It's Not Them, It must be me!

This is a real mental slog and I'm having a tough time getting into it. While good on paper, the albergue I stayed at last night was a disappointment. I just erased a paragraph of complaints because really, who wants to hear it.

Today's route was actually very nice after the first three km on the highway. A mere 20km in all but uphill all the way. Not very steep but very constant. I guess it was about 900 feet in elevation. The 'problem' so far is that there is nothing between the stages. Today I only passed one rock to sit down and rest on and never got a chance to take my shoes off to air out feet. Tomorrow looks like another unrewarding stage. 30km with the first 16 on a road, ending in a pueblo that doesn't sound very charming.

I'm staying at a hotel that's a cross between Grand Budapest Hotel and Fawlty Towers. It's big and kind of majestic but run by a guy who, when I asked where I could eat tonight politely asked me to sit down and wait for him to finish eating dinner with his wife. There's wifi on the ground floor only. Sadly the router doesn't seem to be connected to the internet.

My other main gripe is the other 'peregrinos'. They're either sanctimonious Swiss or homogenous Germans. Yesterday a Swiss lady proudly told me that she left Sevilla (or is it Seville) at 6:30 am and got to the depressing pueblo by noon. I was kicking myself for being there at 3pm. It doesn't even get light out till 8.

Still, the weather is a lot nicer than back home and I don't have to hear about the elections.

So much for me not making you listen to my whining.

I said it before and I'll say it again

I'm never doing one of these oddball camino routes by myself again.  Okay I will admit that I'm only one day into this one and I knew it was going to be a drag but I'm just saying.

It wasn't all that bad actually.  Getting out of Sevilla (or is it Seville?) was easy and that was a surprise.  Usually getting out of cities is a pain in the ass but this time it was pretty straightforward.  

An alternate route let me avoid most of the suburbs so it was a flat dirt road all the way to Guillena and some of it was fairly nice.  It was one of those farming roads that went between fields.  This time of year you can't tell wether it's a corn field to the left and potatoes to the right or whatever.  It's a dirt road between two dirt fields.   Weather-wise it was hard to beat.  60's and sunny.  

Guillena isn't horrible.  Irritating but not horrible.  It's what I figure towns in California - on the outskirts of Sacramento are probably like.  I wish I loved it here because it's the cheapest place I've ever been in my life.  My private room, including breakfast, good wifi, and laundry service, was 12 euros.  Dinner was 6.  A can of beer is 1 euro so I've only spent a little over 30 euros here. ;)

Here's what I learned from my 38,340 steps today:  If you wear the same damn boots, expect the same damn blisters.  Hasta manana.

Matt Harvey Is Working On His Mechanics

The blood clot in his bladder happened because he wasn't peeing properly.  That's why we have spring training, right?

“I have to retrain my bladder to use the restroom a little more.”  

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/03/matt-harvey-has-a-mystery-medical-issue.html

Via de la Plata.

Day one and I'm in full whining mode. Nobody loves European trains more than me but not even the 2.5 hour (perfect amount of time), 200 mph AVE train from Madrid to Seville put me in a good mood.

I'm at the beginning of the Via de la Plata. It's an old Roman road that runs pretty much straight north from Seville. Not Constantine old - Augustus old. As a matter of fact I think Tiberius was born not far north of here so the VdlP is twice as old as the Camino de Santiago.

For some reason I pride myself on being totally unprepared for these walks so I know very little about it except this: tomorrow is going to suck. The destination is a suburb with a name that starts with a 'G' and seems to be best know for its park and ride lot for commuters. Tripadvisor adjectives for lodging there are 'grim' and 'sad'.

This is not my first camino rodeo and in some ways I've mastered the packing part of it. Time will tell but so far the only thing I know that I've forgotten is my phone charger. I do have the cord but not the base unit so I can always plug it into my laptop.

Since I didn't have a hat I got one at a souvenir store across from the cathedral. It says 'SEVILLA' with 'since 1869' underneath.

Anyway, off I go. I'm writing this offline after eating a paella and gazpacho dinner. The paella was full of mussels. I can't understand why anyone would intentionally order mussels. At least clams are festive and taste like the ocean. Mussels?