No, it’s not the Camino: week 1

Mark Eveleigh’s 1200km walk across Spain

What happened next? For updates please see: Week 2; Week 3; Week 4; Week 5; the end

Dear friends

Today marks exactly one week since my love, Mark Eveleigh, set off on his walk across Spain. And while I can tell you exactly how many kilometres he’s walked (which I will, in a moment), what I’ve lost track of is the number of times someone’s said, “Oh yes I’ve heard of that, my aunt’s friend did it a few years back”. My response is always a polite, “No, no it’s not that one.”

You see, what comes to peoples’ minds is usually “The Camino”, an historic pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, northern Spain. While it’s usually referred to in the singular, there are many old routes (with roots in Medieval times) to the cathedral, the most popular of which are the “French Way” (800km from St Jean Pied de Poort at the foot of the Pyrenees in France, heading west through the north of Spain) and the “Portuguese Way” (260km from Porto, going “up” the coast of Portugal and into Spain).

What Mark’s doing – because this has been his dream for more than two decades, and because he’s writing a book about the journey – is walking from the southernmost tip of Gibraltar to Punta de Estaca de Bares, the northermost tip of Spain. His is a 1200km route that coincides with part of the 1000km Via de la Plata, which begins in Seville and is considered the toughest of all the Camino routes. Mark walked through Seville yesterday (Wednesday), and so as you read this he’s on the Via de la Plata, a route that’s been travelled by pilgrims and merchants for more than 500 years.

Looking for details on the Camino routes? Stingy Nomads (map above) has excellent info and first-hand experience.

Mark has two rules for this walk:

1/ He will walk the entire way. Which will be around 1200km.

2/ He will try to spend every night in his hammock. If there are no suitable trees, on the ground (he’s not carrying a mat), and only when absolutely necessary will he sleep in a hostel or guesthouse.

Ever since he started to plan this trek Mark joked that he couldn’t envisage the walk itself, but that the images that always came to mind when he thought of the journey were of him sitting in little cafes in village plazas, making friends with old people, drinking coffee and wine, and feasting on jamon and good Spanish bread.

One week in, how’s that going…?

Mark: Not quite as well as I expected – I seem to keep arriving at places just after the kitchen’s closed! I’ve drunk very little wine but lots of water, and a beer every now and then... but the pretty plazas and character-full bars are just what I’d hoped they would be.

How do you feel?

Mark: Mentally I feel much stronger that I’d have imagined. I’ve never done anything like this before, but the doubts I had before setting off are now behind me. My legs are tired but strong; they take a while to loosen up when I start in the mornings, and my blisters are feeling a bit tender.

Your heel looks pretty grim…

Mark: My feet are just not used to walking 200km in a week. I’m treating the blisters by sterilizing a needle and thread with iodine, then threading it through the blisters and leaving them to drain (via the thread) overnight. Then before I walk I put on more iodine, some antiseptic powder, a Compeed plaster and sporting tape. I’m sure my feet are going to get tougher rather than softer.  

Have you slipped into a daily routine?

Mark: Yes – and it’s very different from what I’d ever imagined. I’m walking 10km or 15km before finding a coffee stop… I’d thought going that far without coffee would be impossible for me.

I’m surprised by the extent to which I’ve had to arrange my days around the heat. I wake at 6.30am and I’m ready to walk by 7am, when it’s properly light. I try to put in three solid hours (depending on where the villages are) and then rest through the heat of the day. I try to find fresh fruit and yoghurt, have a menu-of-the-day somewhere, and then set off again at about 5pm or 6pm, and walk until around 9pm.

What’s the highlight of your walk so far?

Mark: I’ve walked through some beautiful sections of country, lovely Andeluz villages and I’ve met some super-nice people. A one-moment highlight? Waking up in my hammock, a stone’s throw from the ruin of a 2000-year-old Roman encampment. The mist was low and had covered the distant village – I couldn’t see any lights – and all I could hear were cockerels down on the plain, and clanking goat bells as a herd walked down the hillside towards me. I realized it was a scene that must have been familiar to the Romans who lived there 2000 years ago.

Has there been a low point?

Mark: I worked hard on planning well in advance my first section into Seville, because there are no mapped out trails to reach that city. On the first day after leaving Gibraltar I’d found a dirt track that seemed to lead into beautiful rolling hills, but as soon as I reached that point I came across a gate with a sign warning of “savage livestock” – which in that area will always mean fighting bulls – so although the gate was open I decided not to take a chance, and took detour by scrambling into a valley and across a river. I walked for two or three hours through wild, scrubby forest – very dry and with no water – until I found my alternative route… but it added close to 10km to my walk. I did a lot of backtracking on that first day, and I was concerned I’d have to do this all the way along the trek. (Which so far, apart from that first day, I haven’t).

You’re carrying a pack of 10,5kg. Anything in there you’re loving?

Mark: My boots are absolutely epic – I’m delighted with them (and I’m not just saying that because I’ve been sponsored by Jack Wolfskin). They’re strong, sturdy and super comfortable, and I like the fact that they lace up quite high as that’s saved my weak ankle from going over several times already. Yes I have blisters, but I’m convinced that’s because my feet simply aren’t used to walking the distance they’ve covered this past week. The boots are comfy even when I put them on in the mornings; they’re the best I’ve ever had, for sure.

And so, as Mark heads now into week two, he’s on the Via de la Plata – which is hot, dry and has very little shade. When I chatted with him yesterday afternoon, he was walking across a plain and had been boogeying to Van Morrison’s Bright Side of the Road, hollering lyrics at the top of the voice.

If you know Mark, you’ll know: all is well.

With love,

Narina

PS If there’s anything in particular you’d like to know about Mark’s walk, please drop me a comment. And if you know anyone who might enjoy reading this update, please do share it.

PPS What happened next? For updates please see: Week 2; Week 3; Week 4; Week 5; the end