So, Spain has lured me back for another walk...this time from Sevilla, in the South, to Santiago in the North. As always I was nervous and worried before this trip but I arrived in Sevilla last night and Spain, well, it kind of calms me down. Sevilla is a city that screams "THIS IS SPAIN!". It's got the amazing cathedral; beautiful, bright, white buildings with gold colored trim; colorful tiles; palm trees; orange trees so heavy with fruit that they are just plopping on the ground; lemon trees; charming town squares and gardens;amazing tiled courtyards in the buildings; cloudless blue skies and tempertures in the 70s. Plus, there's all the rest of the stuff I love about Spain: getting up early and seeing shop keepers scrubbing the sidewalks outside their doors while beer trucks restock kegs at all of the bars; the old men jabbering with one another on park benches or in cafes; helpful strangers, cheap drinks,and, yes... even the coffee served in juice glasses. I just get a few degrees happier here. But, if Spain lifts me up, the actual walking might just wear me back down. I am totally ill prepared for this trip. I figured I have the time so I should do it, yet I haven't prepared much at all. I did a few walks of about 8 miles but topped out at about 12 miles and this hardly has prepared me for the 1000 + km walk (over 600 miles) which, with the time I have, averages out to about 18-20 miles per day.Piddling around the house in England and drinking beers in Ireland, were more appealing than going on long walks...especially when we had snow and ice. I had not carried my 13-15 lb. pack on any training walks, nor I had I really accounted for the 13-15 lbs of weight on my person that I had not carried on previous walks. So, today's "short" 14 mile walk, although nice, has worn me out a bit. I feel fine but my legs feel very heavy. Before I set off I went to what is possibly my favorite breakfast cafe for coffee and toast with tomatoes and olive oil run by surly men in the Barrio Santa Cruz area of Sevilla, then I checked out, took a walk around the cathedral and set out. Although Sevilla is beautiful, the outskirts are not and are filled with warhouses, dumps, etc. So, the first 7 miles or so were not so nice, the rest were better as the trail was on the old Roman road which is now, essentially, a farm road through fields, olive and orange groves and into the very pretty town of Guillena. The walk was comfortable, weatherwise. I started out this mornign wearing my fleece jacket, mainly to justify bringing it, but soon took it off as it warmed up. It was probably 75 which might be a tad warm for my liking but it was beautiful nevertheless. I am staying at the very clean looking albergue. So far there is an Italian guy there and I saw a couple of girls on the walk so should expect to see them and, I hope, some others.
Because I have no modern tech. items with me, these posts might not be frequent (although they might) and, sadly, might not feature photos as often as I would wish which is a shame as it is very pretty here...and so different from the Northern routes (architecture, landscape, etc.)
