left, compared to the number of plazas de la Constitución and vias de la Libertad. The bits about Suárez and the other wonderful people who helped steer Spain away from the waters of despotism were very tactfully done, especially as the video showing Tejero's pantomime putsch was on the blink.

It was still pouring with rain when I left the museum at about 11am, but I had a glorious Caspar David Friedrich moment an hour later when I got to the Puerto de Arrebatacapas, and suddenly I was in bright sunshine with the clouds shrouding La Mancha swirling at my feet. The rest of the day on the high plateau was fabulous, with views, junipers and delicate autumn crocuses, culminating in San Bartolomé with its cosy albergue (free) opened for me by the mayor herself, and where I was later joined by a Valenciano pilgrim and his very polite border collie (I come from the border that border collies come from, so we got on well, although I suspect he may not be welcome everywhere).

 

[alansykes]

There was an almost perfect mountain sunrise on leaving San Bartolomé, and then several more hours of wonderful sierra, with cows and calves busy turning themselves into chuletón. The first view of Ávila from a distance from the south is not as spectacular as Toledo, but it's still quite a sight, as is the first close up of the walls, as you pass Santiago's church with its octagonal tower and suddenly you're in front of one of the gates. And Ávila is far less crawling with tourists than Toledo, so it felt generally calmer. The albergue (donativo) is one of the best, with a washing machine and fridge. I was the 388th person in it this year.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I was the 388th person in it this year.

That is OVER 1 person per day...

Buen camino.

 

[Kiwi-family]

That is OVER 1 person per day...

Buen camino.

Sounds like the bed race is going to move south!
And so the next urban legend begins.....

 

[alansykes]

Great excitement in the Diario de Ávila that the mayor has met the pope and given him some stuff relating to St Theresa's quincentenary next year. He hasn't committed to visiting Ávila on his Spanish tour next year, but it sounds as if he probably will, and that could have a fairly significant effect on tourism in the area, with pictures of the walls and the cathedral being beamed around the world.

Laurie and others have written about the horrific exit from Ávila, along a busy and quite narrow national road, with sliproads to 2 motorways not helping. If I come this way again I think I'll take a taxi or bus for the first 3km. Great views back over the walls. After a last view backwards, soon you are back to contemplating the boundless plain again. Gotarrendura is a pleasant little village with a very fine albergue (4 beds, washing machine etc, donativo). A notice on the bar door says they'll open specially for pilgrims for supper if you ring, a relief as there's no shop to buy stuff to use in the well equipped kitchen. St Theresa was almost certainly born here, and you can see her family dovecot. There's a statue of her from 1982, commemorating the 400th anniversary of her death, so perhaps they'll put up another for the quincentenary of her birth next.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Alan, well if you left Avila today, at least you got Saturday traffic rather than week-day. My departure was on a Sunday, so it was very quiet, but seeing all those autopista entrances right next to where I was walking gave me great pause.

So where are you headed when you get to Medina del Campo? Sureste or Levante? I know you've already visited Arevalo on a previous Camino detour, but I imagine a repeat visit will be very enjoyable. Maybe your challenge could be to try to get into that beautiful Iglesia de la Lugareja on the outskirts. I have heard that it is sometimes possible, even though it is privately owned. http://www.arteguias.com/iglesia/lalugareja.htm

Enjoying your posts so much, buen camino, Laurie

 

[alansykes]

I left Ávila on Friday morning, so the traffic was still pretty bad. Saturday's walk to Arévalo was through a lovely pine wood, where many people were out picking wild mushrooms, and I was able to point one family in the direction of a good clump of setas I'd just passed. Sadly all the village bars were closed, so I didn't get my coffe and tostada until Tiñosillos at 10.30. Arévalo is just glorious, with a wealth of mudéjar churches and one of the finest plazas in Spain. The albergue is in a corner of the sports hall, and the local police gave me a key and insisted on driving me to it, the first wheels I've used since Alicante (it didn't feel like cheating as it was going backwards). Room for 4 in 2 bunks, shower and loo, free.

 

[alansykes]

Arévalo to Medina del Campo is not a great day's walk. The last 8km (of ?34) are right beside the motorway, which was busy even on a Sunday. But Medina del Campo is a fine town, with an imposing castle and main plaza, and I was surprised to find the Reales Carnicerías open - built in 1562, it claims to be the oldest continuously operating market in the world. My Estonian friend Tanel, who I'd run into again in Ávila, and I went to evening mass in San Juan del la Cruz, by the albergue. It was packed with well-heeled elderly people - Tanel, at 43 was the youngest person there, and I, at 53, was probably about the 8th youngest. Given the reputation of the order, and the composition of the congregation, I was nervous about the sermon, but I needn't have been as it was a liberal take on the parable of the talents, saying it showed the inevitability of change, and the need to embrace it.

St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Ávila met for the first time in Medina, and the albergue is attached to the shoeless carmelites. Slightly ironic that two such famous ascetics should have been ultimately responsible for what is a relatively luxurious albergue - individual rooms, a huge bath with copious hot water and a comfy sitting room, where Tanel, Andrés (the Valenciano pilgrim con perro I'd stayed with in San Bartolomé and Ávila) and I sat up chatting until gone midnight.

Early on Monday morning in the plaza de Santiago, Tanel and I said goodbye as he headed west on the Levante and I went north on the Sureste. We may overlap again, I hope, once I get onto the Sanabrés. Half of the short way to Tordesillas is Rueda. Other than an incongruous slate roof baroque church, the main drag is 1km of continuous bodegas and bars. Although it was only 11am, I thought it would be fun to be able to boast that I'd drunk Rueda in Rueda, so I asked for a copita to go with a pincho, expecting a couple of mouthfuls. I think the barman must have poured about 1/3 of a bottle of verdejo into my glass. Delicious, but the next few km were probably rather slower than the previous ones.

 

[alansykes]

Tordesillas is the third place where I've crossed the Duero. It's not as dramatic a riverscape as at Zamora, but impressive all the same. In the town is the place where the treaty of Tordesillas was made in 1494, dividing the new world between Spain and Portugal. The pole to pole line of Tordesillas was almost absentmindedly moved to the west of Cape Verde, accidently giving Brazil to Portugal. Poor old 12xgreat-grannie Juana la Loca spent 46 years here.

The albergue is one of the best, in a lovely restored 18th century timber-framed barn, with kitchen, washing machine and 10 beds in the large upstairs space. €5. I was about the 93rd person to stay there this year, so clearly most people stay on the Levante.

 

[Pelegrin]

Alan, I see you are an expert in Spanish history. So, I'm sure you're enjoing very much this Camino
Toros de Guisado or wild boars?. This is an interesting question for Pre Roman culture lovers like me.
Anyway, I did Cebreros Pto Arrebatacas- San Bartolomé with my mountain group last year I didn´t remember it but I found this video. Too many people on the photos (not me and my group) but gives an idea of the stage.

 

[alansykes]

Unfortunately I can't see the video but I think the toros are the emblematic place of the Levante/Sureste, as the Arco of Cáparra is of the Plata.

Tordesillas to Mota del Marqués is a dull day alongside the motorway. MdM is a sad, once important, place, slowly dying and blighted by the noise of the motorway, with the five tiers to the tower of its church and the decay of the colossal wreck of its castle as reminders of that which once was great. The albergue is fine, a room at the back of the ayuntamiento, one bunk and 2 single beds, loo and shower, donativo.

On from MdM I went to Villalpando, a long day. There is an albergue at San Pedro de Laterce, roughly half way. The 20km from San Pedro don't even go past a barn for the first 17km, so filling up with water is important. The albergue in Villalpando is good, three rooms with two single beds in each, and a bath as well as shower. I was the 71st person and 13th foreigner there this year (up from 33 people in all of 2012), free (almost certainly my 8th and last free albergue of this camino).

 

[alansykes]

I undersold Villalpando's albergue - it also has a kitchen and sitting room, and is donativo rather than free. Villalpando to Benavente was mostly close to the motorway, with a few detours for works on the northern extension to the Ruta de la Plata. Crossing the Esla on a mediaeval bridge was a pleasure, but sadly it was 6km further on to the town, and all on tarmac on quite a busy road through seemingly endless industrial estates and suburbs, and the albergue is closed for the winter, hey ho. Must look up Laurie's notes on how to avoid a similar arrival in Ourense next week.

 

[peregrina2000]

Alan, So now what do you do from Benavente to get onto the Sanabres? Seems like you'll have to make up your own route,looking forward to hearing how and where you connect. I suppose you could backtrack from Benavente to where the Vdlp and Sanabres split in Granja. In any event, looking forward to hearing you how you do it.

Here's the thread on going in and out of Ourense. https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/going-in-and-out-of-ourense.10127/

Seems like the weather has been fairly benevolent given that it's November! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[alansykes]

Thanks so much for that, Laurie, sounds much more pleasant doing a riverside approach than going through seemingly endless industrial estates.

The weather has been very kind so far, one hour of serious rain and a few bits of drizzle in a month ain't bad. The forecast suggests Galicia may change that. Last night there was a glorious sunset from Benavente, and I thought I could just make out a line of hills in the extreme west - presumably the ones after Puebla de Sanabria.

The Sureste is marked from Benavente to Santa Marta de Tera, where the Sanabrés takes over.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks, Alan, I didn't know about that connection, it opens up even more possibilities! BTW, since this means you'll be going through Lubian, I'd really appreciate hearing what you find between Aciberos and Lubian. This is one of the areas that was starting to see earth moving in connection with AVE construction last year. I have always thought that short stretch was one of the most idyllic and most peaceful on any camino and have been so sad to hear about detours and re-routing and the long term prospects that another gorgeous untouched spot will suffer radical damage.

Buen camino, enjoying your posts, Laurie

 

[alansykes]

I had hoped all the tunnelling etc would be over by now, but I'll find out on Tuesday.

It's SO good to be in Sanabria, with trees in the last of their autumn glory, swift rivers, distant hills etc. Am glad to have seen Tordesillas and Benavente, but glad I'll never have to again. The second night in Tordesillas was one too many, despite an enjoyable rest day in lively Valladolid. If poor Juana wasn't loca when she arrived in Tordesillas, 46 years of it would be enough to make her. And the three days between the two were probably the worst of any camino I've been on - virtually total cereal monoculture. Normally in rural Spain, the only man made things breaking the horizon are the village church or castle. Up to Benavente, the flour mills and grain silos dominated: cathedrals of corn.

Currently in Mombuey, in solitary splendour in its albergue/barn. Sadly the Sunday service was at midday, so I still, after 3 visits, haven't seen inside the unusual templar church.

 

[alansykes]

Had my first caldo galego in Puebla de Sanabria. This camino I've become addicted to sopa castillano, especially if they put a raw egg yolk in it, but it has been good the last couple of days seeing cabbage patches in every vegetable garden. Some of the walk was through green tunnels - or rather russet brown ones, as the remaining leaves have all turned. Passed through Remesal, where Ferdinand of Aragon met his son-in-law Philip and a civil war was averted. The albergue in PdS is closed for the winter, so I'm in the comfortable Carlos V.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Alan,
I'll bet Puebla de Sanabria has a lot more charm without the tourists. Does the caldo galego there use those big white local creamy beans? I had been sorely tempted to put a kilo in my pack, but sanity prevailed.

Are you meeting any other pilgrims now that you're on the Sanabres? Buen camino, you are so lucky to be out there now! Laurie

 

[peregrina2000]

p.s., Alan,
Just in case you've got lots of time to kill in Lubián, a walk up to the wolf-catcher is fun (path leads up right next to the bar on the highway, and then past the medical clinic). Post #36 of this thread has a nice video describing how the Cortello dos Lobos worked. One little tidbit added at the end was that after the wolf was caught inside, it was paraded through the town and then killed, in no small part the cause of near wolf extinction in Asturias. Wonder if they are trying to re-introduce them?

Also, maybe you´ll find more of these



I was sitting in a little square, up from the grocery I believe, on steps leading up to a boarded up old place, and saw that little rusted scallop shell. It made me think about the people who had once lived there and who cared enough about their place to put that tiny but identifiable connection to the Camino on their door handle. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Pelegrin]

Near wolf extintion in Asturias? I don't think so.
what i know is wolf numbers are increasing in Spain. Actually they haved crossed the river Duero and 5 of them have settled in the province of Madrid (Somosierra area).
The province of Zamora where Sanabria is located has the highest wolf rate in the peminsula.
By the way, "Cortello dos lobos" means in Galego "small barn for wolves".

 

[peregrina2000]

Near wolf extintion in Asturias? I don't think so.
what i know is wolf numbers are increasing in Spain. Actually they haved crossed the river Duero and 5 of them have settled in the province of Madrid (Somosierra area).
The province of Zamora where Sanabria is located has the highest wolf rate in the peminsula.
By the way, "Cortello dos lobos" means in Galego "small barn for wolves".

Thanks, Pelegrin. Maybe the speaker was referring to extinction in the area around this particular cortello, I don't know. When I walked the Levante in 2013, I was unlucky enough to be taking a pit stop in some bushes up on the ridge after A Gudiña, when my two French walking partners had a pretty close meet-up with a wolf. They described a few seconds of eye-locked stares and a majestic, and slightly arrogant, departure. I wish I had seen it, I always seem to miss the wildlife by the skin of my teeth. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[alansykes]

There was a piece in El País saying that wolves had killed a couple of calves in the Sierra de Gredos when I was going through 2 weeks ago, so it seems they're thriving and spreading. Because of the desvíos, I only got to Lubian late and tired,so sadly didn't make it up to the wolf trap. I'm heading over the vendas tomorrow so hope I spot a wolf, but doubt it as the clouds look low.

I think the camino from Aciberos to Lubian may be ruined forever. The Ave desvíos from Requejo were most of the way, other than a bit up to Padornelo. And that wonderful walk from Aciberos was closed, cutting off the lovely secret valley, with its ancient water channels and mills, and the volume of works, making the ave line at nose level almost throughout the valley, makes me fear it will never be the same again. The delicious water tumbling out of the hills is still a delight.

A Gundiña's albergue seems warm and the Sevilliano couple I stayed with in Lubian last night are very friendly, but stopping in Campobecerros tomorrow so I'll probably lose them as I hope to stay in Laza. It was good to hear Galician again, even if my ear can't get round it, but I think George Borrow exaggerates when he talks about its "half singing half whining accent, and with its confused jumble of words from many languages".

 

[LTfit]

Greetings Alan!
I am jumping in here only now (was in Spain for 6 weeks) and see that I have a lot of catching up to do! Were you able to stay in the Xunta albergue in Lubián? It was closed due to chinches when I passed through a few weeks ago. I made a long detour from Aciberos circling the valley and crossing a river along the N106 if I recall correctly as I missed the signs when entering Aciberos but heard later on that the original route was actually passable.
Enjoy the rest of the Sanabrés! It has changed quite a bit even compared to last July but seeing it in Fall was a treat.
Now I'll go back and start at the beginning of the thread. I still need to do the Toledo-Zamora stretch myself so am curious to read about your experience along the Levante.
Wish you well.
Cheers,
LT
p.s. I have gotten as far as Toledo and had to chuckle about a few of your comments (I was kept up by the marching band practicing till midnight) and am surprised by the numbers. My walking companion and I met only 1 other pilgrim from Valencia to Toledo in July.

 

[alansykes]

Lubian's albergue was open, spotless, bedbug-free and with an excellent kitchen, all for €3. There were very fierce notice barring the way at Aciberos, and the sounds of dyn kmamite in the distance, so I went the long way round the valley.

A Gudiña to Laza is one of my favourite stages of any camino and it was a delight agaipn, especially as I got up to the top before the ave dump trucks got busy on the narrow road. That high path with the reservoir on one side and northern Portugal on the other. Briefly I had to examine the inside of a cloud, but it kindly left me alone - which was a relief as the steep descent to Campobecerros on wet slate would be unpleasant. The next bit on to Laza is almost as good as the morning's walk, with little villages, hid by chestnut "and pine, like an eagle's nest clinging on the crest" of green Galicia. One lovely valley had two gaping holes at each end, soon no doubt to be joined together by a huge dreary utilitarian ave bridge. Laza's albergue was excellent, with another well equipped kitchen and a nice sitting room to read my book - although you have to jump up and wave frenetically every 6 minutes as the movement sensitive lighting system switches itself off.

Xunquiera de Amba's albergue being cerrado por obras, I made the short day to Vilar de Barrio, starting late in the hope that the rain, heavy all night, would improve. Which, very kindly, it did, turning to drizzle before 11, and I was reunited with my shadow by noon. It's almost as good a walk as the previous afternoon, but sadly the rincón at Albergueria was closed. Clearly not for very long, as Schumann was coming out of a loudspeaker, and I could peer into scallop central and catch a tantalising glimpse of the lights of the coffee machine. Luis must have nipped into town for provisions. Hey ho, one day I will find it open, or even stay there. Vilar de Barrio has another good xunta albergue, although the cooker is pretty useless as there are no pots or pans.

 

[peregrina2000]

I sort of feel like I'm in mourning for the loss of the Aciberos-Lubian walk, but I know that's overly self-indulgent. The Camino has lost a real gem, but maybe once the tunnels are in place, we will be able to go back through some of that glorious green splendor. I guess I should feel lucky I made it through last year by the skin of my teeth!

Hope you enjoyed Vilar do Barrio, Alan. I had a good night there once, and was really lucky to coincide with a pulpo day right in front of the albergue. Did you eat with that eccentric woman across the street?

So, do you mean you don't have your name on any scallop shell in the bar in Albergaria?????? Guess you will just have to go back again to correct that -- when I was there last year I searched in vain for the shell I had signed years earlier, and decided it wasn't all that important to show that I had made my mark before, kind of like a dog staking out territory or something. Looking forward to hearing about the last few days for you! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[alansykes]

Sadly not pulpo day in Vilar de Barrio. I have eaten with Señora Carmen across the way, but decided on eating a salad in the albergue. Vilar to Xunqueira de Ambia is a lovely morning's woodland walk, but sadly the next stretch on to Ourense is mostly tarmac. Fortunately I looked up Laurie's instructions about the riverside approach before the Peugeot salesroom, and turned sharp left there and had a very pleasant final 3km into the centre of town along a tree-lined stream.

As a pleasant surprise Tanel, my Estonian friend from the end of October, arrived at the albergue a few hours after me, having taken exactly the same amount of time from Medina del Campo doing the Levante and the Portuguese variant of the Sanabrés as I took on my route.

The next day up to Oseira was glorious, once out of Ourense's suburbs. The menú del día at Cea included pulpo, and I had a brief chat in the restaurant with Cea's kind but shy hospitalero, a gaita expert. They now have 14 monks in Oseira, one up from last year. Vespers was memorable, and the abbot was there this time, resplendent in a purple and gold cape, in contrast to the austere black of a visiting Dominican in the congregation. Such a beautiful place, especially in the bright late autumn sunshine.

 

[alansykes]

And still more autumn sunshine all the way on to Santiago, with that wonderful first view of the Pico Sacro from shortly after Silleda, and mch woodland walking. What a great camino this has been. And it's not over yet as, for the first time, I'm heading on to Fisterra and Muxia.

Sadly said goodbye to my new Estonian friend Tanel at the station after we'd picked up our compostelas and had a last convivial lunch. My first camino "family". Different rest days, different routes, and about 10 days together in the last 40, with many pleasant evenings - sometimes I've caught Spaniards shaking their heads in disbelief when they realise that the two foreigners in the bar are happily massacring la lengua de Cervantes, but we got on well.

The pilgrim mass today mentioned 12 different nationalities among the 40-odd of us who'd arrived, but no longer specifies departure points.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

There were 59 Compostelas on Wednesday, so you are in sparse company! Enjoy the remainder of your walk. It looks like sparkling clear weather today. Congratulations on the finish. Buen camino.

 

[peregrina2000]

Congratulations, Alan, can't believe you've made it again. Only a few more days to the sea, fingers crossed that the weather holds up for you. Buen camino from this side of the Atlantic. Laurie

 

[alansykes]

Thanks both. If anybody had told me 6 weeks ago in Alicante that I would still need sunblock and my dark glasses in Galicia in December I wouldn't have believed them. Astonishing number of clothes hanging on lines these last 3 days, usually the triumph of hope over experience in these parts. The last 2 albergues have been the 2 extremes: Vilaserio with its floor mats in an unheated former school compared to the ultra flash warm modern xunta one at Dumbría.

Was a little surprised at the quantity of advertising since Santiago. From 5 or more km out of each town virtually every tree or telegraph pole was plugging a private albergue, bar or casa rural. It was easier to follow the adverts than the arrows in places. Once, on the stone column of a crucifix, somebody had tied signs pointing to a bar and albergue, quite neatly demonstrating the impossibility of serving God and Mammon. Hardly seen any on the VdlP, and can't remember any at all on the Levante/Sureste. Is it like that on the Francés all the way from the Pyrenees?

 

[Pelegrin]

." It was good to hear Galician again, even if my ear can't get round it, but I think George Borrow exaggerates when he talks about its "half singing half whining accent, and with its confused jumble of words from many languages".


Alan. Thank you for your comment about Galician that is my native language.

Galician is not a "confused jumble of words from many languages". It has 99% latin origin words, and few germanic (guerra (war). brona (corn bread), etc) and it is still the common language in rural Galicia. Actually, when i visit towns and villages i only speak Galego.
In "big" cities like Coruña, Ferrol, Vigo most people speak Spanish as their first language. In smaller cities like Ourense, Lugo (50/50).

 

[alansykes]

."

Galician is still the common language in rural Galicia. Actually, when i visit towns and villages i only speak Galego.

I was surprised in Muxía that I didn't hear anybody speaking Castilian, it was all Galego. A day earlier I helped a woman move her small herd of cows across to a nearby field, and asked her about the breeds and whether they were mainly milk or beef, and she answered only in Galician - fortunately there were few possible answers, so I could work out what she was saying. I'd love to hear it sung.

The first glimpse of the sea was quite emotional. It's been over six weeks since I emerged from the Mediterranean, and I think that's the longest I've been out of sight of salt water in 30 years. The next day I fulfilled my pledge to jump into the Atlantic. Having swum out of the dawn, I probably should have swum into the sunset, but I found the lovely deserted Rostro beach shortly after noon and had my dip there. It was surprisingly warm, or much less cold than I'd expected, anyway.

Sadly, the sun having been with me for so much of the trip, a sea fret came down an hour or so before sunset at Finisterra, so I didn't see it set into the Atlantic, but it was still an experience. As it had been, slightly more visibly, the night before from Muxía, looking down that beautiful deadly coast.

 

[TheTinkerBell]

Well done and gracias for sharing your camino with us.
Don't know why, but Reggie Perrin entered my head when I was reading your last post
You're still with us, right??!!

 

[bystander]

Great read, thank you.

 

[wayfarer]

Congratulations Alan, a great Camino.

 

[alansykes]

Finisterra town was a bit of a letdown. It's an ok place, but not exciting. Alfred Wainwright, writing about finishing the Pennine Way (which, at a mere 429km, is hardly worth tying up your shoelaces for) says "there is no brass band to greet you, nobody to pin a medal on your chest ... The satisfaction you feel is intensely personal and cannot be shared: the sense of achievement is yours alone simply because you have earned it alone"

 

[Pelegrin]

"I was surprised in Muxía that I didn't hear anybody speaking Castilian, it was all Galego. A day earlier I helped a woman move her small herd of cows across to a nearby field, and asked her about the breeds and whether they were mainly milk or beef, and she answered only in Galician - fortunately there were few possible answers, so I could work out what she was saying. I'd love to hear it sung".

milk cows : black and white (frisians)
beef cows : blonde /light brown , all white. could be Galician blonde , Charolais, Limousin.
In Galicia there are still elder people who only speak Galego.
In my grandparents time, many Galegos who migrated to Buenos Aires and Cuba didn't speak Spanish and of course they had problems to understand the locals.

 

[KinkyOne]

"I was surprised in Muxía that I didn't hear anybody speaking Castilian, it was all Galego. A day earlier I helped a woman move her small herd of cows across to a nearby field, and asked her about the breeds and whether they were mainly milk or beef, and she answered only in Galician - fortunately there were few possible answers, so I could work out what she was saying. I'd love to hear it sung".

milk cows : black and white (frisians)
beef cows : blonde /light brown , all white. could be Galician blonde , Charolais, Limousin.
In Galicia there are still elder people who only speak Galego.
In my grandparents time, many Galegos who migrated to Buenos Aires and Cuba didn't speak Spanish and of course they had problems to understand the locals.

I remember I saw cows that were called "rubias gallegas" also.

 

[alansykes]

Finally back home. That was a great camino, and I'm glad I carried on after Santiago for the first time. And, for added post-camino "decompression", I took the train to Barcelona for my flight home. The 12 hour train ride across Spain was lovely, for much of the trip, up to Pamplona, following close to the camino Francés - and at one point between Sahagún and León I saw a lonely figure with a rucksack striding briskly westwards across the empty landscape, presumably aiming for Santiago for Christmas.

Now having to get reaccustomed to the fact that I don't have to walk for five or six hours to "earn" my lunch, and that the sun, if you can see it, sets at 3.45pm rather than 6.

 

[norelle]

I've really enjoyed following your camino, Alan. Best wishes for the holidays.

buen camino

 

[Pelegrin]

From Alicante to Fisterra!
It is an important achievement.