Notes from the Trail: Last Week on the Camino de la Plata

This is the last installment of five. My daughter has been hiking Spain’s 1000 kilometer Camino de la Plata by herself – and finished hiking it in the last few days. It took her a total of 36 days.

This segment covers the last 8 days – with temperatures soaring to 46C (114F). If you want more information you can read notes from the trail for Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4. (Check out her blog from her 2007 Camino Frances hike if you’re interested.)

This week’s walk covered the final 250 kms (150 miles) and the total distance walked from Seville is 998 kms (599 miles).

Day 29 – Puebla de Sanabria to Lubian – 33.5km

Today was really the beginning of hilly country. The camino heads out on the road and I actually ended up sticking to it all the way to Padornelo. The camino follows alongside but it was supposed to be a bit boggy and I wasn’t really up for that. Huge multi-km climb up to the pass but the views are absolutely fantastic. You have to pass through a tunnel at the top and then it’s only another km or two down to Padornelo for some lunch. The camino then heads out on a bit more road before turning onto a rocky path the rest of the way to Lubian. Lubian is a pretty town on the side of the hill. The albergue is right at the entrance so it’s about a 10 minute walk to the bar which is a bit of a pain. But it was only 3 Euros for the night.

Day 30 – Lubian to A Gudina – 24km

I was told the bar opened at 8 am for breakfast and since it was a shorter day I thought I’d wake up late and grab some food before taking off. Well I waited at the bar until 8:30 before deciding he wasn’t going to come. So the day didn’t start off well since I had to some some serious hills on an empty stomach. But again the views were unbelievable and I finally reached Vilavella for some breakfast. The path was then very interesting to A Gudina. There were trees new to me and rocky/sandy paths. I really enjoyed this part. A Gudina is nothing exciting. I got to the albergue and it was closed. You had to phone. I didn’t have a phone so I asked the people at the bar to help but they just shrugged their shoulders. I walked around for an hour and a half trying to get some help before some other pilgrims finally showed up and helped. It was actually a great albergue…very clean and only 5 Euros.

Day 31 – A Gudina to Laza – 34 km

The camino splits again and you can take a longer route through some bigger towns or head on a more remote/shorter path through Laza. I (as well as everyone else I met) decided to go through Laza. Again the day begins with some serious climbing but it then levels out with some amazing views to the lake below. The camino is undulating until a steep descent down into Campobecceros for a cold drink. Then you get to climb again. Then go down again. Then climb again. And then you have about 10km of a long gradual downhill. Awesome right? Wrong. My head was in a swarm of flies the entire time. HORRIBLE!!! But no one else seemed to have that problem. I apparently attract bugs. Seriously. My family and I went to the jungle in Ecuador a few years back and I came out with probably 100 mosquito bites…everyone else had maybe 2 or three. I am the best bug repellent for everyone else. Anyways – stayed in the albergue for 5 Euros. It was starting to get really hot today too…

Day 32 – Laza to Xunqueira de Ambia – 35.5 km

This was one of the toughest days. The first 6 km are pretty flat and since it was early it was still pretty cool but then all of a sudden the camino heads straight uphill. It was a STEEP 6 km to Albergueria. But it was worth it because the bar in Albergueria is awesome. It’s dedicated to pilgrims and is covered floor to ceiling in shells signed by pilgrims. I of course had to do my own! The camino then is pretty flat for 3 kms and then downill for another several kms. By this point in the day it was getting unbelievably hot. I stopped for another cold drink in Vilar de Barrio. Though the rest of the day doesn’t have too many bad climbs, the heat was unbearable. I nearly passed out before reaching the albergue on the outskirts of Xunqueira de Ambia (5 Euros). At the bar that evening the owner told me the weather was never this hot. Lucky me.

Day 33 – Xunqueira de Ambia to Ourense – 21.5km

This was the easiest day in awhile. The day was almost all gradual downhill (much of it in the shade) to the industrial outskirts of Ourense. There was a big religious festival going on so lots of locals all dressed up. Albergue unfortunately is at the top of the hill in Ourense so a lovely final climb to the day and by this point it was HOT once again. Turns out that this part of Spain is experiencing a heat wave. The hospitilero (man who runs the albergue) said that it was 46/47 Celcius. I have never experienced heat like this in my life. You could barely breathe. I don’t think anyone got any sleep this night. No air conditioning in the albergue so you just had to lie there in the heat. I probably got 2 hours of sleep max. Not good especially since the day ahead is notoriously hard.

Day 34 – Ourense (sometimes spelled Orense) to Castro Dozon – 33 km

This was probably the hardest day of the entire trip. I had planned on only doing 21 km to Cea but when I go there at noon I decided to keep going. The 21km into Cea involves the steepest hill of the entire Camino. It is basically straight up for a couple kms. The camino then levels/gradually climbs into the nice town of Cea. It’s only another 12km to Castro Dozon so I figured only 3 hours more. Silly me. Those 12kms are almost entirely uphill and I limped into Castro Dozon just after 5pm. There was a huge group of Spainards at the albergue already (they had done a much shorter day) and they all applauded as I arrived. That was such an awesome way to end a tough day. Albergue was 5 Euros and had a good view of the town.

Day 35 – Castro Dozon to Bandeira – 35.5 km

I was freezing all night and woke up to a dense fog. This made me so happy! I was so sick of the heat and I welcomed the cool weather. Even though this day was 2 km longer than the day before it took me two hours less. The day is awesome – lots of gradual downhill, pretty forests, plenty of towns to stop in. Unforunately the albergue in Bandeira is 1 km out of town and I didn´t want to stay that far out. So I planned on staying at the hostel. Turns out the hostel was closed. So I had to pay 25 Euros for the hotel. At least I had a really nice room for my final night on the Camino!

Day 35 – Bandeira to Santiago!! – 33km

I couldn’t believe the day had finally come! When you are walking the Camino it feels like the rest of your life will be spent walking. But I made it! The final day was not easy though. There are a lot of hills today. Steep descents and steep ascents. But the adrenaline keeps you going and towards the end of the day you finally see the outskirts of Santiago. I had a huge smile on my face as I saw the Cathedral spires for the first time though still a couple of kms away. When I actually arrived in front of the Cathedral it was unbelievably anticlimactic. I sat down in the square (full of tents of those damn protestors) for a few minutes. Then I was like, well, I guess I should find somewhere to sleep. And that was it! That was the end to those 5 weeks and 1 day of hard, solemn, walking. I walked around for about 20 minutes asking the different pensions and hostels how much they cost. I didn’t want to stay in a dorm – I felt I had earned my own room! Finally a lovely lady that owns a store yelled over to me that she had an apartment above her store for 20 Euros a night. It was right in the heart of old town so I took it. And that ends my adventure on the Via de la Plata!!

I thought I would provide a few final reflections/observations/advice:

1. The Via de la Plata is a very solitary journey which is vastly different from the Camino Frances. I feel like I spent the entire 5 weeks by myself. You do meet some people along the way and I was lucky to meet some lovely Polish people at the end. But be prepared to spend a lot of time alone.
2. The people that walk this route are typically much older. Most people were 40+. I was by far the youngest person I saw on the entire Camino. Most people come from Germany, Italy, and Poland.
3. The towns are very quiet. I highly recommend bringing books even though you have to carry the extra weight. Or invest in a Kindle.
4. The siesta through this part of Spain is especially serious. EVERYTHING shuts down in the afternoon. It can make it quite hard to find food when you need it. And tortilla de patatas is not nearly as frequent on this route. I highly suggest asking for boccadilos frios. Most bars will have these (cold sandwiches).
5. I started out doing shorter distances and you can keep this up the whole way but I eventually found myself getting a bit bored with the trail and just wanted to finish. So I did much longer distances. But you can make much shorter or much longer days than I did if you choose to.
6. Internet is pretty sparse. I went an entire week without seeing any options for the internet. Can be frustrating.
7. You can easily refill things like toiletries along the way so no need to pack a huge size.
8. Bars often pass as restaurants and shops too. I always made sure to stock up on fruit and granola bars for the day ahead.

And with that I can now officially sign off from the Camino de Santiago.

Feel free to email me (Kristen McAdam) via my mother (at HikeBikeTravel) with any questions and I would be happy to answer them.

Buen Camino y Adios!

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