More Via de La Plata Goodness-200th Post

As more and more time passes, and the remnants of blisters have faded from my feet, the more I enjoy my pilgrimages. I can't wait until my next one but until then, I can look fondly at pictures.

In some parts of spain, you can still find insulators on the ground. Also they are still in use as well.

What to do if you have 6 greyhounds and they all need walks? Just hook them up to your bike and do it in on go.

It was so hot, and parts of the camino had no shade. I was ever so thankful that this was a working pump and not just for decoration.

The camino goes thru lots of farmland, and animals. Here an irish pilgrim named Noreen who I walked with for a few days, doesn't let the Sheep traffic jam deter her.

Near Caperra, these were in place of the yellow arrows, to show you which direction to go. s

On all tall poles, cathedrals a stork would build a nest.

They love their jamon, and are very proud of it. 

There were tons of wildflowers, I love red poppies. We used to have them on the hill behind our store but now we just have the orange ones.

Stature of Snatiago(st. James) on the church in Santa Marta de tera. It was on the cover of my guidebook so
I felt I had ro take a picture of it.

Ruins on the Via De la Plata

One of my favorite things about traveling, is looking at ruins. I just love them. I can't imagine how it would be to live so close to them on a daily basis. Spain has quite a bit of great ones, my favorite being Roman. They also have ruins of churches and several Templar castles. In fact if you look thru all of the pictures I take, most of them will be ruins. I think I get it from Pa, if you look thru his photo albums countless rusted cars, and old barns will make their appearance.

On the very first day of walking you come to the site of Italica, an roman settlement that is fairly well preserved.

Looking over the foundations

Like every good town, it had its own coliseum

Look, I would have been able to stand up to the gladiators, if it was based on foot size.

The heads are always knocked off sadly,

Random old castle.

Another

The Spanish Town of Merida, is the best for roman things outside of Italy.  Above is what is left of the Temple of Diana. Merida is where Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator was from. It is also the birthplace of Trajan

From inside the museum. Luckily enough I arrived on a free day. Very airy and informative. I also got in trouble for forgetting to turn off my flash. A real rookie move.

The Remains of the Theater.

A Roman Bridge in the wee small hours,

This was roughly halfway point, and also probably the hardest day of my Camino. The day before I did over 40K's and this day was supposed to only be 30K's, but there were two routes and I ended up on the long one. at 36K. It was very, very hot.  And a lot of up and downs. I was so excited to get to this point, but by the time I got there, I had a blister burst and was too tired to explore. This is my one and only picture of the ruins of Caparra.

All along the way, at times you walk along old roman milestones. Here is a modern one they made.

Another old bridge, I usually only take pictures on sunny days, but I did experience other weather here it is a little cloudy.

More Lessons on the Via De La Plata

I can't believe its been a month since my pilgrimage. Its only grown more rosier in my mind. My feet are still a bit of a mess though, but they are tough. In some ways it feels like it was a long time ago and others like it was only yesterday.

Anyway, I discovered I kinda love the music of Chris Brown. which makes me feel a bit sheepish, but I like to believe in seconds chances. If every I was feeling tired,  in pain I would listen to this song.  Other surprising songs I realized I was quite fond of are the Black Eyed Peas "Imma Be" and "Wobble" by V.I.C.

Now mostly I stayed in Albegures, which are like hostels that are dedicated to people who are walking/biking or horse riding the camino. (I didn't see anyone on a horse, but heard there was someone on a donkey.)  Some were nice and others not as nice.

A very nice modern one

a Little more cramped

A little cramped and no head space


Now being as I was spring Chicken as it were on the camino (relatively speaking) I always took a top bunk. which lead to the dropping of my kindle, which sustained a crack  sadly. But it still works thank goodness.  The prices ranged from free to about 15 euros.

Some were in really great locations and buildings.  A restored old building  and a more modern one, both were great.

When its sunny and windy and flat and boring and you want to listen to Chris Brown, cover your ears with your trusty camino buff. Note this is my second pair of sunglasses,  Rey Bans. I lost them too.

Happy Independence Day!

Spain: Lessons I learned on the Via de La Plata- part 1

I really love going on Camino, and if you like walking you should go. It can be challenging or as easy as you like. Especially on the more popular route, the frances one could get by doing less then 8 miles a day. The Via de plata is a bit more challanging as the towns are farther apart. I had to do it fairly quickly with some long days, but it was still great. While walking all day, it give you lots of time to think. Here are some things I found out about myself and others a bit too.

Well I am slightly ashamed to admit I am a bit afraid of cows. We often had to walk across farmland and right thru herds of cows. They stare at you the whole time with unblinking eyes that say "If I wanted to, I could gore you like that bull did to David Mora" During the time that I was there, a bullfighting festival was going on and it was on all the TV's in cafes, hotels restaurants etc. Here is a link to the video, its a bit graphic. The Spaniards were all quite shocked. The Bulls Win. I'm OK admitting my fear. I met another pilgrim who was also scared of cows. She gravely informed me that 4 people a year are trampled in England. Now I have the stats to back it up.


In the movie the way,  the main characters are shown wearing jeans which often bothered me. No self respecting pilgrim would wear jeans, I thought.. They are too heavy and take to long to dry.

Some pilgrims do wear jeans

And some don't.

I can easily think about thanksgiving, more specifically the menu that I shall expect my sister and Eddy to cook, for up to 2 hours while walking. Especially since I often ate the same meal over and over. Eggs and a salad.Here are some pilgrims sitting down to a very un thanksgiving ish meal. Being Vegetarian is hard in Spain.

Steep mountains never look as steep in pictures as they are in real life. Here I am at the top of one. Take my word it was almost vertical.

1000 k done

I made it to Santiago! Unfortunately the cathedral is undergoing renovations. Which of course you always want to have happened on someone's else's vacation. But it's still quite fetching I think. I will post some more pictures, that are hopefully better that I took with a proper camera in a bit. I loved the via de Plata route even more than the Frances one. It was tiring but great. I'm already planning my next one, but it is good to be home and see everyone again.

Ashlee is in Merida, Spain

Ashlee at the ruins of a Roman Theatre in Merida, Spain

Sporting tilted visor to keep the sun off her face as the sun always comes from one side.

View of the froggy water.

Blessed cool water to soak tired feet.

It's hard blogging on a kindle, so hopefully my sis will help and edit it. It's been good, some days are really hot so when I can find a wee stream I like to take a break and soak my feet in the cool water. I am also sporting a rally cap for the d backs from abroad and also the sun is always on one side. There were tons of frogs and they made quite a racket but they are only an inch or so in size. I went sightseeing in Merida, Spain. They have a fairly complete Roman theater. Just when you think you can't have any more blisters you get one! I'm slightly behind schedule, as tomorrow the place I was going to stay no longer has an opening. So I have to stop early, only to make it up another day. Miss you all, sorry for the infrequent updates. Love and miss you all.

P.S. Stop having fun without me!

Alamden del la Plata-100th post

Rhiannon's note: This is our 100th post of our blog! Ashlee is trekking through Spain enjoying the lovely architecture and surroundings. She posts as she has WiFi and takes pictures with her kindle which is a tricky thing as the camera faces you so to take a picture of  a landscape you shoot blindly and hope for the best.

A lovely scene of a street in Alamden del la Plata 

A vibrant flower.

Ashlee on a picturesque balcony.