El Real de la Jara to Monesterio - (electric wheelchair style)

Today started with the problem of getting my 90kg electric wheelchair down a small flight of steps.

This small sleepy town was very quiet at 8:00 this morning. I wandered around looking for help and found a builder working up the street. In my poor Spanish I asked for assistance saying that we needed 2 strong men. He magically hailed a passing car and within minutes I was sorted.

This little story says a lot about humanity. Don’t we love to help? Isn’t it intrinsically human to assist others? Maybe this stuff happens more as a pilgrim, where our vulnerabilities are more apparent. Whatever it says it made the world a better place for us all I think. 

Today’s path started as a cruise. Big wide meandering track through Savana landscape. Hills, castles, holm oak and broom. Lots of grazing cattle but low density, free to wander.

Yesterday I left Andalusia and an now in Extremadura, they call this type of landscape “Dehesa”, a unique, ancient agroforestry native to southwestern Spain and Portugal. Here it seems to be all about the Iberian pig which seems to be the main commercial activity here. After securing my accommodation I visited the Museo del Jamón which was fantastic. 

These pigs thrive on acorns, particularly those of the holm oak which thrives here.

Once again a lovely small town with storks on the church’s bell towers

Looking forward to food tonight - it’ll need to be local pig 😊

Castilblanco De Los Arroyos to El Real de la Jara - (electric wheelchair style)

After yesterday’s concerns re avoiding stepping stones, marsh and streams, I stuck to the road for this leg. 

Once again I cruised it, finishing by about 9:30 so decided to push on. The 2nd leg after Almadén was also part of the Sierra Norte de Seville National Park and very beautiful in a harsh and rugged way. My pictures will show the type of habitat and scenery. I can imagine it covered in snow as well.

Most of the terrain was vehicle width tracks which work for me. In places where it is very steep, loose or eroded, I get off and push. Segway’s have a self-powered mode that kicks in when you aren’t sitting or standing on them. This keeps my wheels upright and if I press the seat down, it is in drive mode without me on it. If you know what you are doing and are careful, this provides the energy to negotiate difficult terrain. Im sure it’s not in the how-to handbook but it works for me.

Decent from the highest point had a section requiring this technique. I would call it a steep downhill scramble for about 100m. It took a while but I made it zigzagging on and off the path. Down to the last bar on the battery level indicator - unknown territory😳

Made it to El Real de la Jara only to find the albergue was full so back on my own again and €30 for a quiet hotel room. It has advantages but also a good set of steps to negotiate before I can charge my wheels.

This is a nice town, clean streets and smiling people. The pavements are shaded with orange trees, there is a castle on the hill and a church with storks nesting.

Seville to Castilblanco De Los Arroyos - (electric wheelchair style)

Camino Via de La Plata’s 1000km start here. Up early I returned to the Cathedral’s west gate which is the official start of the VDLP. 

Seville at 5:30 was full of the people and machinery that keep a busy city clean. They were also lining the street adjacent to the Cathedral with chairs so I guess it will be procession day in the city.

The route takes you across a bridge and out of town heading north. There was little to see, especially as it was dark.

I joined 2 day stages into 1 again and after a BRIEF breakfast stop in a town called Guillena I clocked my first other pilgrims. I had felt like the only pilgrim on this Camino so meeting other pilgrims was a welcome treat. Without the community of other pilgrims it is isolating. I'm fine travelling alone and sometimes, a single room especially with a bathroom, is just what I want. Today I'm happy to be sharing a room with others, although the 3 Belgium blokes next to me snore.

Lots of urban roadside becoming scrubby Holm oak  savana today. Much dryer and hillier away from what had been the costal planes of Andalocea.

My route tomorrow is half road followed by the Sierra Norte de Seville National Parke. Its meant to be stunning with Cork oaks an a list of wildlife. The guide rates it as "very hard" at 29.5km with 605m of assent, 480m decent. It also mentions bridges and "stepping stones".

Stepping stones could be a complete no go for my wheels. In preperation I made an post on the Camino forumn asking for photographs. I got a number of replies and some opinions. It seems like there is a section that ponds or maybe its a seasonal stream.

I ended up with a number of different possabilities that seem to be different locations to me. I have decided to unfortunately skip the National Park bit staying on the road. If inspired to I could backtrack from the Almaden De La Plata (the destination) back into the Park.

Utrera to Seville - (electric wheelchair style)

My guide tells me it’s 35km to Seville, now classed as a modest day on my wheelchair Camino.

I’m still checking out the capabilities of Genny with its new high capacity batteries and yesterday I finished with 2 bars left out of 8 on the charge indicator after 53km. It’s not a linear scale, so 1 bar can mean different things depending on terrain, speed and how aggressively I drive. I now feel very comfortable to expect 50km on 1 complete charge.

I’ve also got my navigation well sorted. There is little detail on the Camino Via Augusta and the signage is sparse or just not there. Also the downloadable mapping files are out of date or wrong. In places I am completely making it up. Saying that it did get better approaching Seville.

I have used mobile mapping tools in my work monitoring bats. On my wheels I have a dedicated android phone with the route showing over a downloadable map. It displays speed, time,  distance to destination and % of route covered. This takes a bit of the stress out of navigating. I just need to concentrate on the kerbs and pavement ramps which are often not there.

Scenery changed a lot today starting from big old olive groves in the rising sun, to huge open fields filled with sunflowers. Closer to Seville the big suburbs are filled with traffic. Bit of a shock from the deserted Camino.

The city is currently mobbed with more English on the streets than Spanish. Big snaking tour groups everywhere, horse and cart rides , the usual.

I found accommodation on the 3rd attempt in an albergue full of young city visitors. Doubt if there are pilgrims here but will check. The building has a great roof terrace with a small pool, lots of shade and a bar. Will need to come back here as too much to see in the hot sun of early summer. Plan to start the Camino Via de La Plata in the morning, 1000km… I may also just fly home. 

Lenrija to Utrera - (electric wheelchair style)

Today was going to be a short one, 20km max to Las Cabezas de San Juan.

5 hours and 53 km later and I’m in a swanky hotel in Utrera. Still no other pilgrims, feels a bit dystopian out here in 36 degrees on the Via Augusta. 

I woke early thinking I may as well start and had reached my intended destination before 9:00 After breakfast at an early cafeteria it was either wait for a hotel check-in at 13:00 or continue - so I did. I clocked an abandoned building covered in house martin nests - see the photo showing just a small portion of the nests. 

The scenery today was low flat agriculture with well organised irrigation from a canal running parallel to the path. I used to work on farms many years back and love a good irrigation system but I’d not seek anything like this before.

Checking google the area is known as

Las Marismas del Guadalquivir — a natural region of marshy lowlands on the lower Guadalquivir River. Apparently the area produces 40% of Spain’s rice production.

Today’s trail also followed the mainline train route between Seville and Cadiz.

I haven’t explored the town yet apart from the tourist office and the church. Here are today’s images:

Jerez to Lenrija - (electric wheelchair style)

After a recuperation day in Jerez I set off pre-dawn looking for coffee. It’s gonna be hot with weather warnings showing on my phone app and my plan is to do the 36km to Lenrija.

I have chosen this destination as accommodation is less affordable on this Camino. Instead of the usual albergues found on the ‘Francés’, it’s just hotels and hostels. I have been booking in advance through booking.com which has worked for me, but the next affordable accommodation happens to be in Lenrija 36km away. At home I would think nothing of cruising 10 miles a day on my wheels which is 16km so 36km is not a lot more than double that.

I had to settle for vending machine coffee which was ok and the streets were all but empty at 6:30.

Via Augusta is deathly quiet now (late May - June) and I’ve not seen another pilgrim except a young German woman who was returning from a more northern route. A chance but welcome encounter. 

There are few direction signs so I’m navigating with GPX routes displayed through OruxMaps which works well for me. I have a dedicated phone mounted on my wheels  for the purpose, showing route, time, distance to destination and % of route covered. Love it 😊 

Although long, today went well traveling for about 5 hours. The path was generally good on agricultural tracks or small quiet roads. There was one complete section that had been washed out requiring radical maneuvering and a tricky fast road crossing with deep ditches and railings either side. I’m well experienced with such obstacles now and approach it dismounted and backwards on my wheels which seems to work ok.  

This little town turns out to be another lovely historic and cultural gem. It is actually classed as a city, and at times of higher sea level, Lebrija was coastal.

It has a very impressive tower known as “la Giraldilla”
(little Giralda) after the Giralda tower at the Cathedral de Seville.

It also seems to hold the most decrepit elderly population in Europe based on the amount of wheelchair users basking in the evening light under the orange trees. Oh and a fantastic sweet shop kiosk in the plaza.

 

Cadiz to Jerez de La Frontera - (electric wheelchair style)

After breakfast at an amazing cafeteria I left Cadiz on a small ferry taking me to El Puerto de Santa Maria. It was a quick trip but the only ferry available was at 11:15 meaning a very late start on the Camino. After the cool boat ride the countryside was dusty, agricultural and uneventful with the path often following aside busy roads.

With light and sandy soils, many of the plants I found were familiar from home like chicory and purple viper’s bugloss. After a couple of hours of hot sun I arrived and checked into my hotel and showered in cool water.

Had a prawn salad lunch then went to find the cathedral which is always the heart of small spanish towns. Unfortunately my wheels died on me in the hot afternoon sun. I was looking for a good place to photo shoot my wheels, on trying to start Genny again, it was having none of it. All of my confidence disappeared in an instant, leaving me with an immovable wheelchair in the baking sun.

I know a lot about how Genny works and there are some usual things that will stop it from working. If the ground is not level or for some reason one of the Segway footpads is stuck this will inhibit the legs from lifting. I could not find a logical answer but at one point it started working again and I made it back to my hotel.

With my confidence in tatters I have decided to stay another night here to reassure myself things are working properly. Things will always go wrong but to not know why is worrisome. My Genny is now 8 years old with 21,000k on the clock and I am nervous. 

My hotel is great though and the town is lovely, can’t wait to see more of it tomorrow.