Guide to Via de la Plata

[geraldkelly]

Hi fellow pilgrims!

I walked the Via de la Plata in Feb/Mar of this year from Seville to Astorga where I joined the Camino Frances to Santiago. I put together a short guide based on that experience which is available for download from the website The Camino Guide - Home

There's also a guide to the Camino Frances there which is based on my experiences over the past few years.

Good luck to anybody thinking of walking the Via de la Plata. It's long!

Gerald

[Covey]

Brilliant!!

All anyone needs to walk the route, including the good, the bad and the ugly.

Look forward to you producing the guide for the Camino Frances!!

Covey

[geraldkelly]

Hi Covey

Thanks for your message. Actually I have a Camino Frances Guide there on the website too.

Gerald

[Covey]

Sorry, missed that but I put it down to old age!!

People should carry your guide to the Camino Frances as it is far more useful than most of the glossy productions.

It's the bits like advising people to use the road coming out of Hontonas instead of the track when wet, which marks your guide as a practical walkers guide rather than a tourist guide.

The first year I stumbled along the path, and the next two trips walked along the road. I know many do not like walking on the roads, but at least you can look up and take in what is around you.

So much of the Camino is spent with your eyes glued to the track and where your next footstep is going, and it is so easy to twist an ankle on these tracks if you are not careful, and then your problems really begin!

[geraldkelly]

Hi and thanks again!

I hope it's something that people will find useful. Hopefully over time, if people send me lots of updates, it can harness their collective wisdom.

I've never taken a fall or hurt myself on a Camino and I must be around the 4000km mark by now. It's one of those things I try not to think about. But there definitely are places where you're better off on the road - especially in wet weather. I've tried to identify those.

Gerald

[Covey]

I am glad I am not the only one to admit to being a serial Caminoist!!! My son's are beginning to wonder how I have got so many sins which need forgiving!

In reality, it is great fun, and I am lucky that I can take 5 - 6 weeks off each year to wander the trail, and it keeps me fit.

Many thanks for your hard work in putting together the guides.

Covey

[HuskyNerd]

Your guide is wonderful, Gerald. I'm considering the Via de la Plata for a 2 week trip this summer and am wondering if you have any info on the southern route that goes through Galicia w/o joining the Camino Frances at Astorga. I've thought about taking a train from Madrid to Sanabria or A Gudina and going from there to Santiago. I recognize it's pretty hilly, but it also looks fun and likely not as crowded as the other Rutas this year. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!

[geraldkelly]

Hi HuskyNerd

Unfortunately the answer is that I don't have much info about that route, or at least nothing in English. That's the part of the Via I haven't walked. I WAS planning to fly out next Wednesday to walk it, but unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances (the Credit Crunch), I had to cancel. It was my plan to finish the guide as far as Santiago, but that's on hold now and I don't know when I'm going to be able to do it.

How's your Spanish? I ask because I did download some information about hostels from www.godesalco.com and I can put that up on my website if that helps. There's a lot of info on that website and it's fairly up-to-date, it's just that it's all in Spanish.

I also have a distance and altitude chart (it's quite hilly).

The links are:
www.caminoguide.net/VíadelaPlata2.pdf
www.caminoguide.net/Profile.pdf

Friends of mine walked it and said that the scenery is superb, although there are some pretty long stages.

It will certainly be less busy than the Camino Frances but it's also very likely to have its busiest year ever. When are you thinking of going?

Buen Camino!
Ger

[HuskyNerd]

Thanks for your help, Ger. Your overview is super and confirms what I'd thought. I'm just starting my 3rd term of college Spanish so translating the www.godesalco.com materials will be a good exercise.

My plan is to arrive on July 25 in Santiago, so I'll likely start in A Gudina around July 14. Sounds like I'd better be in good shape!

Again, thanks for your help. Peace ~
Sandy Brown
Seattle WA USA

[HuskyNerd]

GeraldKelly, thanks again for posting the ViadelaPlata2.pdf guide. I think this will be very helpful and am overjoyed my Spanish seems to be adequate (today is my final exam in college Spanish Year 1). I've begun my countdown now -- 4 weeks to departure. I couldn't be happier to be back on the trail.

Buen caminos ~

[JacksonReed]

Hi:

I was wondering what the weather was like for you on your walk. I walked the VdlP in 2008, starting in mid-April. I want to walk it again in 2011, but my only time off will be in February/March. Thanks for your guide!

[geraldkelly]

Hi

I was extremely lucky with the weather, it rained a lot but always at night. In fact I was near Astorga by the time I got a good soaking. That was quickly followed by knee-deep snow and then warm sunshine again.

So basically you have to go prepared for everything (except extreme heat).

It may also be a lot lonelier than a couple of months later. I was alone in the albergues most nights.

Buen Via
Ger