Via de la Plata - 6th June start walking!

[Jobuzz]

I am walking the Via de la Plata, setting out from Sevilla on the morning of Monday 6th June, and am looking for fellow pilgrims to walk with. I am flying home to London from Santiago de Compostela on Sunday 17th July, and have these 6 weeks to complete the journey.

I walked the Camino Frances a few years ago, and have been wanting to walk from Sevilla ever since, finally felt the time was right, booked my flights and am going for it! Sadly, not everyone is as lucky as me, and has a boss who will give them 6 weeks off work (despite the fact he is fairly certain that I am actually attempting the world's longest ever bar crawl?!!?), so at the moment I will be walking solo.

I hear that this particular route is not as well-trodden as the path Frances, and for that reason I would really like to have a walking partner from the start, just for peace of mind, and of course I am excited about the prospect of making this incredible journey with a new friend!

I would love to hear from pilgrims who will either be somewhere along the route whilst I am there, or are interested in starting (and hopefully finishing!) with me based on these dates.

Hope to hear from you!

Jo x

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Jo,

Unfortunately I won't be on the Vdlp when you are, but I just wanted to say buen camino -- and also, don't worry too much about not making connections with people ahead of time. I walked alone last May from Sevilla (single English speaking female, aged 60) and though I didn't run into a lot of people, I was never alone unless I wanted to be. I think that maybe last year the numbers were really low because people wanted to avoid the Holy Year crowds, but whatever it was, I rarely found huge groups in the albergues at the end of the day.

Though speaking Spanish helps (some of the closest friendships I developed were with Spaniards, who, ironically, frequently found themselves alone with no one to talk to in their own country), many of the non-Spaniards will speak English. I found lots and lots of German speakers (or "close-to-German-speakers" like Dutch, Belgian, Swiss, etc) and there were usually several English speakers in that group.

I wish you a wonderful walk, I think you will love it, it's pretty spectacular! Laurie

 

[Sagalouts]

Hi Joe
because of the limited choices on where to stay the first couple of weeks the few people you meet will inevitable be on the same timetable as you,amongst these you will surely find a walking companion or you may find your happy to walk alone and just meet up with the rest on an evening.
Ian

 

[Jobuzz]

Thank you both so so much for your advice. That has reassured me enormously, and also the tone of both your emails reminded me of how open and welcoming the pilgrim community is, so that even if I do start off solo.... well, you know the rest... x