Camino Teresiana, the first half

The Camino Teresiana is a 120 - 130km route, depending on the variant taken, North West of Madrid.  It is waymarked in either direction from Ávila, the birthplace of Teresa, to Alba de Tormes, her tomb.  It is quite a remote way, passing through small villages, and the occasional larger town.

Ávila.   We caught the little bus tour around the city before beginning our walk, but this was also where we passed on the first morning

We began in Ávila, a beautiful walled city, with complete medieval walls.  It is perched atop a small hill, at an altitude over 1,100 metres and is the highest provincial capital in Spain.  It sits above  Rio Adaja, which had flooded just days before we arrived, and was still flowing fast and high.  Our hotel was right in the centre of town, next to the Cathedral.  

Scenes inside the Cathedral

It is a city full of churches and lovely old buildings, but the streets run in a slightly shambolic way, making it hard to take a short cut.  The town claims to have the most Romanesque and Gothic churches per capita, though I have no way of proving it.

The Basilica of Saint Teresa, and, below, a sculpture of her

We visited the VERY cold Cathedral where we got a stamp on our small credencial, and also the Basilica of Saint Teresa.  Though there are plenty of tourists around during the day, the town is very quiet during the evening.

Who was Saint Teresa? Apart from being joint Patron Saint of Spain, along with Santiago (St James), she was a Carmelite nun, a Spanish mystic, and a religous reformer, born in 1515 in either Ávila, or Gotarrendura, the start of the second stage of our journey.  She died in 1582 in Alba de Tormas, the end of the last stage of the Camino Teresiana.  She was responsible, along with the Carmelite friar Saint John of the Cross, for reforming both the male and female branches of the Carmelite order, forming the Discalced (meaning barefoot) Carmelites. 

The sign we were following, along with red arrows

This path goes through many places important in the life of St Teresa and the locals seem to know all about it.  

A sign in the pavement

A lot of the time we were also following yellow arrows, as the path, in parts, was also the Camino Sureste

The journey out of Ávila crosses the river, and then goes beside a busy road for a few kilometres, before taking us on quiet country roads, and then farm tracks.  Indeed, there were several times when we wondered if we were on Roman roads.  On this first day we walked pack free, returning to Ávila by taxi.  Though there was some water lying around the dirt paths were easy and we were in no danger of gaining height with clay weighing us down, or worse, slipping on mud.

Leaving Ávila on the first day

There were many artistic references to pilgrims along the way

The first day was characterised by stones and massive granite boulders.  From day 2 they disappeared and were replaced by farming land.

Our second day began with another trip in a taxi, this time ready to walk with our packs.  I had easily walked the near 20 kms the day before, and was confident that my leg wouldn't give me any grief on this day.  The taxi dropped us in Gotarrendura.  The weather was still cold in the mornings so we began with quite a few layers of clothes.

The Church at Gotarrendura 

We constantly had snow decked mountains in view for days.  It was lovely.

We headed off to the villages of El Oso, passing through some delightful forest, stopping for a lovely lunch at Papatrigo in an open bar, then Narros de Saldueña, and finishing the days walking in Collado de Contreras.  

In El Oso I was distracted by the many storks (cigüeña).  They are fascinating, and so beautiful to watch, and to listen to their chatter - I call it "clacking"

We were meant to go onto Fontiveros, a further 6 kms, but having already completed 21 kms, and realising we wouldn't reach our accomodation for the night until about 7pm we sent a message to our hosts and asked if they would be able to collect us, which they kindly agreed to do, refusing our offered compensation.  We were greatly relieved to have shortened our day by distance and time!

In Fontiveros we stayed in a Casa Rural, which was in the ancient tower.

The next day, after going down the road for a quick breakfast, we resumed our journey, heading towards Narros del Castillo.  It was a much shorter day, only about 13 kilometres in length.  We had hopes that there may have been a bar open in the little village of Rivilla de Barajas, but no such luck.  As we were walking through the village though a lady stopped us to ask if we wanted a sello (stamp) for our credencial,  and went off home to get it and stamp them for us.

We wandered out of the village and had a rest at one of the few desgnated rest stops along the way. We were glad the weather was still cool, as we were walking across fairly exposed grasslands, passing an old castle along the way, and then fields of Holm Oaks.

The first of to river crossings - this one the easier one - leaving Rivilla del Barajas

More storks

We were half way to Narros del Castillo when we passed this castle, out in the middle of nowhere. 

The mudejar influenced Church in Narros del Castillo

The only remains of a castle in the village, from which it gets its name are the walls.

Arriving at our destination,  we struck trouble.  The Casa Rural we THOUGHT we had booked turned to be hundreds of kilometres away!  Fortunately though, locals helped us and we spent the night in an albergue, using their blankets as neither of us had sleeping bags.

For those wondering, my leg is behaving quite normally.  I have no pain, not even soreness, and carrying my pack adds no pressure.  As you can imagine I am delighted!  It is so good to be back on the road.  We have finished the Camino Teresiana now, but the rest of that journey can wait till the next post.