September 19, 2015
After a week enjoying Jerez we continued walking along the Via Augusta to Sevilla.
Jerez to El Cuervo is 29 klms but we cut out a few k and a lot of hard surfaces by busing to the northern outskirts of Jerez. From there on it was easy walking on a soft dirt track beside the motorway to El Cuervo, a neat modern town.
Jerez to El Cuervo
Easy walking on a soft path, very dry
Our only sighting of grape vines in the Sherry region
Parish Church of San José
El Cuervo to Lebrija, 11 klms. A short walk today hampered by a lack of Camino yellow arrows to guide us. Lucky we could find the Way by GPS!
Lebrija is a lovely old town of winding streets, pleasant plazas, well maintained 16th and 17th century buildings and a remaining Moorish influence.
El Cuervo to Lebrija
Church of Santa María de la Oliva, Lebrija was once a Moorish tower ©emijrp
All that remains of the 13th century Moorish Castle
Decorative tiled mural brightens up a shop
Veal & potato stew for lunch - and that's just the first course!
Lebrija to Las Cabezas de San Juan, 18 klms. Not an exciting walk along a canal and across unmarked fields, it was overcast today with a cool and strong tail wind, even rained. We liked Las Cabezas, a big country farming town.
Lebrija to Las Cabezas de San Juan
If you like wide open spaces and no people, this is the Camino for you!
We followed the canal for a couple of hours
We could see Las Cabezas from afar, but it took forever to arrive
Las Cabezas to Utrera – 34km. A previous pilgrim wrote “This was A VERY long and hard 9 hour walk – all paved or heavily compacted dirt, mostly along canals, railway and road, pretty boring. No shade, nowhere at all to stop along the way or buy refreshments. A good leg to skip completely.” So we did!
Las Cabezas to Utrera - caught the 7am bus
Utrera to Alcalá de Guadaira – 19 klms. We left Utrera in the dark and heavy fog which lasted until 10:30. An eerie day today, walking through olive farms and then huge plowed fields shrouded in mist imagining there could be something to look at!
Utrera to Alcala
Horses appeared in the fog
Hooray, a yellow arrow. We're going the right way!
Trees full of olives
Roman bridge across the Guadaira into Alcalá
The stage to Alcalá finishes at the 16th century Church of Santiago
Arab influence in this Mudejar door shaded by an orange tree
Alcalá to Sevilla – 20 klms. It started out a pretty walk, under the Dragon Bridge and following the Guardaíra River past old Arab water mills. The Camino has been alerted to run alongside a canal and then on a bike path into the center of Sevilla, well way marked and avoiding the ugly suburbs which was nice but adding an extra hour which wasn’t.
From Sevilla the Camino continues to Santiago on the Via de la Plata – we’ve already done that.
Alcalá to Sevilla
Inspired by Gaudi, the tiled Dragon Bridge across the Guardaíra
Unusual watermill with a medieval tower
Isolated walled farm buildings
Remains of a water mill on the Guardaíra
DANGER KEEP OUT - good place to put a Camino arrow
Although the small, seldom visited towns are nice enough, can’t say we enjoyed walking the Via Augusta – too far between villages and too much of the same. Perhaps that’s why we did not see a single other pilgrim. (The Camino Frances remains popular; 1560 pilgrims arrived in Santiago the day we got to Sevilla, 18 Sep 2015.)