Hi,
I've just reached Santiago walking from Granada (via de la Plata from Zafra). I set off at the end of September and enjoyed baking hot Andalucia weather to start with, ending up with blizzards from Astorga onwards. I took my time. Stopped in Cordoba for a week, Salamanca for a week, Leon for a week and a mountain break for a week. Plus several stops here and there.
Albergues in the cities between Zafra and Caceres were busy to the point of almost full. Mostly Germans on a Two week holiday walk. Check my blog for the dates:
http://www.thelostphotographer.blogspot.com
Other than that, accommodation was plentiful. All open and more often than not I had the use of a whole albergue to myself.
October in Extremadura was stunningly beautiful with almost perfect walking conditions. Loads of migrating birds and plenty of other wildlife to see. By the time I hit the cold of the north, municipal albergues in Galicia were cheap, clean, warm and uncrowded. Not entirely without problems. It's all in my blog and hardly worth mentioning here. I enjoyed it so much I'm about to brave the cold winter plains through the heart of Spain from Alicante to santiago during the coldest months!
In time my blog will build up to become a complete guide with photographs, videos and interviews backed with good information from Societies of Friends of the Caminos for lesser known pilgrim routes, but it's going to take time - I'm on an 18 month project plan.
e2a: Via de la plata is virtually flat compared to
Camino Frances. It was very casual by comparison, but some legs between albergues are much longer. Albergues are also more expensive (€10 - €15 is not uncommon).
