Saturday 16th Sept. Sevilla to Guillena
I know the correct answer to that rhetorical question, but today I temporarily overlooked that answer. But first, to the start of the day ...
We were in no rush to start the day, given a relatively modest 22klm ahead of us. Sevilla at 8am was cool and quiet. No-one around. Unusual (well perhaps not for that hour). Breakfast around the corner and on the road at a very relaxed 9:30.
Our start point - logically - was the front of the cathedral. It was open at that relatively early hour, and so we went in for a quick peek.. A security guard obliged us with a photo:
Then outside a most friendly Spanish couple also obliged us with a couple of photos - he even insisted that we head up to another alcove in the cathedral so that he could include Santiago in the photo.
Here we are, with the start point market at our feet.
At the kind Spanish gentleman's insistence, with Santiago behind us (bottom row, second from right)
Then "Buen Caminos" from him and his wife, and we were on our way..
Those of you who have walked a camino will know this – flechas amarillas, the yellow arrows, are your very very good friend. They mark the route out of Sevilla very well, and when one is attuned to looking for them, they are everywhere. Until they're not! It's surprising, or maybe not, the comfort they bring. Not that one is ever going to be truly “lost”, just maybe a little off track. So we wandered out of centro with confidence, and then temporarily lost our way across in Triana. No matter; we found ourselves quite quickly. A few flechas follow:
In the middle of Sevilla
Still in Sevilla
Out in the country
Approaching Santiponce (see below)
We took the "river route" out of Sevilla. A pretty walk, and Janet found a friend:
I have to say that there was nothing particularly remarkable about today’s walk, rather just a fairly hard slog. It didn't help that in my focus on the destination I caused us to walk straight past the monasterio de San Isidoro del Campo at Santiponce, instead of at least popping out heads inside and collecting a sello. But no matter really, these things happen. But it was a lesson in looking around and paying attention, not just focusing on “are we there yet?”.
Our other “mistake”?? In both cases our backpacks are too heavy. My guess is that I’m weighing on at around 12kg, and Janet at 10kg. Too much. Not sure what we'll do about that. Stay tuned.
We only saw one other pilgrim today. A chap from Mexico, part way along the long straight road between Santiponce and Guillena. He was tending to his feet at the time, perhaps not a good start. I’d have to say that we'll very likely see more of him, because maybe just the three of us left Sevilla today. We knew this already, but just the same we all commented how very different this is to the Camino Frances. Here's a view:
Approaching Guillena we were surprised to see a huge solar farm, and also extensive cottom crops:
The solar farm - this is the best I could do, but my estimate was that it easily stretched over 10+ hectares
Not the most environmentally friendly crop ...
Not much more to say today. We're presently at Taberna Salu in downtown Guillena enjoying a very pleasant mencia whilst the locals watch La Liga (look it up!!) on every TV in town. Re-reading this I sound a bit grumbly. Not really, let's put it down to “first day blues”, if such a thing exists.
Hasta manana ...