Day 15 Utrera - Dos Hermanas

As we hinted at yesterday, we had to stop in Dos Hermanas which is about 12 miles from Seville.  Ana Maria's foot has been too painful and while she has been bravely struggling on, I am concerned in case the blister gets infected.  In the end it was a joint decision to stop.

The highlight today has been the fact that for the first time we walked with two other people, Emilio and Paco.  They are both from the town of Utrera and were on the Camino training for their own projected walk sometime in the summer.  They will be walking to Santiago from Oviedo, a journey of about two weeks.  They were very excited to meet us and when learning of our trip they wanted to take us home to introduce us to their family and friends.  In the end we parted company reluctantly but not before we took a photograph of the four of us for the blog, something which they insisted we must do!

Un saludo a nuestros nuevos amigos Emilio y Paco, los dos de Utrera, que nos encontramos en el camino, y que nos hicieron el honor de caminar con nosotros por varios kilometros antes de volverse a Utrera.  Estaban entrenandose para hacer EL Camino desde Oviedo hasta Santiago este proximo verano.  Su oferta de almorzar con ellos y sus familias sonaba muy tentadora pero decidimos que deberiamos continuar camino.  Esperamos que nuestros caminos se vuelvan a cruzar. Que tengan Buen Camino! 

Once we left them we had to walk about six miles alongside a railway line, which although slightly boring was also exciting as the train drivers would sound their whistle every time a train whizzed past!  At 12.30p.m. Spanish time we stopped for our weekly interview with Brooklands FM Radio.  They are becoming firms friends and we look forward to chatting with them even if it's only once a week.  Keeps us sane!

At the end of our six miles to our horror we found that the path had been blocked off with barbed wire, a fence and large concrete blocks!  Some unscrupulous landowners have been accepting the upgrading of paths on their property to celebrate The Camino de Santiago Holy Year.  Then once the authorities have finished, the landowners seal the path so as not to allow the public through.  In other words they get the path for free but refuse to share it.  It was this problem that made us take the coastal road from Gibraltar to Cadiz as our preferred route had been blocked off!  Suffice to say that my trusty Leatherman multi-purpose tool came into its own today!  Still it was a close call as our limbs are not as agile as they used to be and it zapped our energy trying to climb over difficult barriers.  All in all it delayed our journey by over an hour.

Once we were on the outskirsts of Dos Hermanas a guy on a motorbike went past and then doubled back.  He told us that the area we were about to go into was very dangerous and we should take a different route.  Our friends Emilio and Paco had also warned us about this so we decided to take their advice.  Antonio, the guy on the bike, then went out of his way to show us an alternate route which, although some 1.5 miles longer, took us safely into the middle of town, where we are now getting ready for bed.  Our faith in humanity restored we can now face another day!  Gracias, Antonio! 

Tomorrow should see us arrive in Seville, where we will reach our 200th mile.  From Seville we will start on the proper Via de la Plata which stretches 1000kms from Seville to Santiago de Compostela.