where to start?

[elisah]

Hello
I would like to walk a part of the via de la plata begin of september. I ll arrive in Vigo. I ll walk for about ten days but i don t feel like walking the last part to Santiago.
I was thinking to start in Zamora but does anybody know a place to start a bit closer to orense. A place that i can reach by train or by bus?
elisah

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Elisah ~
I just returned from 10 days on the Via de la Plata and had a wonderful time. My start was in Puebla de Sanabria in Zamora which is reachable both by bus and train. The distance was 266 kms to Santiago, which allowed an average per day of 26 kms which fit my needs just fine. Because there are fewer albergues along the way a person generally has fewer options for shorter days than the 22-30 km distances between albergues.

One resource for you to use to plan your trip is http://www.godesalco.com/plan/plata . This gives distances and services available between each town on the VdlP.

Starting at Vigo you can go either to Ourense or Pontevedra to catch a train or bus (Avanza) to Puebla de Sanabria for your beginning. Starting at Zamora proper makes a 400+ camino, which in your 10 days is a long distance per day. So I'd suggest Puebla for you, also. An itinerary would be something like this:

Puebla de Sanabria to Lubian
Lubian to A Gudina
A Gudina to Laza
Laza to Xunqueira de Ambia
Xunqueira to Ourense
Ourense to Cea
Cea to A Laxe
A Laxe to Outeiro
Outeiro to Santiago

There are a couple of 35 +/- km days in that, which can be divided up somewhat to be more humane. Oh, a helpful resource (in Spanish only unfortunately) is the Consumer Eroski guide at El Camino Sanabr . This lays out the same stages I just described and provides specific directions and maps as well as terrain and albergue info.

Not sure why you're avoiding the last bit into Santiago. From the southern route the last kms into Santiago are actually fairly pleasant, with the one exception of when you actually cross into the city limits and the Camino annoyingly winds through side streets in order to avoid the N-525. This is just the last 3-4 kms and is easily fixed by ignoring the yellow arrows and just keeping to the sidewalk on the main street. Unlike the Camino Frances entrance to Santiago past the airport, the VdlP entrance is mostly through farmland until actually crossing into the city limits.

Buen camino!

[HuskyNerd]

Just noticed you can catch a train from Vigo to Ourense to get on the Puebla de Sanabria run. South of Puebla de Sanabria the Renfe trains take a different, more southerly route, to Zamora than does the Via de la Plata.

[elisah]

thank you for your reaction.
Is the last 100 km to santiago not too busy? That s why i was thinking to ga from zamora towards orense.
elisah

[HuskyNerd]

Your advantage in September is that school is back in session and the hordes (small hordes on the Via de la Plata) of students in their vans and buses are busy in school. I don't think you'll have a problem from Ourense to Santiago given your time frame. Plus, the albergues in Cea, A Laxa and Outeiro are pretty spacious.