Via de la Plata - Walking the Way of St James

A walker's guidebook to the Way of St James’ southern pilgrim route through Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Nearly 1000km long, the Via de la Plata starts in Seville or Granada and leads north and then north-west through the historic towns and varied scenery of Extremadura, Castille and Galicia.

History and Background

The Vía de la Plata, like the Camino Francés (from the Pyrenees to Santiago), is a long-distance walk with a difference for it is a pilgrimage route. For although the so-called ‘French road’ is the most well-known, well-travelled and well-documented of the pilgrim roads to Santiago de Compostela (and to such an extent that for many people it is the only one) it was, in fact, only one of several used in former times. Pilgrims in the past obviously did not travel to Roncesvalles by train or bus to begin their journey there, as do their modern counterparts, but set out on foot from their own front doors and as well as the northern coastal route, for example, the Camino Aragonés over the Somport pass to Puenta la Reina, routes from the east of Spain and several roads through Portugal, there was also the Camino Mozárabe or Vía de la Plata. This was so named, it is now thought, not because it followed the old Roman silver route from Huelva in the south to Astorga in the north but as a corruption of the Arabic bal’latta, used to describe wide, paved or public roads. This route, with its own network of tributaries, took pilgrims from Seville and other places, both along the way and adjacent to it, through Mérida, Cáceres and Salamanca to Zamora. (One of these feeder routes, from Granada via Córdoba to Mérida, is also described in this book.) From there many continued ahead via Benavente and La Bañeza to join the main flux of European pilgrims coming from the Pyrenees in Astorga. Others deviated via Puebla de Sanabria and Ourense to go directly to Santiago through Galicia. It is sometimes suggested that this was to avoid the Montes de León and the stiff climb up to Cebreiro, but as the route through the western part of Zamora and the province of Ourense is extremely strenuous and necessitates climbing up (and down again) both the Puerto de Padornillo (1368m) and then the pass at A Canda (1268m) on two successive days, this is not a very plausible explanation. There was also the option of going through northern Portugal, via Bragança, to rejoin the route through Galicia again in Verín. (Pilgrims interested in taking this latter option should consult the Confraternity of St James for information.)

The original Vía de la Plata was a Roman road, running in more or less a straight line south–north from Mérida to Gijón, and anyone walking the Vía de la Plata today will be very much aware of being in Roman Spain. It was in two distinct parts: a paved section as far as Salamanca and a compressed earth track from there to Astorga and onwards. A section of the original paved road has been restored, about a kilometre leading uphill out of the small spa town of Baños de Montemayor on the boundary between Extremadura and Castille-León, and gives us an idea of the surface on the first part of the route. The Romans also built innumerable bridges along the way, many of which are still standing. Some of these are quite simple ones, like those at Casas de Don Antonio and Valdesalor (both south of Cáceres), the one over the Río Turienzo near Estación de Valderrey (shortly before you reach Astorga) or the much longer and more elaborate constructions such as the bridges over the Río Tormes in Salamanca, the Duero in Zamora and the Guadiana in Mérida, 792m long, with its 60 arches. (This is the way pilgrims enter the town. Mérida did not have just one Roman bridge, though, as pilgrims left the town by another one too – over the Río Alberragas to the north.)

The entire Roman route of the main Vía de la Plata was also divided into mansiones or stages of 20–25 Roman miles, with a mansio or place where travellers could rest overnight at the end of each one. The route was marked with miliarios (milestones), one every ‘1000 steps’ or 1472m, and a number of them are still visible with their markings on them; these stood some 2ft 6in (76cm) high, like stone pillars, and were engraved with a Roman numeral. Several of them are still standing too, especially in the area near the Puente de la Magdelana, below Calzada de Béjar. Numbers CXLVIII (148) and CXLIX (149) were repositioned in 1994 by the local ‘Amigos’ (south of Fuenterroble de Salvatierra, some 50km south of Salamanca) and relevant ayuntamientos (town halls) have plans to reinstate others along the route as well.

The Romans did not invent this route completely from scratch, any more than the pilgrims, whether on the Camino Francés or the Vía de la Plata, created a completely new road to take them to Santiago, but they used and improved on existing paths and tracks instead. (A lot of research done on the Vía de la Plata has been carried out by people interested in Roman roads rather than pilgrim routes.) The Romans who came to the south of Spain arrived by boat, from southern Italy, and could sail up the Guadalquivir river which at that time was navigable not only as far as Seville but beyond as well. The road that became the Vía de la Plata originally started in Mérida, the town known as Augusta Emeritus, which they developed for their emeritus or pensioned-off soldiers from the fifth and tenth legions, and this road was used as a means of moving troops northwards. Later on it was extended as far south as Seville. There are an enormous number of Roman remains all along the Vía de la Plata, starting with the city of Italica on the outskirts of Seville, and especially in Mérida, with its theatre (still used for performances today) which originally held 3000 spectators, an amphitheatre with seating for 14,000 and a circus that could accommodate 30,000 people. It also has a splendid Roman museum and the so-called Acueducto de los Milagros (a look at it will reveal why) and its two Roman reservoirs, one of which, the Embalse de Proserpina, nowadays used as a recreation area, is a few kilometres to the north on the route of the Vía de la Plata itself. Anyone who is interested in things Roman could follow the Vía de la Plata (in a car, for example) just for this reason. The Roman aspects are not limited to the Seville–Astorga section either – the termas (hot springs) in Ourense, for example, were also in use in Roman times and, as already indicated, there are several bridges of Roman origin in other places along the route too.

So much for the Roman aspects. The route they established forms the physical basis of the one that interests us, the route which pilgrims in future centuries would take. Pilgrims from the south of Spain and other parts of the Christian Mediterranean (who travelled to Seville by boat), as well as Arabs and Orientals, apparently, made use of the existing Roman road infrastructure to take them to Santiago. This camino (the Vía de la Plata) – a great Roman engineering feat – also had its own network of tributaries, as explained above: from Córdoba, for example, and Granada, joining the route in Mérida, or from Toledo, where pilgrims joined it in Salamanca. It is often thought that pilgrims to Santiago only used the Vía de la Plata after the Reconquista (in 1492) but they actually began much earlier. The Vía de la Plata as a pilgrim artery began in the twelfth century, after the fall of Toledo in 1085, but especially after the political and religious annexation by Galicia of a large part of the western fringe of Spain through which the Vía de la Plata ran – the area around Salamanca, for example. Another important influence in ‘getting the pilgrimage off the ground’ along this route was the powerful Archbishop Gelmírez. It is already well known how he was responsible for promoting the Camino Francés across the north of Spain but under his rule the diocese of Santiago de Compostela, which already reached to Salamanca, was extended as far south as Mérida in 1179. Spain was still under Muslim rule, of course, but during this period there was a degree of tolerance allowed to Christians – the Mozárabic ones, those living under Muslim rule (as opposed to the Mudéjar Muslims living later under Christian domination) – and the Vía de la Plata was the route these pilgrims took to Santiago, hence the name Camino Mozárabe. The Vía de la Plata was also the route used in 1062 (under Fernando I) to take the body of St Isidore of Seville up to León and after the Reconquest of Córdoba the bells of Santiago cathedral, which had been taken to the mosque in Córdoba 200 years previously by Al-Mansur, were returned via this route to their rightful home in Galicia.

The movement of pilgrims along the Vía de la Plata was never as great as along the Camino Francés but it too had its own infrastructure of pilgrim hospitals. The question is often raised as to the existence of Jacobean churches or other influences along this route. Once again, there are not as many as there are on the Camino Francés (one explanation that has been suggested is that the Mozárabic pilgrims were exiles/refugees and thus had no time to leave permanent traces of their passage) but there are certainly a significant number and the interested reader is referred to the summary in Appendix B. The other important factor to remember, when considering the historical aspects of the pilgrimage along the Vía de la Plata, is the role played by the Order of the Knights of Santiago, founded in Cáceres in 1170 and whose purpose was to protect pilgrims on their way.

Legend

Pilgrimages had been popular amongst Christians ever since Constantine the Great had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built over the site of Christ’s burial in Jerusalem, in AD 326, and the discovery, shortly afterwards, of the Holy Cross itself. Those journeying to this shrine were known as palmeros (palmers) whilst romeros went to Rome, the burial place of St Peter. But why did pilgrims want to go to Santiago? Those who have already walked or ridden the Camino Francés will very likely know something about the discovery of the body of St James in Galicia but for those who do not, the story begins after the death of Christ, when his disciples dispersed to different parts of the then known world, to spread the Gospel as they had been bidden. St James (son of Zebedee, brother of John and Christ’s first cousin) went to Spain, we are told, where he spent a couple of years evangelising, apparently without a great deal of success. He then returned to Jerusalem but was beheaded by Herod shortly afterwards, in AD 44. Immediately following his martyrdom, however, his followers are said to have taken his body to Jaffa, on the coast, where a ship was miraculously waiting for them, and they set off back to Spain. They landed in Iria Flavia on the coast of Galicia, present-day Padrón, some 20km from what is now Santiago de Compostela, after a journey (and in a stone boat!) which is purported to have taken only a week, thereby providing proof of angelic assistance. The body was then buried in a tomb on a hillside, along with, later on, two of his followers, and then forgotten for the next 750 years. The story is, in fact, considerably more complicated than this; these are the bare bones.

Early in the ninth century Pelagius, a hermit living in that part of Spain, had a vision (which he subsequently reported to Theodomir, bishop of Iria Flavia) in which he saw a very large bright star, surrounded by a ring of smaller ones, shining over a deserted spot in the hills. The matter was investigated and a tomb was found there containing three bodies. They were immediately identified as those of St James and two of his followers and when Alfonso II, King of the Asturias (791–824), went there he declared St James the patron saint of Spain. He built a church and a small monastery over the tomb in the saint’s honour, around which a town grew up. It was known as ‘campus de la stella’ or ‘campus stellae’, later shortened to ‘compostela’. This is one explanation of the origin of the name. Another is that it derives from the Latin componere (to bury), as a Roman cemetery or early Christian necropolis is known to have existed under the site of the present-day cathedral in Santiago – and where the remains of St James are still believed to be housed today.

News of the discovery of the body of the saint soon spread, however, and led Santiago de Compostela to become the third great focus of Christian pilgrimage from the Middle Ages onwards. The spread of the news was encouraged, moreover, both by Archbishop Gelmírez and the cathedral authorities, who were anxious to promote the town as a pilgrimage centre, thus attracting money to the area, and later by the Order of the Knights of Santiago, who saw in it the opportunity to assist the Spanish Church in its long struggle against the Moors. Both factions were also helped by the fact that the Turks had seized the Holy Sepulchre in 1078, thus putting a stop to pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and because journeying to Rome had also become difficult for political reasons. However, Santiago was attractive as a potential pilgrim ‘venue’ in other respects too, as it fulfilled the various criteria necessary to make a pilgrimage there worthy of merit. It was far away (from other parts of Europe, for example) and difficult to reach, thus requiring a good deal of hardship and endurance to get there (and back again too, of course). It was sufficiently dangerous (wolves, bandits, fever, rivers that were difficult to cross) as well as being in a Spain locked tight in struggle with the Moors, and for this reason pilgrims often travelled in quite large groups. The road itself was also well enough supplied with shrines, relics and other sights worth seeing and as traffic increased roads were improved and bridges and hospices were built. Churches were dedicated to St James, too, whilst others contain his statue or depictions in paintings or tilework. As Santiago Apóstol he is portrayed bareheaded, with halo and a book (open or closed) in hand, but he more frequently appears as Santiago Peregrino in pilgrim outfit, with hat, stick, cape, gourd and satchel and with shells on either hat, lapels or both. His other common representation is as Santiago Matamoros (the moor-slayer), riding on a charger, with sword, shield and often a dead Moor or two falling at his feet. It is not unusual, however, to see a mixture of the apostle and pilgrim versions, with halo, book, stick and cockle shells, whilst there are also bareheaded pilgrim occurrences. Depictions of the Santiago sword, with bent handle, like a shepherd’s crook, are also found in places associated in some way with St James.

A number of very tiny chapels (ermitas) built along the way were also dedicated to St Roch (San Roque in Spanish), the pilgrim saint from Montpellier. After a pilgrimage to Rome, St Roch devoted his life to caring for plague victims but withdrew to live in a forest when he contracted a disease which left him with an unsightly sore on his left thigh. For this reason he is depicted in art – and there are a number of St Roch representations along the Vía de la Plata – with the front flap of his coat turned back, to warn people to keep away from him, and is accompanied by the faithful dog, often with a loaf of bread in his mouth, who brought the saint his daily rations. Legend has confused him with Santiago Peregrino at times, and he not infrequently appears in a ‘pilgrim version’ as well, with added hat, staff and cockle shells on his clothing.

Why did people go on pilgrimages anyway? For a variety of reasons: as a profession of faith, as a form of punishment (a system of fixed penalties for certain crimes/sins was in operation during the Middle Ages), as a means of atonement, as a way of acquiring merit (and thus, for example, reducing or, in certain cases, cutting in half the amount of time spent in Purgatory) and as an opportunity to venerate the relics of saints available in shrines along the way. (Indulgences were also available from the cathedral authorities in Santiago to those who made the journey in Holy Years.) No doubt, too, there were some who were just glad of the opportunity to escape their surroundings. Those with the means to do so went on horseback and some wealthy people made the pilgrimage along with a considerable retinue. The majority of pilgrims went on foot, however, and even amongst the rich there were some who preferred to walk, rather than ride, because of the greater ‘merit’ they would attain afterwards.

The pilgrim in former times was not at all sure that he would eventually reach his destination, let alone return home in one piece, so before setting out he took leave of his family and employer, made his will and generally put his affairs in order. He (or she) obtained his ‘credentials’ (pilgrim passport) from his bishop or church, which he could then present in order to obtain food and lodging in the many pilgrim ‘hospitals’ and other establishments along the way. This was both a precaution against the growing number of pseudo-pilgrims and as a means of providing proof of his journey: he had his papers stamped at different stages along the way so that once he arrived in Santiago he could obtain his compostela (certificate of pilgrimage) from the cathedral authorities there. This in turn entitled him to stay in the pilgrim shelters on his return journey as well as furnishing evidence, if needed, that he had actually made the pilgrimage successfully.

The pilgrim had his staff and scrip blessed in church before setting out and travelled light, carrying little else but a gourd for water and, on his return journey, his scallop shell. This singled him out as a pilgrim, rather than as any other type of traveller, and is the symbol embedded above doorways and in other places on the many and varied buildings that accommodated pilgrims along the different pilgrim roads. (Originally these were worn only by returning pilgrims but today they are common on hats, rucksacks and round the necks of those beginning their journey to Santiago, almost a required item of ‘pilgrim uniform’ for some.) Pilgrims with funds could obviously stay in inns and other publicly available lodgings (such as the ventas that lined the Vía de la Plata, often on the site of the former Roman mansiones) but there were also hospices and other facilities specially provided for them. Some of these were in towns, whether in the centre or outside the walls to cater both for latecomers and possibly contagious pilgrims, whilst others were in the middle of the countryside, often by bridges or at the crossing of important pilgrim feeder roads. Much of the pilgrim accommodation was provided by religious orders, by churches and civic authorities, as well as by benevolent individuals. The facilities offered varied considerably from one establishment to another and one or two such buildings are still standing, such as the one in Rionegro del Puente.

There are different explanations as to the origins of the scallop shell or ‘coquille Saint Jacques’ but one is that when the followers of St James arrived in the port of Iria Flavia with the apostle’s body they saw a man riding along the beach (a bridegroom in some versions) whose horse took fright and then plunged into the sea. When they re-emerged both horse and rider were covered from head to foot in scallop shells (and even today the beaches in this part of Galicia are strewn with them). It was customary to set out in the springtime in order to reach Santiago for the feast of St James on July 25th and return home for the winter. This was especially true in Holy Years, those in which July 25th falls on a Sunday (after 2004 the next ones are in 2010, 2021, 2027, 2032, 2038 and 2049), the only time the ‘Puerta Santa’ or Holy Door of the Cathedral of Santiago is open. This is sealed up at the end of each such year and then symbolically broken down again by the Archbishop in a special ceremony in the evening of December 31st preceding the new Holy Year, one during which special concessions and indulgences were, and still are, available to pilgrims. On returning home many joined confraternities of former pilgrims, such as the cofradías in Castilblanco de los Arroyos and Rionegro del Puente, the forerunners of the modern-day associations of Friends of St James that now exist in several countries to support, promote and encourage the different routes to Santiago. Unlike the Camino Francés, however, from which there are a number of extant accounts of pilgrim journeys from the twelfth century onwards, there are no surviving writings documenting individual pilgrim journeys to Santiago along the Vía de la Plata.

The Vía de la Plata Today

The route from Seville to Astorga has been waymarked (very thoroughly and clearly) since 1991, when the late Andrés Muñoz Garde researched the route and painted yellow arrows, like those on the Camino Francés, to guide a large group he was leading along this stretch of the Vía de la Plata. He was the one person who really set the route on its feet again in recent times. People living along the way are sometimes heard to remark ‘Ah, yes, now there is a new route to Santiago,’ assuming it must be something that has been invented recently, but although it has been waymarked for over 10 years very few pilgrims used it in the early years. The other catalyst was the very active group of Amigos del Camino de Santiago in Seville, led by the late José Luis Salvador Salvador, who not only continued and maintained the waymarking but also visited all the villages along the way within reasonable walking distance of each other, talking to priests, alcaldes (mayors), the local police and so on to set up a network of very basic sleeping accommodation in parish halls, schools and sports centres, so that nowadays, apart from large towns, there is always somewhere (often very spartan, obviously) for pilgrims to sleep, apart from hostales, fondas and so on where these exist. The Seville ‘Amigos’ also produce a special credencial, a ‘pilgrim passport’ for the route (see below). There are also several other associations of ‘Amigos de la Vía de la Plata’ along the way (those in Fuenterroble de Salvatierra and Zamora are particularly active). The group in Ourense played a big part in clearing and waymarking the route through Galicia while the ‘Amigos’ in Granada and Córdoba have been responsible for the section from Granada to Mérida. The ‘feeder routes’ from Huelva to Zafra and Jaén to Baños de Montemayor have also been waymarked by local associations.

In 1992 only about 50 people walked the route in a whole year (the author of this guide was one of them) and it was quite different then, not only from the well-travelled Camino Francés but also from the route today. Nowadays people living along the route know who pilgrims are, where they are going, what the yellow arrows are for and that they are living along an important pilgrim road to Santiago. There are also many more pilgrims – relatively speaking, of course. In 1993, a Holy Year (when July 25th, St James’s Day, falls on a Sunday) there were about 100 (compared to 99,000 on the Camino Francés), some 450 in 1996 and what was often described by local people as un montón (a ‘huge number’) in the 1999 Holy Year – about 3000 altogether. In 2002 and 2003 (figures for 2004 were not available at the time of going to press) respectively some 4000 and 5000 pilgrims were recorded by the cathedral authorities in Santiago as having arrived by the Vía de la Plata and the numbers are increasing every year. Many of these did not walk (or cycle) all the way from Seville but, like those who start in Sarria on foot on the Camino Francés in order to walk the minimum 100km required to qualify for their compostela, many of them started in Ourense for the same reason. A lot of people also start either in or after A Gudiña because the Xunta de Galicia (regional government) has set up a network of refugios, which obviously makes it much easier to walk the route. There are still few first time pilgrims on the Vía de la Plata at present, however, and it is still surprisingly uncommon for people who live along the route itself to set out from their own front doors and make their first journey to Santiago along a camino which would lead them there directly. For some reason, perhaps because of the massive publicity during the nineties about the Camino Francés being THE Camino de Santiago, rather than just one of many routes to the ‘city of the apostle,’ people seem to think that they should go to Roncesvalles (from Seville, for example!) to set out on the ‘proper’ camino, though this is gradually changing. Others are misinformed, thinking that the route from Seville is not waymarked or that the Vía de la Plata is all road walking, since the N630, the main road which, in fact, follows the historical route taken by the Vía de la Plata is also, confusingly, named ‘Ruta de la Plata.’ Other people are unwilling to follow a route where ‘there are no refugios.’ In the past there were also no guidebooks; nobody, even priests and people with yellow arrows outside their doors, knew about the route or where it went, and anybody walking along with a rucksack bigger than a daysack was automatically considered either a ‘hippie’, a tramp or a transeunte (somebody walking from town to town theoretically in search of work) and looked at often very oddly by people in shops and places with accommodation. Unlike the Camino Francés, where the numbers of pilgrims has risen and fallen in different periods but where there has always been at least a continuous trickle, the pilgrim route along the Vía de la Plata came to a complete halt for a long time, possibly one or two centuries, and in the public eye, at least, it had disappeared into oblivion. It has been heavily promoted for the 2004 Holy Year, however, to attract pilgrims (and tourists) away from the completely saturated Camino Francés and there are plans afoot to classify the Vía de la Plata as Patrimonio de Humanidad as well. As a result, in terms of pilgrim numbers and infrastructure, the Camino Mozárabe de Santiago along the Vía de la Plata today resembles the Camino Francés back in 1990.

The walk from Seville to Santiago, whether via Astorga or Ourense, can be completed in six to seven weeks by anyone who is fairly fit and who also likes to visit places of interest along the way. Those who prefer to start in Granada, on the other hand, should allow seven to eight weeks, while pilgrims who wish to build several rest days into their journey, on whatever alternative, should obviously allow longer. The Vía de la Plata can be undertaken in sections, too, by those who lack the time to do it all in one go or would just like to cover certain stretches, and indications are given in the text as to how to reach (or leave) the main towns along the way. Those who ‘turn left’ at Astorga, to continue along the Camino Francés (this option is only recommended for those who have not already walked this route) often find it quite a shock to be suddenly immersed in a sea of pilgrims after walking for so many weeks on their own and feel strangers amongst all the others coming from the east who already know each other. The same applies, too, to those who continue through Galicia, however, and several pilgrims have commented that they found their arrival in Santiago somewhat depressing, particularly if they have already walked or ridden the Camino Francés. One suggestion for dealing with this problem has been to continue on foot to Finisterre, using the three or four more days of walking (described in Appendix A) as a quieter epilogue to the pilgrimage, akin to the often solitary character of the Via de la Plata.

Anyone in Britain who is thinking of walking any part of the route should certainly consider contacting the Confraternity of St James for advice and membership (see Appendix D for contact details) – their annually updated guide to accommodation and services is extremely useful.

The present guide is intended principally for walkers but as a large part of the route is suitable for mountain bikes (though definitely NOT touring bikes), indications of unsuitable stretches and their alternatives are provided in the text. (Cyclists may find it helpful to go through the text in advance and highlight aspects relevant to their needs.) Pilgrims on bikes should be aware, however, that they will not normally be able to travel very fast on the walker’s route (‘speed merchants’ should stick firmly to the roads), that they may have to get off and push from time to time (and will therefore need suitable footwear) and that in Spain all types of cyclist are required by law to wear helmets. Details of bike repair shops are given where known.

Like the Camino Francés, which many pilgrims on this route have already walked or cycled, people make the journey along the Vía de la Plata for a variety of reasons – historical, cultural, religious, as a(nother) significant action or event in their lives – and late twentieth and early twenty-first century pilgrims are people from all walks of life. Many are Spanish, of course, but there is also a significant proportion from Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany, as well as from Britain and places much further a field. Many of those who make the journey along the Vía de la Plata travel alone, others in twos or threes, others in quite large groups, particularly those on foot. Many complete the entire route in one stretch; others, with more limited time, cover only a part of it or do it a section at a time over several years. Most who go to Santiago along the Camino Mozárabe, and especially those who have been able to do the whole route in one go, would probably agree afterwards, however, that like their (probable) earlier journey along the Camino Francés, it has changed their life in some way, even though they may never have set out with this intention at all.

Most long-distance footpaths avoid not only large towns but even quite small villages as well. The Camino de Santiago along the Camino Mozárabe/Vía de la Plata, on the other hand, because of its historic origins (much of the original calzada romana is subsumed under the N630) and the need for shelter, deliberately seeks them out. However, one of the differences between the modern pilgrim and his historical counterpart, whether he walks, goes by bike or on horseback, is that very few return home by the same means of transport. The modern pilgrim route has thus become a ‘one-way street’ and it is unusual, today, to encounter anyone with either enough time or inclination to return to his or her point of departure by the same means as he or she set out. Moreover, since the waymarking with yellow arrows is also ‘one way only’ it would be difficult to follow the Vía de la Plata backwards, though some sections of the Seville–Astorga route are waymarked (in white, and somewhat patchily) in reverse for use as a renewal of a ruta de transhumancia. This is a road (in this case from Gijón to Cáceres) used for droving animals in large numbers, and in 1995 the practice was revived and huge numbers of cattle were moved on foot to try and help restore the tradition, with white arrows painted to guide the drovers on their way.

The route is a varied one, in climate, scenery, history and architecture, and the pilgrim sees a big cross-section of Spain as they walk along it. The part from Seville to Astorga is not physically difficult to walk in that there are no stiff climbs but the distances between accommodation are often very long, though the situation is improving every year. It is also a solitary route, which some people obviously like, but quite a few people who have walked the Vía de la Plata after the camino from Roncesvalles have said that they did not like it at all because they rarely met anyone else or any other pilgrims. The walking (or cycling) is almost all on old tracks and paths, very often the sort that are used for transporting animals or, if not, on extremely quiet minor roads. The pilgrim is normally far away from other roads though, sometimes never seeing anybody at all, or any villages, all day long. (This obviously needs a certain amount of organisation if you are not to get caught without anything to eat when you are hungry or short of water as there are hardly any public fountains until you reach Galicia.)

Those who decide to continue via Puebla de Sanabria and Ourense will find the route very strenuous, with a lot of stiff climbs and descents, but it is also very beautiful (in nice weather, of course). The route from Seville to Astorga is 722km (plus 250km more along the Camino Francés for pilgrims who choose this alternative) while the route for those who go directly via Galicia to Santiago is 1000km so there is little difference between the two options, in terms of distance. Pilgrims who start in Granada will need to be fit before they start, though, as this route (403km to Mérida) is extremely strenuous until Alcaracejos (three days after Córdoba), after which it flattens out. Some of the stages are unavoidably long and this option is, at present, at least, even more solitary than the main Vía de la Plata (not a route for those who don’t like their own company!) though people who live along the way seem to know where you are going.