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| A 1000 kilometre walk starts with a single step | A 1000 kilometre walk starts with a single step |
| (10 days later) | |
| At a non-descript roundabout not far from the centre of Seville is a granite way-marker. It reads Santiago de Compostella 1000 kilometres. For anybody planning to walk all of those 1000km, it is a slightly daunting sight. | At a non-descript roundabout not far from the centre of Seville is a granite way-marker. It reads Santiago de Compostella 1000 kilometres. For anybody planning to walk all of those 1000km, it is a slightly daunting sight. |
| This is the kilometre zero of the Via de la Plata, a pilgrim camino that leads to the tomb of the apostle St James in the cathedral at Santiago. Most people know about the Camino Francés that goes across northern Spain from the Pyrenees to the tomb. That is only one of several routes heading to Santiago – including a Camino Inglés that only takes 75km and was used by English pilgrims who took the boat to A Coruña in Galicia. It's likely that this was the route used by Chaucer's Wife of Bath, who had been | This is the kilometre zero of the Via de la Plata, a pilgrim camino that leads to the tomb of the apostle St James in the cathedral at Santiago. Most people know about the Camino Francés that goes across northern Spain from the Pyrenees to the tomb. That is only one of several routes heading to Santiago – including a Camino Inglés that only takes 75km and was used by English pilgrims who took the boat to A Coruña in Galicia. It's likely that this was the route used by Chaucer's Wife of Bath, who had been |
| in Galice at Seint Jame | in Galice at Seint Jame |
The Via de la Plata used to be one of the most popular caminos, leading pilgrims who arrived in Seville from all around the Mediterranean on to what was, after Jerusalem and Rome, the third most important pilgrim centre in Christendom. | The Via de la Plata used to be one of the most popular caminos, leading pilgrims who arrived in Seville from all around the Mediterranean on to what was, after Jerusalem and Rome, the third most important pilgrim centre in Christendom. |
| For the first 700km, the route mainly follows a Roman road that heads due north from Seville, through Extremadura, and past Salamanca. It then turns westwards, over the high passes into Galicia and on to Santiago. | For the first 700km, the route mainly follows a Roman road that heads due north from Seville, through Extremadura, and past Salamanca. It then turns westwards, over the high passes into Galicia and on to Santiago. |
| For various reasons, the camino from Seville fell into disuse, while the Camino Francés, around 250km shorter in Spain, continued to flourish. About 20 years ago, various people and agencies decided to try to revive the route from Andalucia, creating a network of albergues (low cost pilgrim hostels), and ensuring that the route was well way-marked, making it easier - and safer - for a walker to keep to the route through often very isolated places. | For various reasons, the camino from Seville fell into disuse, while the Camino Francés, around 250km shorter in Spain, continued to flourish. About 20 years ago, various people and agencies decided to try to revive the route from Andalucia, creating a network of albergues (low cost pilgrim hostels), and ensuring that the route was well way-marked, making it easier - and safer - for a walker to keep to the route through often very isolated places. |
| Although the Camino Francés remains hugely busier, an increasing minority of people now choose to make their pilgrimage on the Via de la Plata, with numbers more than doubling from the 3,140 who made the trip in 2005, to over 8,000 last year. It's still a small percentage of the total - last year, of the 183,000 pilgrims who arrived in Santiago, nearly 75% travelled on the Camino Francés, while 4.4% started at some point on the Via de la Plata – of whom only 2,300, or 1.3%, made it all the way from Seville. | Although the Camino Francés remains hugely busier, an increasing minority of people now choose to make their pilgrimage on the Via de la Plata, with numbers more than doubling from the 3,140 who made the trip in 2005, to over 8,000 last year. It's still a small percentage of the total - last year, of the 183,000 pilgrims who arrived in Santiago, nearly 75% travelled on the Camino Francés, while 4.4% started at some point on the Via de la Plata – of whom only 2,300, or 1.3%, made it all the way from Seville. |
| Seville is a delightful starting point for the journey, as one of Spain's liveliest and most beautiful cities. After seeing the granite reminder of what you have let yourself in for, you pass through some fairly unlovely suburbs, but it's not long before you come across some significant archaeological remains, in what was the Roman town of Italica. This was the birthplace of the Emperor Trajan – the first emperor not to be born in Rome, and possibly also of his cousin and successor Hadrian. | Seville is a delightful starting point for the journey, as one of Spain's liveliest and most beautiful cities. After seeing the granite reminder of what you have let yourself in for, you pass through some fairly unlovely suburbs, but it's not long before you come across some significant archaeological remains, in what was the Roman town of Italica. This was the birthplace of the Emperor Trajan – the first emperor not to be born in Rome, and possibly also of his cousin and successor Hadrian. |
| Moving northwards, you pass through huge orange groves helping to quench Spain's appetite for zumo de naranja, and ours for marmalade. Even in mid November it felt summery - the temperature was in the 80s, and bougainvillea, oleander and lagestroemia were still flowering. However, after two or three days walk you move up into the sierra and the temperature drops a little. | Moving northwards, you pass through huge orange groves helping to quench Spain's appetite for zumo de naranja, and ours for marmalade. Even in mid November it felt summery - the temperature was in the 80s, and bougainvillea, oleander and lagestroemia were still flowering. However, after two or three days walk you move up into the sierra and the temperature drops a little. |
| Two days out from Seville you are in Castillblanco de los Arroyos. This is already over 1000' above sea level – where you will, with a couple of brief exceptions, stay until a day shy of Santiago. Castillblanco is a charming Andalucian pueblo blanco where Cervantes set one of his short stories, Las Dos Doncellas – it feels as if perhaps not very much has happened here since then. Storks are abundant, nesting enthusiastically anywhere that takes their fancy, from the towers of churches and town halls to the tops of electricity pylons. | Two days out from Seville you are in Castillblanco de los Arroyos. This is already over 1000' above sea level – where you will, with a couple of brief exceptions, stay until a day shy of Santiago. Castillblanco is a charming Andalucian pueblo blanco where Cervantes set one of his short stories, Las Dos Doncellas – it feels as if perhaps not very much has happened here since then. Storks are abundant, nesting enthusiastically anywhere that takes their fancy, from the towers of churches and town halls to the tops of electricity pylons. |
| After Castillblanco you move into the Sierra Norte, an underpopulated natural park where there is no cafe, no village and only one fountain to fill up your water bottle for the next 30km when, after a steep ascent, you reach Almaden de la Plata and a late lunch. Almaden is Arabic for "the metal", and the town has been a centre for mining (in particular mercury) and marble quarrying since pre-Roman times. | After Castillblanco you move into the Sierra Norte, an underpopulated natural park where there is no cafe, no village and only one fountain to fill up your water bottle for the next 30km when, after a steep ascent, you reach Almaden de la Plata and a late lunch. Almaden is Arabic for "the metal", and the town has been a centre for mining (in particular mercury) and marble quarrying since pre-Roman times. |
| The next several days will see you go through villages and towns only once every 15km or more. After El Real de la Jara, once a frontier town between Christian and Moorish Spain (the real, or "royal" bit was added to the town's name by Ferdinand & Isabella for its loyalty during the reconquista) you cross over into Extremadura, where the camino passes more or less due north for the next 350km. | The next several days will see you go through villages and towns only once every 15km or more. After El Real de la Jara, once a frontier town between Christian and Moorish Spain (the real, or "royal" bit was added to the town's name by Ferdinand & Isabella for its loyalty during the reconquista) you cross over into Extremadura, where the camino passes more or less due north for the next 350km. |
| Alan Sykes is the Guardian Northerner's arts expert and much more besides. If he and the wifi hold up, he'll be back soon with more from the land of marmalade. | Alan Sykes is the Guardian Northerner's arts expert and much more besides. If he and the wifi hold up, he'll be back soon with more from the land of marmalade. |
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