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    Walking Guide to the Vía de la Plata and the Camino Sanabrés
    Walking Guide to the Vía de la Plata and the Camino Sanabrés
    Walking Guide to the Vía de la Plata and the Camino Sanabrés
    Ebook224 pages1 hour

    Walking Guide to the Vía de la Plata and the Camino Sanabrés

    By Gerald Kelly

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    About this ebook

    2024 edition now available - fully updated when walking the Vía de la Plata in spring 2023.

    This edition includes:

    - Updated maps - Notes on the towns and villages you'll pass through and a diagram show distances
    - Route descriptions and distances
    - Altitude profiles
    - Pilgrim accommodation
    - Services: shops, cafés, restaurants, banks, etc.
    - Notes on some of the important historical sites you can visit

    The Vía de la Plata was originally a Roman Road linking Asturias in the north of Spain with the port of Cadiz in the south. Its name, which means The Silver Route, dates from Roman times when it was used to transport silver from the mines of Asturias to the Mediterranean port of Cadiz and onward by ship to Rome. Beginning in the 9th century, as Santiago de Compostela was becoming known as a Christian pilgrimage site, it also began to be used by pilgrims travelling to and from the tomb of St James the Apostle.

    In the 1980s the revival of the Camino Francés as a walking route renewed interested in the Vía de la Plata. Numbers of pilgrims increased slowly over the years peaking at 14,197 in Holy Year 2010, and since then constant at about 9,000 a year. In contrast to the Camino Francés, the busiest times on the Vía de la Plata are spring and autumn. The extreme summer heat in southern Spain makes June, July and August the preserve of a small number of hardy souls.

    Today the Vía de la Plata has become a popular alternative to the Camino Francés for people looking for solitude and a more authentic Camino experience (with its accompanying difficulties). This guide covers the Camino from Seville to Granja de Moreruela, and the Camino Sanabrés, which branches from the Vía de la Plata and arrives in Santiago through southern Galicia.

    I started writing this guide after I came back from walking the Vía de la Plata from Seville to Santiago via Astorga in the winter of 2009, and finished the first edition after returning to walk the Camino Sanabrés in 2012. Preparing for my walk I had been unable to find any reliable information in English about the routes and accommodation along them. This didn't deter me and I managed fine with a print out of accommodation from a Spanish website and some Google maps of the towns with the route sketched on them. However, if I hadn't known Spanish I would have been lost and I probably wouldn't have even attempted this walk.

    Based on my experience I decided to try to make information more widely available in English. I started by making the guide available as a free download from my website. Thanks to the positive feedback and encouragement I received from other pilgrims who used it, I decided to try publishing it on Amazon (with the addition of maps). This has enabled me to bring the information to a far wider audience - not free, but for a fair price. From the beginning I appealed to pilgrims to send me updates and corrections to help me keep the information up-to-date. Many people responded, and this, together with online resources, allowed me to keep track of new hostels and route changes.

    I set out to create a source of the essential information someone will need to walk the Vía de la Plata, and this book is still that, the essential information: distances, pilgrim hostels, places to buy food, places to eat, and notes about those few places where the yellow arrows may not be sufficient for you to find your way.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGerald Kelly
    Release dateAug 31, 2013
    ISBN9781311078087
    Walking Guide to the Vía de la Plata and the Camino Sanabrés
    Author

    Gerald Kelly

    I first heard of the Camino on a visit to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port with my girlfriend. By chance we came across some pilgrims setting off with their backpacks for the long hike across Spain and she told me they were walking to Santiago.I was astonished! I could not understand why would anybody want to subject themselves to that kind of hardship.For whatever reason this bizarre notion was like a seed sown in the deepest corner of my sub-conscience, and a few years later there I was talking my first steps on my first Camino.Now, many years and many Caminos later, I still don't fully understand why people do this!This set of books grew out of my fascination for the Caminos and the people who make them special and my desire to give something back for all that they have given me.I wanted to provide pilgrims with up-to-date and impartial information for preparing for the Camino and for when they're walking.

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      Book preview

      Walking Guide to the Vía de la Plata and the Camino Sanabrés - Gerald Kelly

      Walking Guide to

      the Vía de la Plata

      and the

      Camino Sanabrés

      2024 Edition

      By Gerald Kelly

      Published by Gerald Kelly at Smashwords

      This book is available in print at most online retailers.

      Copyright © 2023 Gerald Kelly

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Places in Camino Order

      For background information and online resources see immediately after this list of places.

      Sevilla / Seville

      Santiponce

      Guillena

      Castilblanco de los Arroyos

      Almadén de la Plata

      El Real de la Jara

      Monesterio

      Fuente de Cantos

      Calzadilla de los Barros

      Zafra

      Los Santos de Maimona

      La Almazara (turnoff)

      Villafranca de los Barros

      Torremejía

      Mérida

      El Carrascalejo

      Aljucén

      Alcuéscar

      Aldea del Cano

      Valdesalor

      Cáceres

      Casar de Cáceres

      Cañaveral

      Grimaldo (turnoff)

      Ríolobos (turnoff)

      Galisteo

      Carcaboso

      Oliva de Plasencia (turnoff)

      Aldeanueva del Camino

      Baños de Montemayor

      Puente de Béjar

      Calzada de Béjar

      Valverde de Valdelacasa

      Fuenterroble de Salvatierra

      Pedrosillo de los Aires

      San Pedro de Rozados

      Morille

      Salamanca

      Calzada de Valdunciel

      El Cubo de Tierra del Vino

      Villanueva de Campeán

      Zamora

      Montamarta

      Fontanillas de Castro

      Granja de Moreruela

      Tábara

      Villanueva de las Peras

      Santa Marta de Tera

      Calzadilla de Tera

      Olleros de Tera

      Villar de Farfón

      Rionegro del Puente

      Mombuey

      Asturianos

      Puebla de Sanabria

      Requejo de Sanabria

      Lubián

      A Gudiña

      Campobecerros

      As Eiras

      Laza

      Alberguería

      Vilar de Barrio

      Xunqueira de Ambía

      Ourense / Orense

      Cea

      Oseira

      A Laxe / Bendoiro

      Silleda

      Bandeira

      Leiras

      Ponte Ulla

      Outeiro

      A Susana

      Santiago de Compostela

      Background Information

      About this guide

      This guide covers the Vía de la Plata from Seville to Granja de Moreruela and the Camino Sanabrés, which branches from the Vía de la Plata and arrives in Santiago through southern Galicia. For simplicity’s sake we (incorrectly) use the term Vía de la Plata or just Vía to refer to the combination of these two routes.

      I started writing this guide after I can back from walking the Vía de la Plata from Seville to Santiago via Astorga in the winter of 2009, and finished it after returning to walk the Camino Sanabrés in 2012. It has been updated and republished every year since then (except 2021). Preparing for my walk I had been unable to find any reliable information in English about the routes and accommodation along them. This didn’t deter me and I managed fine with a print out of accommodation from a Spanish website and some Google maps of the towns with the route roughly sketched on them. However, if I hadn’t been able to access information in Spanish I would have been lost, and I probably wouldn’t have even attempted this walk. Based on this experience I decided to try to make information more widely available in English.

      I started by making the guide available as a free download from my website, www.ViadelaPlataGuide.net. Thanks to the positive feedback and encouragement I received from other pilgrims who used it I decided to try publishing it on Amazon (with the addition of maps). This has enabled me to bring the information to a far wider audience.

      I set out to create a source of the essential information someone will need to walk the Vía de la Plata in the traditional way, and this book is still bascially that, the essential information: distances, pilgrim hostels, places to buy food, places to eat, and notes about those places where the yellow arrows may not be sufficient for you to find your way.

      Pilgrim albergues (hostels)

      The following information is given about pilgrim albergues: whether it is private, religious, etc., how many people it sleeps, the cost and opening dates (if none are given then it’s open all the time), its name. This is followed by a description of how to find the hostel and any other relevant information.

      Some of the hostels on this Camino are basic. However, unless otherwise stated, all of them have the following:

      - Electricity

      - Beds with mattresses

      - Toilets

      - Showers with hot water

      - Drinking water

      - Heating (possibly not be very effective and may not be switched on)

      If the guide says ’Laundry facilities’ it means there’s a washing machine and drier. If this isn’t mentioned then the laundry facilities available are probably a sink where you can hand wash clothes.

      Many hostels are not adequately heated and during the cold months (a period which varies according to latitude and altitude but means approximately November to March) it will be cold in those hostels. This underlines the necessity of having a good sleeping-bag. Not all hostels have a kitchen. Where the hostel has one and it is in working order, it’s mentioned.

      If you’re first to arrive many hostels will be locked with a contact telephone number stuck to the door. For this reason having a mobile phone is essential. If you need to ring for the key and you don’t speak Spanish try the following: Estoy aquí a la puerta del albergue de peregrinos, ¿puede Usted abrirme la puerta? – which means I am here at the door of the pilgrim hostel, can you open the door for me? The ideal response would be sí, sí, cinco minutos / diez minutos – yes, yes five minutes / ten minutes. However, the likelihood is the reply will be somewhat more verbose in which case the best thing to say is no entiendo español – I don’t understand Spanish. And hope for the best. Don’t let it worry you if you speak no Spanish, the person answering the phone is expecting calls like yours and even if you completely fail to understand anything they will hopefully assume you are waiting for them at the albergue door.

      Route Informtion, Distances and Times

      Information about the route and things you will meet between hostels are given in this format:

      Walking Notes

      1.3km you cross a stream which marks the border with the Autonomous Community of Extremadura.

      Distances given in this format are NOT cumulative.

      The total distance and estimated walking time between places is given in the place name heading. The total distance given here is the one you should use when calculating the distance between places.

      The estimated walking time is calculated using the Munter Method. This method considers 1km walked = 1 unit, and 100m climbed = 1 unit. The time needed to walk this distance is the number of units divided by 4 (4 being kilometres walked per hour by an average walker over the course of a day). eg. Walking 10km on flat terrain would take about 2h30m. Walking 10km with ascents totalling 200m would take about 3h00m (10+200/100)/4=3. This is an estimate and is there to give you an idea of the difficulty of the terrain. If you don’t find it helpful feel free to ignore it.

      Towns and villages

      The following information is given about facilities available in towns and villages:

      - café / bar generally they serve food of some description during meal times (14:00 / 2 PM to 16:00 / 4 PM and 20:00 / 8 PM to 22:00 10 PM)

      - shop, for food and a variable range of other essentials

      - bank, meaning an ATM / cash machine

      - pharmacy

      Albergues are listed first, followed by other accommodation, in the order in which you will encounter them (assuming you’re walking from Seville).

      Please remember the following

      If the guide doesn’t say that there’s a shop / restaurant / café / water source / bank / pharmacy (etc., etc.), then assume there isn’t and plan accordingly!

      Likewise, always assume there is no place to buy food or drinks between villages and that some villages have no facilities of any type.

      Even if there are shops and cafés never assume they’ll be open.

      The text of this guide is not sprinkled with reminders to always make sure you’re carrying enough food and water. It is up to you to plan your walking day in advance, and sometimes several days in advance, taking account of availability of places where you can restock and other factors such as public holidays and opening times.

      Opening times

      Bear in mind that shops in rural Spain usually open from about 09:00 / 9 AM until about 12:00 / noon and again from about 17:00 / 5 PM until about 20:00 / 8 PM. They are usually closed, or have greatly reduced opening times, on Sundays and Mondays and on public holidays. Outside of these opening times some basic food is sometimes available from the local petrol station.

      The note about public holidays above also applies to cafés. Cafés don’t always open in the morning and if they do it’s rarely before 08:00 / 8 AM. When

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