Hey. I’m walking the Camino Via de la Plata, well, 16 days of it on this trip, with my folks, Tom and Barbara (yes, like the sitcom) The folks are 70 and 68 years of age but fit as fit things. They’re the kind of annoying old folk that might appear at your door at 10am on a Saturday, having just been to dance aerobics at the gym, and declaring they have half an hour to spare before tennis as you pop the kettle on, feeling slightly ashamed by the fact you have clearly just been dragged out of bed and will most likely be returning to your duvet when they cheerfully skip off to their sporting events. They are fit! We have walked the Camino Frances together before, splitting the 800 km over 2 summers, and extending the hike to take in Finisterre and Muxia, so I know they are more than capable of a serious long distance walk. Our challenges are likely to be psychological. 16 days walking as a little family unit of three is likely to test anyone, and whilst we love each other dearly, harmony does not always prevail. The Camino Frances had about 375,000 walkers last year, the Camino Via de la Plata, less than 10,000… There will be few distractions and we will need to be tolerant of one another if we are to survive this adventure. I looked up the statistics and just 37 people walked this route in March of last year…

I’ve walked many Caminos, I’m a serial Frances addict, having hiked that trail at least 4 times to completion, and the Camino Portuguese and Finisterre, but the Via de la Plata seems a challenge! I don’t know too much about it. I bought the walking guide book by Gerald Kelly, a man who has put time and effort in to a book that cannot sell many volumes judging by the miniscule amount of English speaking hikers that decide to tread this path….Respect to Kelly! I read that this trail promises to ‘…feels like spending time in deepest rural Spain.’ The entire trail, from Seville to Santiago, spans 1006km. Some people slate Kelly’s guide and I really think they need to pause and give a bit of gratitude to the guy. I doubt there;s much monetary return for his efforts and he has tried to keep the book revised by listening to fellow pilgrim’s suggestions and updates. He even offers an email address to contact him with any queries which seems generous to me. Thanks Kelly, there will be no slating from here if some little known info is not 100% up to date… He warns there are large chucks of hike with no facilities – villages, bars, albergues, shops – and to set off each day assuming there will be nada,so we have packed lunch boxes and sporks or equivalent, ready to be a bit self sufficient when it comes to nutrition. This will be far cry from Camino Frances where a Spanish tortilla can be purchased from a pilgrim packed bar every 6 or 7 km… Kelly also warns us that although the path is waymarked with the customary yellow arrows they will not be as idiot proof as Frances where every cross road is sprinkled with a multitude of arrows and a few crosses too, just to be sure! We are told to keep our eyes peeled and assume the path is straight on if no arrow appears. People do walk this Camino so there should be albergues, but it all feels a little mysterious at the moment and exciting too! We are venturing on to a lesser trodden path! The Plata gets HOT in summer so Spring is really the time to take this walk, unless you want to be exposed to temperatures of 40 degrees plus, and carry the necessary water. So here we are, in mid late March, flights booked to Madrid, bags packed (5 – 6kg to keep walking fun!) and ready to go! I’ll try to keep this blog and let you know how it goes. Should be great! Hasta Luego Camino Tribe! xxx