No, it’s not the Camino [3]

Mark Eveleigh’s walk across Spain: week 3

Jun 09, 2022

What happened next? For updates please see: Week 4; Week 5; the end

Dear friends

Three weeks into Mark’s 1200km walk from Gibraltar to the northernmost point of Spain and it feels – to me, anyway – like he’s on the home stretch. I guess it’s because he crossed his halfway point on Sunday and has taken to sending me labelled photos when he completes another 100km, but still – he’s far from “home” and has another 500-odd kilometres to go.

I told you last week that Mark had devised a new plan and would keep his daily distances close to 30km. Well, that plan lasted all of 24 hours! This past week he’s been striding out and has settled into a rhythm that’s had him covering around 40km on most days. His blisters have almost healed and his feet have toughened up – but I suspect Mark’s increased mileage also has a lot to do with the volume at which he listens to his Vagabond playlist, which includes Roger Miller’s King of the Road, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, Van Morrison’s Bright Side of the Road and Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side.

This past week really has been a wild-side sort of walk, and the photos Mark’s sent me of golden savannah with rumpled, distant mountains look like they could have been taken almost anywhere in Southern Africa. He’s spotted what he thinks are lynx tracks and, while breaking camp the other day, had a fox almost walk into him. Mark’s strung his hammock up in old cork forests and slept in grassy meadows; he’s walked past nesting storks, shared the road with roaming sheep and, early yesterday morning, was woken up by wild boar foraging near his hammock.

On Monday Mark crossed from Extremadura to Castilla y Leon, an arid but diverse region that’s mostly plateau surrounded by mountains. It’s rich in architectural history and many towns and villages are known for their Romanesque churches, Gothic cathedrals and medieval castles. Yesterday he walked into Salamanca, a thousand-year-old city that’s known for its ornate sandstone architecture, and that 600 years ago was revered as an intellectual centre. It seems a fitting spot for Mark to have had to stop for a (Zoom) meeting with the marketing team at Penguin to discuss the August launch of Kopi Dulu, his beautiful homage to Indonesia.

How are you keeping clean?

Mark: In Extremadura this was way more of a problem than I’d anticipated – which was weird because I thought I knew the area pretty well, and had a very romantic image of babbling brooks and plenty of places to wash in streams. But in cattle country, they were sort of places I definitely didn’t want to dip my blisters into, and then in farming country I was doubtful about pesticides in the run-off, so there were few opportunities to bathe. Several times I stopped at alberges or pensions and paid to use the facilities, even though I wasn’t going to stay overnight. Next to a Roman bridge one morning I found a beautiful cascading waterfall, and had a very nice but very icy shower there.

Are you eating regularly?

Mark: I’m doing quite well. I’ve had bacon, chips and eggs a couple times, a menu-of-the-day a few times – I’m grasping for whatever vegetables I can get. I’ve had amazing salmorejo here – it’s kind of like a thick gazpacho with boiled egg and ham in it. On the trail I always carry packs of jamon serrano, or chorizo or salchicha (a type of sausage), as they take up no space, don’t weigh much and are great sustenance. In the mornings I’m getting a good breakfast… although the other day I walked through three villages before I found a café that was open. A typical breakfast for me is two cups of café con leche (milky coffee), fresh orange juice, and now that I’m in the north it’s more common to find croissant a la plancha (grilled croissant)… in the south it tended to be bread, oil and ham.

Are you craving any food in particular?

Mark: I’m a dedicated carnivore, so it’s astounded me that I’m craving vegetables. A while back I was even hallucinating about eating boiled carrots.

Are there many pilgrims on the Via de la Plata?

Not many. I’ve seen people who’re cycling the Via de la Plata, and they’re always in groups. The biggest group I’ve come across is seven Spanish cyclists. Pilgrims on foot – I’ve met about 10 in total – are almost always solitary. I’ve met one Spanish couple, and everyone else has been solo. The other day when I walked through a village I ended up having a drink with a guy from Texas and a guy from Hong Kong; they’re both Catholic and for them the walk has a religious significance. For most other people it’s more about the adventure and the challenge. Most of the people I’ve met are regulars – the Texan is walking his eighth pilgrimage, but this is his first on the Via de la Plata.

What’s your most memorable moment this past week?

Mark: There have been some beautiful sunrises, but I think the most memorable moment was waking up in a perfectly pristine cork forest. I heard a lot of wildlife, including what I think was a rabbit being killed by an owl, and in the morning a fox was trotting towards me. That was really the perfect place to wake up.

RIGHT: Mark walking into Salamanca.

The gear you’ve been loving this week?

Mark: My Polartec jacket has been awesome.The nights are cold now, so I sleep in it and been really grateful for the warmth. It’s quite tight-fitting and packs down very small, and it’s brilliant insulation – the best jacket I could possibly have had for this trip. So that takes care of me when it’s cooler, and during the day I love my Ellie & May hats. To me it’s really important to have two hats and I don’t mind the extra weight of carrying two because I have one Ellie & May baseball cap, which is great in the day time for protection from the sun, and I’ve got an Ellie & May bush hat, which protects my neck and ears from the sun and is also quite cosy in the mornings.

Today will be Mark’s first rest day in three weeks (well deserved I’d say, after walking 715km…) and he’ll spend his time in Salamanca preparing for the next stretch of his walk. He’s at a higher elevation than he was when further south; the nights have been a bit chilly and will be getting even colder (down to around 10 degrees) when he reaches the mountains in a few days’ time, so he’ll be out looking for something that’ll keep him warm in the dark hours. Thermal under-clothes, or a bivvy bag, or perhaps a tent – there are very few trees up in those mountains.

Another thing he’ll be hunting down is sachets of 3-in-1 coffee, which Mark mixes with cold water in the mornings. He ran out a few days back and yesterday had to endure the absolute torture of setting off around 5.30am (after the wild boar woke him up) and walking 23km until he found his first coffee, because the village cafes he came across before that were closed. Kopi Dulu, the title of Mark’s new book, translates from Indonesian as “coffee first” – so you can be pretty sure these sachets are top of today’s shopping list.

With love,

Narina

PS What happened next? For updates please see: Week 4; Week 5; the end