We made good time departing at 6:20 and were surprised by the cold air. Walking the streets to depart Seville was like doing a rat run without a map, except we did have a GPS which worked perfectly when away from the buildings canyons. We were rescued at a crucial point by a man walking his dog, who appeared from the darkness of the pre-dawn to guide us in the direction of the Camino. Once again the Camino has provided. We would still be wandering if not for his timely intervention. We had thought we would be fine, having found our 'starting point arrow' yesterday evening. Unfortunately however the Seville stage of the camino is far more complicated than we had realised. The man came to us and took us to the Camino monument which told us we have 1000 km of walking in order to reach Santiago de Compostela. He then pointed beyond to show us the way. And then he was gone and we were on our way.
In the moonlight, we crossed bridges and followed the wide river for a few kilometres. We then turned north into farmland, stopping at the small town of Santiponce after 9 km for breakfast. Typical breakfast, no explanation required. There we met our first fellow pilgrim, Isabelle, from France. We subsequently met two Dutch women.
The farmland today was lush from generous watering systems. The land was rolling hills and plain, and in the distance beyond are the mountains, but that’s for another day. Some reasonable elevation ahead.
We checked in quite early to our albergue, alongside an Australian and another Frenchman. More pilgrims followed and the albergue is full tonight with a total of 15 of us, when we had expected minimal occupants.
Every night of accommodation has been a unique experience, no two the same. Tonight’s albergue is very different, communal in nature giving us the opportunity to mix with ‘like minded souls’. We probably cheated a little as far as albergues go since we pre-booked the only available private double room. All other rooms are dormitory-style with three double bunk beds - six to a room. The place is welcoming and well equipped, including facilities for washing our clothing which we hung on the terrace (rooftop) to dry. It is a perfect little haven really. Even the living space has a table and chairs and a multitude of books for swapping. A marking pen resides on the table so pilgrims can write on the walls, which they do and we did too. Some messages are profound, some are artistic, others are just names and dates.
We explored the town and found it very appealing and later had ‘dinner’ out at a nearby bar with Isabelle, all three of us choosing pizzas which were effectively large slices of toast with cheese, tomato sauce and ham (mine) and anchovies (Isabelle). We were content with this, half expecting to have to go to bed hungry with shop opening times erratic as a consequence of Holy Week festivities. And it is advised that as tomorrow is Good Friday, all shops and services will most certainly be closed. At least our accommodation for tomorrow night is pre-booked and we managed to purchase extra rations from a little corner store that was conveniently still open and close by.
It has been a great day and it feels good to be out of the big city.
Looks amazing. X
Looks like a more sociable walk post-Seville 👏
Well done guys, glad there is some cooler weather to walk in