Day 16 - To Zamora

Another mystical city. Another good day. James left just before us and since he walks faster than we do, his tracks in the wet road were the only evidence we saw of him.

We are surprised at the number of folks at our refuge for the night. There is a fork in the road in two days. The choices are north to Astorga on the Camino Frances, or west toward Ourense on the Camino Sanabres. If the alburgues are full the next two nights, we will need to go north. If not, we will turn west.

Weather: Low 52 High 59 Threatening skies that waited until we reached Zamora to open up. It's been raining most of the afternoon, but we are inside now.
Quote from RA's journal: "Where did all of these new faces come from?"
Tips for pilgrims: Several folks walked the highway today to avoid the mud. We took the Camino and it was certainly muddy. The choice depends on your preference, we dislike asphalt. The mud would have been worse if it had rained on us during the walk.

James' footprint

The traditional pilgrim staff and flask

We have not seen as many great sunrises as we expected

The sycamore trees in the town plazas always amaze

We'll need to find out about these? Merlu?

Day 15 - To Villanueva de Campean

First, a few more notes from yesterday. As we were leaving Salamanca a driver honked at us, gave us a big smile, and yelled "Buen Camino". See our Sept. 29, 2014 post for an explanation of this. For now I'll just say that it feels good to know we have the support of the locals.  In the next little town we stopped for groceries in a tiny little 'tienda'.  A local man was eyeing us, so to lighten the mood, I referred to ourselves as 'loco peregrinos'.  He promptly insisted "No, No, No....", and went on to say, in Spanish too fast for us to get it all, how important the Camino is and wished us the best on our journey. 

The walk up to El Cubo was not pretty, mostly on a dirt road next to a busy, busy highway, by a prison,  and several annoying detours.  After El Cubo it was through beautiful farm country of winter grain about a foot high, fields of yellow, and dormant vineyards.

We also saw the most amazing lines of Processionary Caterpillars. The picture is of a shorter string, I took a video of the longer line.

Four new Irishmen just showed up, but I don't think the distances they walk will match ours, so we probably won't see them much after today.  The Irish always entertain me with the accent and the slang they come up with.

Weather: Low 50F High About 58, but again a strong, chilling wind with a little afternnon rain.
Quote from RA's journal: "Each day presents challenges and opportunities, make the most of both."
Tips for pilgrims: The walk from Salamanca to El Cubo will require determination, no matter how you divide it up. From Casa Saso to Villanueva, the only town is El Cubo. This is 26 km with only one source for food or water.  And again, we did not see a single other pilgrim on our walk, even though there are 9 of us in the albergue tonight???

We've decided a rainbow first thing in the morning is NOT a good sign

They aren't connected, they just follow each other head-to-tail

Leftover rain from the last few days

Winter wheat?

They call it Planta Colza here, used for Canola Oil

A stark beauty, but we prefer them in the fall with fruit on the vine.

Day 14 - To Casa Saso

Casa Saso has just begun catering to pilgrims.  They've had a camp site for a while, but since the location is a perfect 23 km from Salamanca, they are now offering beds to pilgrims. It is 7 km past Calzada de Valdunciel, about 150 meters off the camino. We met Bridgett (from Austria) leaving Salamanca this morning, she told us about Casa Sosa, it sounded good, so we are here with her and James.

We are now out of the hill country and onto the plains for a few days. Since there does not seem to be much to say about the walk today, I thought it would be good to elaborate on a mention that was made a few days ago.  I said that it seemed we were walking along a wide right-of-way for livestock, and it turns out to be true.  There at least two names for it: Via Pecuaria or Canada Real.  In most places it seems to be public domain land and marked by granite posts about 18" high, with a VP on the side (see below). Our path and this path sometimes cross, sometimes parallel, and sometimes are the same.

Weather: Low 40F High 62F Windy again, but only a few drops of rain during our walk. It began raining just as I was posting this, we had to go retrieve the laundry from the line!
Quote fromRA's journal: "No Cuckoo birds this morning, but we did hear a rooster!"
Tips for pilgrims: Casa Saso is not the fanciest place, but the hosts are a friendly couple who are eager to make us happy.  Staying here turns the stages from Salamanca to Zamora into a 23/26/16 km combination, which is better than any other 3 day division of the 65 km. I will also give you a hint to save 200 meters of walking. About 6 km past Calzada there is a bothersome back-track required anytime there has been rain (most of the time). You end up on the old highway and after the bridge the arrows tell you to back-track again to return to camino. This second detour is not needed. Just continue up the hill and there is an underpass where you can go under the divided highway to return to the camino, continuing north to El Cubo or stopping at Casa Saso in 500 meters.

Via Pecuaria marker

Plaza Mayor at 7:15 AM

The plains of western Spain

Our home for Wednesday evening

The Senora of the house gave both Ruth and Bridgett a trim.

Mike and James study the guides and papers for the next few day's walks.

Day 12 -To Morille and Day 13 To Salamanca

Day 12 - To Morille
The main route for today goes a little west and over a decent size ridge, with no services for 28 km.  The rain and wind continue to be brutal.  Because of the weather we took an alternate route, vering right after 13 km toward Pedrosilla.  This gave us the opportunity to stop for a hot drink there, and get a 30 minute break from the wind.  This actually added a bit of distance to today's walk, for another 30 km day, but it will make tomorrow much shorter.

Several of us received a very special blessing from Don Blas as we readied ourselves to depart this morning.  He prayed over us by name and then sang a beautiful spanish hymn of blessing. It was very meaningful.

The albergue in Morille has 3 bunk beds in the smallest room you can imagine them in.  It also has only one bathroom, with toilet and shower together. We know all these folks by now, and all 5 of us ate dinner together in the local cafe/bar.

Weather: Low 42F High - About 50F but very windy, with only a few spots of sun and several hours if heavy rain.
Quote from RA's journal: "Favorite part of Camino: Breaking bread at a table with people from all over the world."
Tip for pilgrims: Be sure to know your way out of these little towns. By leaving on the wrong road, one of the pilgrims did an extra 2 km on an already long day. On the Camino Frances you would immediately recognize the lack of yellow arrows and absence of pilgrims, but on the VdlP this is not so obvious.

Day 13 -To Salamanca
We said goodbye to Constance today. She takes a train to Madrid in the morning. Salmanca is exactly halfway from Seville to Santiago, so many folks start or stop here. We are sure to meet a few new folks in the next few days.

We were both tired from yesterday's walk, making todays 20 km seem harder than it should have.  We continue to walk through wonderful ranch/farm land.

One joy of the Camino is that we hear roosters crow every morning, even in the big cities. We believe that yesterday, first time ever on Camino, we did not hear one. As we started it was raining so hard they were hiding in the barns. The instances of sunshine came when we were far out into the country.  We look forward to hearing them welcome the morning in the future.

Weather: Low 42F High 54F  Both heavy rain and sunshine, about 50/50.
Quote from RA's journal: "Sitting in a tapas bar in Salamanca listening to Adelle. Does it get any better."
Tips for pilgrims: Be prepared for rain in springtime in Spain.

Dinner in Morille

These pigs ran to the fence when we walked by

Two fellow pilgrims catch us just before entering Salamanca

Entering the old city

Day 11 - To Fuenterroble de Salvatierra

A much easier day. About 20 km along nice dirt track with only a few small hills. We are staying at the most legendary albergue on this route. It has wood fire in the welcome room and in the dormitory. A community meal will be served at 8 pm.

We have a nice group of folks with whom we are walking and staying. Claudette from Holland. Chantel from France. Hanna from Denmark. We have caught Hans and Maria again. Also, James from Virginia who we had never met, but we had been following his blog at James-OnTheWay(dot)blogspot. Groups of folks like this normally stick together for a few days, and then gradually break up as folks walk shorter or longer distances or take a day off from walking.

Weather: Low 40F High 48F. The weather pattern has changed. A 30 mph, very cold wind all day today, with rain in the afternoon. The forecast is that an unsettled pattern will continue for several days.
Quote from RA's journal: "Walking in the weather makes me appreciate those that have gone before, the hardships they must have endured."
Tips for pilgrims: About 6 km before Fuenterroble there are very confusing arrows. Right now it seems best to take the sharp left for about 0.5 km, then continue north. Fuenterroble has a small shop that was open only in the evening today, but it is Sunday so that might not be the normal schedule.

A unique sunrise today.

Milliario stone 142

Ruth says I must post this one. 

A Hamberguesa Completa is our favorite lunch

(A large burger with fried egg added - this time over-easy)

Day 10 - To La Calzada de Bejar

A village of 84 people. Seems like not only a different country, but a different century. We've had a good dinner, and there is fire in the fireplace. We should sleep well tonight.

It was a beautiful morning, and actually the afternoon was beautiful also.  But the afternoon was difficult.  We asked our previous host to reserve a room in Puerto de Bejar, and he assured us all was set. We began our walk at 7:20 AM, and arrived at our planned destination at 3:00 PM.  The man there told us he was full and had no reservation.  He was kind enough to let us use the bathroom, fill our water bottles, and call ahead to find a bed. After 10 more kilometers of walking we arrived to La Calzada de Bejar at 5:30 PM.  Alba and Soraya are lovely hosts and we even got a tiny shot of the local liquor after dinner.

We didn't take many photos today, so I thought I'd post a few pictures of the unique way markers on the Via de la Plata. Yellow arrows are scattered along the way, but the granite blocks are sometimes all there is at a fork.

Weather: Low 39F High 66F Sunny, but a rainbow shortly after we arrived, so a small shower late.
Quote from RA's journal: "Well that was an adventure."
Tips for pilgrims:  This stage was beautiful, but more elevation than we've seen so far. Both steep up and steep down. Plan accordingly.

These granite blocks are the most common way marking on the Via de la Plata.

Walk forward toward the top of the arch along the direction of the yellow line.

The yellow and blue together indicates that this part of the path

is both the Via de la Plata and the original Roman road

Here the VdlP stays straight ahead (yellow marked cube)

And the original Roman road goes left into the countryside (blue marked cube)

A photo never seems to capture the beauty of a rainbow

Day 9 - To Caparra

Caparra is a city in ruins. Literally. It was a Roman empire city, but was abandoned and buried in the sands of western Spain. Some parts have been excavated, and the great Arch of Caparra is in remarkably good shape. It is a quadruple arch, two arches facing northeast toward the mountains, and two arches facing northwest, with all four joined at the corners.

We have walked 75 days on Caminos since 2012, and today was one of the most emotionally disappointing. We've never had to take a ride in a vehicle until today. The town we had hoped to stay in had no beds, so we were given a ride to the nearest hostal, about 8 miles away.  This wasn't a complete surprise as some of these small towns have very limited accommodations.

Other than that it was a great day. Beautiful countryside. Ancient ruins. Practically no other folks on the trail. Mostly healthy bodies. Warm sun.

We visited for a while last evening with a nice couple from Slovenia, Johannes and Lillie. They walk very long stages so we will not likely ever see them again. Lillie gave us a gift of a quote (see below).

Weather : Low 41 High 60 with a cooler than expected breeze.
Quote from RA's journal: "Lillie said of Johannes, "He is in charge to make sure it all works out OK, I am in charge to enjoy it".  I gave a big smile and a thumbs up."
Tips for pilgrims: The arch and city ruins of Caparra are impressive. The visitor center is worth the 200 meter walk over the hill, but be warned that it is closed from 2 - 4 pm. The walk from Carcaboso to Caparra is one of the best stretches so far, but it has several points of confusing signage. The best suggestion I have is when given a choice, proceed directly northeast, not turning unless absolutely no other choice. We feel like Hostal Asturias is a good value, though not luxurious.

Sunrise through the stone fence

Cow watching pilgrims, pilgrims watching cow

Arco Romano de Caparra

Original insignia, dedicated to the designers parents