questions on return from Santiago

[William Marques]

The Via de la Plata or Camino Mozarabe is indeed one of the less travelled
routes.  This means that there are many fewer refuges (although the numbers
are growing) and very few pilgrims. You will be unlikely to bump into any
others unless you start together. You will find it costs you more as you
will have to stay in hostales or hotels where there is no alternative. The
southern part between Seville and Caceres is through some very empty
countryside and there are few facilities between the major towns.
Two websites to look at are www.viaplata.org by the Amigos del Camino de
Santiago de Sevilla who publish a very gooy guide (in Spanish) and
www.theviadelaplata.com a new and growing website by Crawford Mathieson (in
English) who hopes to produce a guide of his own by early 2004. The CSJ
guide is also worthwhile
Avoid August - not because of crowding but the temperature in the South of
Spain then is debilitating and the distances between villages and lack of
water adds to the problem  at that time.
You can take the route joining the Camino Frances at Astorga as I did at
the end for some company or stay on your own via Ourense.

On Tue, 24 Jun 2003 16:42:35 -0700, deanna bowling
<deannabowlingaYAHOO.COM> wrote:

>I must return, of course. I am wondering (due to the rise in numbers on
the Way, a rise which is not going to slow down any time soon) whether
anyone on the list has done one of the other ways? I was thinking
specifically of the Via Plata or perhaps one of the Portuguese ways. I hear
that they are not as "well-developed" as the French Way. What does this
mean?  I guess I need to order a Confraternity description of the trails
and see for myself!
>
>Deanna