LIVE from the Camino On the caminos of Caravaca and San Juan de la Cruz

[AlanSykes]

I arrived in Cartagena today and spent a very pleasant few hours ratching around the old town, the port, the Roman theatre, the castle, a few fish bars and so on. A relaxed vibe - where "it seeméd always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon." Great views of the harbour from the castle, and also inland towards the sierras I hope to be climbing in a few days.

I picked up my credencial for the Camino de la Cruz de Caravaca from the diocesan bookshop, and my first sello (upside down). Then on to the fishermen's barrio of Santa Lucía, where there is a statue of Santiago at the waterside, and a plaque explaining "according to the tradition, the apostol Santiago landed here in the first century AD. From Cartagena he began his work to evangelise the peninsula." If anybody can tell me of a better place to start a camino to Compostela, please do.

Tomorrow to work.

 

[SabsP]

All the best!

I look forward to your posts. It will be a joy to follow you. As always.

 

[caminka]

Oh! Not heard of this camino before. Is it one of those you need to walk in the fall/winter/spring, preferrably? I like the sound of the sierras.

 

[Kiwi-family]

I was hoping to start from Valencia next, but now I think that could be a little tourist stop on the way to Cartagena - surely THAT is The Very Best Starting Point Ever for a camino. I'll be looking to see where you go after Caravaca de la Cruz - will you be able to get up to Albacete perhaps? If that's possible I think I would definitely rearrange my plans. Will be following you with even more interest than usual.

​

 

[peregrina2000]

Buckle up, it’s time for Another Annual Alan Adventure! Buen camino!

 

[VNwalking]

arrived in Cartagena today

Oh, excellent. I was hoping you'd be heading out for an autumnal camino soon.

Buen camino, Alan! I look forward to enjoying your posts and learning a few things along the way.

 

[VNwalking]

If anybody can tell me of a better place to start a camino to Compostela, please do.

Nope. You win, hands (errr...feet) down.

"it seeméd always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon."

OK, so I have to admit having to look this up. May your dreams not be weary and may you manage to return here to post, at least from time to time.

 

[lovingkindness]

I arrived in Cartagena today and spent a very pleasant few hours ratching around the old town, the port, the Roman theatre, the castle, a few fish bars and so on. A relaxed vibe - where "it seeméd always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon." Great views of the harbour from the castle, and also inland towards the sierras I hope to be climbing in a few days.

I picked up my credencial for the Camino de la Cruz de Caravaca from the diocesan bookshop, and my first sello (upside down). Then on to the fishermen's barrio of Santa Lucía, where there is a statue of Santiago at the waterside, and a plaque explaining "according to the tradition, the apostol Santiago landed here in the first century AD. From Cartagena he began his work to evangelise the peninsula." If anybody can tell me of a better place to start a camino to Compostela, please do.

Tomorrow to work.

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Buen camino, @AlanSykes !

This looks interesting. Thanks for posting...

 

[gollygolly]

I arrived in Cartagena today and spent a very pleasant few hours ratching around the old town, the port, the Roman theatre, the castle, a few fish bars and so on. A relaxed vibe - where "it seeméd always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon." Great views of the harbour from the castle, and also inland towards the sierras I hope to be climbing in a few days.

I picked up my credencial for the Camino de la Cruz de Caravaca from the diocesan bookshop, and my first sello (upside down). Then on to the fishermen's barrio of Santa Lucía, where there is a statue of Santiago at the waterside, and a plaque explaining "according to the tradition, the apostol Santiago landed here in the first century AD. From Cartagena he began his work to evangelise the peninsula." If anybody can tell me of a better place to start a camino to Compostela, please do.

Tomorrow to work.

This is a BEAUTIFUL Camino … and another one with different starting points… I am currently also walking the Caravaca de la Cruz, though started out from Orihuela. So far, much to recommend.

 

[AlanSykes]

Saturn was bright above fading Orion when I emerging from the warm calm sea, just as the rosy-fingered dawn was beginning to make an appearance. I then started to make my way out of Hasdrubal's city, determined to leave early as 35 degrees of heat was promised (and delivered). My first ever camino steps in Murcia province: not many left for me to cover (of the contiguous ones, only Ciudad Real and the three from the País Vasco). I enjoyed Cartagena very much. But I think Cervantes was getting a little over-excited when he wrote about the ”... puerto
a quien los de Cartago dieron nombre,
cerrado a todos vientos y encubierto,
a cuyo claro y singular renombre
se postran cuantos puertos el mar baña,
descubre el sol y ha navegado el hombre.”

I managed to get my first coffee and tostada near the bus station. Just under the Cerro de Despeñaperros. It seemed politer not to ask which dogs and what was their fate. Then the Camino del Azahar follows the main road out of town. For about 7 long km. Eventually into the astonishingly fertile plain - Europe’s vegetable patch. Fruit trees, melons recently harvested, every sort of veg, irrigation channels, vast greenhouses: one I walked past was about 1km long by 250m wide - a longer façade than Versailles. Very few people: I got a cheery wave from one group of gastarbeiters, but most of the crops are now harvested mechanically - and often tinned on the spot, judging by a few factories I also passed.

The heat was intense, and so was the light, but at least it was dry heat, and there was a pleasant breeze as well. Because the camino more or less stalks the motorway, there were plenty of places to pick up snacks or extra water - I got through 7 litres today.

I’m staying the night at a very decent 2 star truck stop called the Venta del Puerto. A lot further on that I’d intended, but I simply couldn’t find anything else closer to Cartagena - presumably all accommodation is lured down to the seaside. When I telephoned last night to book, the manager charged me 40€, a big improvement on the 65€ booking.com wanted. And because I’m so much further today, I’ll be able to spend more time exploring Murcia city tomorrow.

 

[Kiwi-family]

So I’ve read the title properly now….i hadn’t heard of the Camino San Juan de la Cruz, but I’ve done a wee bit of looking…in case anyone else is interested….
Looks like a good autumn/winter/spring possibility

 

[AlanSykes]

Leaving the plain at first light, the camino moves steadily up through scrub into a nice shady maquis of pines and holm oaks, finally out of earshot of the motorway. Two hours of relatively gentle ascent takes you to a long ridge at just under 600m up, where I caught a wonderful view of the Mar Menor, with the sea sparkling beyond. Almost certainly my last view of salt water until December.



I depended mostly on mapy.cz for directions - there were some faded red and white GR250 signs, and a very few parsimonously applied yellow arrows, but nothing like enough to guide you confidently.

Although shadier and much shorter than yesterday, I had still run out of water by 11am. And had been promising myself a treat at the monastery of Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta, where the mountain joins the city suburbs. Water there was, but horrible municipal chlorinated water, not the holy agua de la sierra I'd promised myself. Huh. As a consolation, there was a long hedge of purple sage, something I've never seen before - almost more flowers than leaves.



Central Murcia seems a very pleasant bustling city. Pleasant, but somehow lacking, for me, the easy seductive charm of Zamora or Soria (lovely Soria). The cathedral is a jumble of styles, and largely under scaffolding, which doesn't help - although I enjoyed a grumpy-looking Santiago on the south doorway. It also houses the heart and bowels of Alfonso el Sabio.



Nearby is an exuberant 19th century casino, unsure whether it's hispano-mooresque or neo-classical. The ballroom drips with 100s of kilos of huge candelabras, but I was driven away by some idiot massacring the Rondo a la Turca on a hideously out of tune grand piano.

 

[islandwalker]

It's wonderful to read your descriptions!

Are you continuing on the Camino de San Juan de la Cruz past Caravaca through the Cazorla Parque Natural to Beas de Segura? We spent 6 weeks walking in the park last year and thought the mountain trails there were beautiful.

 

[VNwalking]

I was driven away by some idiot massacring the Rondo a la Turca on a hideously out of tune grand piano.

Ouch. Not to mention the gaudy excess of those candelabras. I do hope the food in Murcia was better than all that, and the municipal water.

 

[AlanSykes]

Last night's paseo in the streets round the cathedral was really energetic and enjoyably noisy.

I do hope the food in Murcia was better than all that

I treated myself to supper in Murcia's only Michelin starred restaurant, not something I do very often - in fact, other than Almansa, where the Maralba got both its stars a while after the only time I ate there, I don't think I've ever done it on a camino. Avoiding the lengthy "tasting menu", I just had some lovely queen scallops with artichokes in a saffron sauce, and a gloriously fresh tender dish of monkfish with tiny basil-infused gnocchi, a local speciality. With a glass of the local Jumilla DOC white, not a wine I've ever come across before - slightly oakey, very fruity, probably mostly chardonnay, from a vineyard near the Albacete border at over 1000m up. Yum, and all for about the price of a (posh) pub lunch in England.

This morning saw me heading out along a path following the río Segura as it meanders in a mazy motion westwards(ish), past an amusing partly submerged fish sculpture. Lots of ducks and geese, some egrets, a few moorhens, very pleasant, and quite a few other walkers and bikers. I left the Camino del Azahar (often marked as the "sendero del Apostol") at Murcia's dormitory town of Alcantarilla, making a tedious detour 3km to the Decathlon on the wrong side of town: one of my pole tips had come off, and going thump-click every pace was driving me mad. @Kiwi-family : the Azahar carries on northwards, joining the Sureste at Petrola and the Levante at Chinchilla de Montearagón

After two whole days walking, I worked out what I had been missing: not a single dog had barked at me since leaving Cartagena, I'm sure the longest silence on any camino I've walked. Today made up for it, with the yapping chorus starting on the edge of town and carrying on deep into the campo.

I'm staying the night in the Ventabaños motorway hotel in the middle of nowhere, the only way I could find to split the stages. Telephoning last night I was quoted 60€, much more than I usually spend, but a lot less than the 115€ booking.com appeared to be expecting. And when I arrived the receptionist told me I'd get a 20% pilgrim discount on top.

Accommodation in the area generally seems to be a problem, presumably because of the Holy Year, and also some sort of conference this weekend. So from tomorrow I'm doing 3 short stages rather than 2 long ones, to get to Caravaca de la Cruz on Monday, when the current wave seems to have receeded a little. Quite a relief really, as a 43km day followed by two 30s straight out of the gate has left me too knackered to sleep properly, never a pleasant state.

Are you continuing on the Camino de San Juan de la Cruz past Caravaca through the Cazorla Parque Natural to Beas de Segura?

That's the plan, and on to Úbeda, where San Juan de la Cruz died (and then to Fontivros, where he was born). Any tips gratefully received. Not quite sure how I'm going to find places to sleep while trying to break through those largely unpopulated sierras. On verra.