Thanks Murray. I am planing on starting the Levante on 01 September, all going well. Looking forward to any posts you make.
Hi Lindsay. I have a few comments. Few local Spaniards along the Levante will speak english. However, I managed with translation apps on my phone with voice recognition Google Translate etc.
The Levante is extremely remote as far as Zamora. Are you doing it solo or with somebody? If solo, think of how you might make contact with somebody in case you run into any dififculties on your walk. Let somebody know where you are walking each day. There will be many days when you will not see another pilgrim.
The markings are not always well maintained on the Levante. Sometimes the path ahead will not be clear (see my comment below on MapMe). I came across an official GR239 signpost that marked the next town at 4 klm. It was actually 11 klm. I also came across a situation where a land owner had built a fense across the Camino path. I am not sure if the officials have rerouted the Camino path around this. I thought of climbing the fense, but then I thought of dogs! and I went back.
September can be very hot in central Spain. Very hot!
I would recommend a phone app called MapMe. You can download the KML files for all the caminos and import them into Mapme. (These KML files can actually be found in this camino forum). I am just back from the Levange and I found that app very helpful when the choice of path ahead was unclear. I used MapMe quite a bit over the last couple of weeks.
You may need to bring enough food and water for the whole day. Don't bet on having towns along your walk having a cafe / bar. if it is a large town, you have a better chance. Even when the guidebooks say that a village has a cafe / bar, my experience is that, in some cases, I have passed through several towns in a single day with no facilities. This happened to me a few times last week in fact.
The Pharmacies along the way can be a great resource, almost like visiting your own doctor. But I still haven't figured out their opening hours. It has been hit and miss.
When you reach Zamora and go on to Granja de Moreruela (on the VdlP), you will have a choice on whether to contine north to Astorga, where the Via de la Plata meets the
Camino Frances, or go west on the Camino Sanabres through Ourense to Santiago. The Levante Pilgrim group in Valencia say that you MUST take the Sanabres route if you want to receive the Levante Compostela in Santiago. This is clearly stated on their website.
I will post some photos from my most recent walk.
Buen Camino
Dave
