Seville to Guillena 23 km

Completed the first stage to Guillema at 1300 today and now Im in the municipal Albergue del Perigrino (AdP)     All fine no one else here yet. A bit early to stop in an ideal world but 23km is enough for the first day and the next stop is 20km away. So another easy day tomorrow as I get my feet and body in the groove! A fairly uneventful day with torrential rain for the first hour but then warm and a little sunny until I got here. Glad I scouted the way out of the city yesterday as it would have been hard to find in the gloom.  Pretty grim for the first third as you get out of the city but ok after that. A few photos to be going on with that should show in the link I posted previously One with the standard yellow Camino signs for my previous Camino partners Mike Smith and Ian Ian Pinder. The third one shows how much of the river bank had been washed away recently.

Seville- the start

Arrived without any dramas and found the hotel!  All good.  Went to the cathedral but it was closed so just took a photo for the start. Only 1000km to go! Warm but damp and at least I know the way to start I the morning.  Luckily, there was a bar opposite the hotel so I could get some food without going too far. Excellent place with 2 main courses for 10 euros and a fine wine to accompany. Reminds me what good seafood and chicken is really like. Asked for an Orujos afterwards but a bit too far south I think. If you need to know aw Mike Smith!

Tried about five times to get the photo to attach without luck. It's all on Facebook which I must confess is much easier!

Facebook in use

I’m going to start using Facebook for the next camino updates as some of my friends seem to find it difficult to comment on the blog! However, there is a link in the Facebook page to the blog and I will still update this as well if I can but it is unlikely that I will be able to do many photos as it is such a phaff!

To find me on Facebook search Mike Sexton Rottingdean and its this picture:

Hope to see you there - Mike

Photo Link

Getting ready for the hike and trying to sort out how to post photos! As always, google seems to have changed its systems so am now using Google photo app. Link for the google app folder is here:

https://goo.gl/photos/4RHpb7UdxkCdkEjy8

I will also try to post some photos directly on the blog!

Camino Via de la Plata

So the decision is made - I’m going to start another Camino on 20 Apr 16 and I have chosen the Via de la Plata. This route appeals to me as it is supposed to be less busy that many others although it seems the infrastructure has improved from when I first looked a couple of years ago.

I fly to Seville from Gatwick on 19 Apr and will stay in Hotel Zaida on the first night. Plan to pick up a credencial in Seville that evening as I should arrive around 1700. I intend to start the camino the next day.

I am walking by myself this time (although I’m sure I will meet and walk with others on the way) so it will seem a little different. I am both excited and nervous about doing by myself - nervous as there is no one else to share the decisions with but excited by the prospect of making my own choices!

North Downs Way - Summary

Firstly, it was a nice walk. Most of the track was reasonably marked although the north downs way was better than St. Swithuns. We can't control the weather, but fortunately after the first two days we stayed dry which always helps. Disappointingly, accommodation was just as expensive as I feared and even harder to find than I expected. Did not want to prebook as we are never certain how far we want or can walk each day. We therefore tended to look the night before and book something if we found somewhere where we needed it or otherwise wait to the lunch stop to decide the plan. Found we had to use booking.com, hotels.com, mynearestbedandbreakfast.com as well as search google maps using the terms 'bed and breakfast' and 'hotels' to get a good picture of what was available. There must be a better single source of info!  For the route we used Hampshire county council pack for St. Swithuns which was quite good but had a few glaring errors on the map and description. For the north downs way I used a strip most which was very good. Also used a GPX file for each route which proved invaluable. In sum a good route but not the best. Would not want to repeat it as there are better in the UK. However, more significantly it would have been less expensive overall to fly to Spain to hike as accommodation and food is cheaper and of a higher quality.

30kms and got to Canterbury

Done it!  9 days in total. Luckily, we managed to stay dry on the last day despite the forecast telling us it was going to pour! Good meal at the local Thai restaurant last night. Couldn't eat at The Oak as they don't do food on Sundays (and they call themselves a hotel). A poor hotel at that - very average rooms, very tired public areas and virtually no customers! Even had to wait around and knock on the door to get breakfast, which was not ready. Glad to leave and get walking. Very nice track today, possibly the best of the route. Nice mature forests ( complete with Ceps), lots if orchards and a lovely lunch on the tweeist of villages called Chilham. In fact it would be a lovely route to follow for a day walk into Canterbury. The city surprised me as I had never been there before and had no prior knowledge about it. It seems to be a very pretty city with lots to see and plenty of good walks around it, inc one along the river compleat with punts!  Got into the cathedral for free as we were pilgrims. They offered for us to stay till evensong at 1730 and were surprised when we declined. Short walk to the station and now we are on the train to Brighton ( and ultimately fareham for mike) having changed at ashford international. Surprisingly, the fare was the same for both of us. Now looking forward to home in a couple of hours.