Walking the Camino de Santiago with a dog (and a tent!) | Via de la Plata: Salamanca to Zamora

[@CapmanBe]

une superbe nouvelle ballade ❤ merci

[@pauladawson1614]

Great to see you and Otto rest and eat, you both deserve it for sure ❣️ great content:)

[@mrjiggs3761]

Much nicer weather than the UK Ellie!

[@CapmanBe]

Merci !

[@marlarkin1090]

Vamos Otto 🐾

[@RobbC.]

That's a good Camino to pick, as the other more well known routes have just become so crowded nowadays. I've done 2 sections of the Camino-Del-Norte, a beautiful coast hike for the first part. The problem is once you start any Camino, the other routes keep calling you back for more. Have fun :)

[@scotbotvideos]

Otto makes for a great wee doggogrino. Perfect Camino companion.

[@ellihikes]

😊🥰🥰 Other (spanish) pilgrims actually called him perrito peregrino 😇🥰🥰

[@scotbotvideos]

@@ellihikes Oooh! I like that one too.

[@alangauld6079]

Really interesting to see a different Camino, nearly all the videos I've seen have been of the northern route from France. I love Spain and have done some hiking in the south; the Sierra Nevada and Sierra Grazalema plus the southern Pyrenees around Andorra. But the north of Spain, and the Picos de Europa in particular, is on my to-do list. Zamora looks lovely, it is definitely one to visit if I'm in that part of the country. Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

[@peterfishley3951]

Greetings from Australia Elli - I have really loved your videos watching you and your lovely dog Otto hike. You are a credit to your parents and family.

[@ellihikes]

Thank you so much for following along, I really appreciate the kind words :)

[@RegEdmunds]

I noticed on this hike you are using a framed tent and not your Durston. I'm always awake at about 6 am and am rarely able to get back to sleep again, so daylight around 8.30 am would not be easy for me. My son did his degree at Edinburgh and did an ERASMUS year, partly in Barcelona, and partly in Berlin. You mentioned Aix en Provence, so he wondered if it was a similar ERASMUS experience for you? He's assumed you did your degree in Germany. It was also nice to see your dad scrumping the local hedgerow fruit, and for me, one of the great pleasures of hiking. I've had problems with dogs in France (plus cows, and pigs) but only with dogs in Spain, so I share your feelings about them. A most enjoyable video.

[@chrishiking8818]

Nice one Elli and Otto, bet your father was so happy that you both joined him on this Camino. Over the dogs can understand your feelings, saw it a lot last few weeks on my Camino. I look forward to the following videos , take care all 🌷

[@user-man-now80]

What a lovely surprise. I was watching the evening news - all bad- and at the same time checking my tablet where I saw your notification. Off went the news and I'm now happily following your adventure in Spain. I remember north eastern Spain as being luxuriously green, and your hike, in the west is quite dry so far. The lack of vegan food choice is surprising, and possible difficulties at some point regarding Otto being barred from hotels is disappointing. But as always you will, I'm sure, solve any problems. It must be nice to have your dad with you. Cheer for now ! Sheffield South Yorkshire.

[@damedavidfrith55]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us all ❤it

[@cheekuenbird38]

So happy and surprise to see both of you . What a completely different adventure . Have a good bonding with your dad . Big hug for Otto ❤

[@ellihikes]

Yes, it really was very different compared to my other hikes 😊 Thank you so much for your kind words and for following along, that means so much!

[@EdExploresScotland]

Great to see you again Elli. Spain looks a bit flat in places. Can't beat Scotland for undulating landscapes. If you're ever in the Glasgow area, give me a shout.

[@ellihikes]

It's a "weird" landscape for sure. It's quite high up in altitude, 850m, sometimes even 1100m - like a giant plateau but on top it's very flat. But there were more and more hills when we hiked into Galicia :) Definitely will do that, thank you for following along :)

[@disartster]

Hope you got something more than just potatoes in the end! :)) I'm not vegan, but as a very picky eater I can understand the bread-potato diet and it's just not nice to endure. So glad that Otto didn't have any dangerous encounters with farm dogs, he deserves chill hikes

[@frauzimt]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience of hiking in spain with Otto. I thought about doing it with my dog Ola (who would match with Otto lookwise), but have been shying away from it because of the public transport situation combined with not having a driver's license. In fact, I thought it was not possible at all to take a dog on any train. Since you were talking about the crate problem: I customized an IKEA bag myog style by sewing mesh-windows in the sides to take my old dog on ICE trains for free. A really lightweight solution and he really liked it.

[@sallydingle321]

Really excited to see you finish this hike... and so lovely that you got to do it with your Dad and Otto 🙏👌. I didn't realise the Camino was so flat in landscape... very different to your usual hikes 😉🥰😘

[@TalesFromAbroad-SJ]

Such a heartwarming adventure with Elli and Otto on the Camino de Santiago! The combination of long-distance hiking, a tent, and a furry companion makes this journey feel so unique and personal. Salamanca looked stunning as a starting point, and the landscapes along the Via de la Plata are just breathtaking. The effort and detail you’ve put into capturing the experience really shine through.. can’t wait for Part 2!

[@paule2085]

I loved visiting Salamanca 14 years ago. Looking forward to this series. Thanks for all the work you put into this.

[@stephenvicary9243]

Another excellent video hike Elli. Very different feel to your UK treks. A totally contrasting look to the landscape + quite a rigmarole of a journey just to join the Camino section with your Dad. Looked like Otto enjoyed the extra treats on route even though you missed out! Thank you once again for sharing another adventure 😎

[@clairereesretouching]

How lovely that you get to walk with your dad :) so happy to see little Otto enjoying his walk too! thank you for uploading your videos, looking forward to the next part!

[@_Mountain_Dave]

I'm half way through watching. Brilliant any chance you get to spend with family as you get older is so special, especialy quality time such as this. I hope your days are blessed with good weather and both had an amazing time. It's a trail i no zero about so yea looking forward to this series as never been to that area. Have bikepacked though spain one July when it was 40c+, was insanely hot and horrible stopping the bike (no breeze)!

[@Peter-MH]

Definitely a change of scenery, and some really beautiful architecture to enjoy! How nice doing the walk with your father too!!

[@michaelatkinson8291]

Ah Elli, all that sunshine must make you miss the Lake District 🤣. Lovely video x

[@ellihikes]

Hahaha, little spoiler: the rain actually followed us to Spain and it was bad 😅😅

[@Daytona2]

It's good to do a Camino, just for the experience. It's completely different scenery to your other walks - I wonder if pilgrims chose a low feature / low stimulus route so they could enter a Zen like state of mind ? Each day, did you know there would be accommodation which would accept Otto ? It must've been a bit of a shock, being in a country with limited dog and veg/vegan options, but I guess it's more representative of the rest of the world 😕 I've never been but it sounds like there's a lot of hunting out there, so I hope Otto was OK. (hello Elli's Dad)

[@ellihikes]

Never thought of that, but that's an interesting thought and would probably help a lot to focus on the spiritual aspect 😊 From what I read, a lot of the caminos follow old roads (the via de la plata is a Roman road that was paved with stones in the 1st century already) so they are 'designed' to connect towns and villages and not necessarily to give a 'wilderness' experience... I had a couple of hotels where I knew I could stay with Otto but for all the rest, I honestly never knew in the morning where I would sleep at night. If I asked beforehand, the answer was always no for a dog - so I just stopped asking (interesting but also a bit of a scary experience) and just turned up trying to talk my way in 😅🫣 But it was exhausting and also gave me a bit of anxiety tbh never knowing where I would end up especially because Spain didn't seem very dog-friendly and it was hard to always hope for someone who would be willing to help 🫠

[@carriehikes]

As a fellow vegan I really felt for you in this video. The last time I visited Spain, it was about twenty years ago, I was vegetarian and I remember that they did not understand the concept over there so I lived on cheese sandwiches and cheese salads! I've always wanted to walk the Camino but the food issue does worry me. I feel so lucky in to live in Britain where we have so many vegan options.

[@ellihikes]

That's so true, the UK is incredible when it comes to vegan options. In bigger cities and supermarkets, it's definitely possible to find great vegan options, but tbh for me personally the food situation wasn't great and annoyed me a bit after a while. It worked and I didn't starve so it was ok, but the food wasn't a highlight on this hike and options (even like side dishes like veggies) were very very limited 😉😅

[@carriehikes]

@@ellihikes Well done on sticking with it! ☺I'm looking forward to the next video

[@user-TonyUK]

Somehow I do not think there are any of the Peat Bogs over there in Spain, unlike your recent UK Hikes along the Coast to Coast or the Pennine Way. Enjoy your hike Elli, it is one I have not done so it will be NEW for me too. Tony in England, the Retired Hiker of Long Distance Paths.

[@ellihikes]

Thank you so much for following along, I really appreciate that ☺️😇

[@MariaWinter-c7l]

Oooooh! This is so exciting! M.

[@nevchamberlain5349]

Another great video Ellie. I have walked the VdlP from Sevilla to Astorga. Sometimes the history fascinates me and sometimes the landscape drives me nuts. It's definitely an acquired taste!

[@ellihikes]

Hahaha, I can totally relate 😅😉 thank you for following along 😇

[@alangauld6079]

I just realized that wasn't your Durston you were using. Which tent is that and why not the Durston? Just curious... 🙂

[@ianb3562]

Interesting trip but a bit on the flat side. The towns look good.

[@xavierpasquets1049]

Hola te deseo que tengas un gran viaje te saludo de la provincia de Barcelona España ánimos tú puedes

[@tt-of4xv]

Nice weather but the trail looks like just an endless dirt road ?

[@ellihikes]

Yes, there were a lot of tracks and also a good amount of road walking. There were more paths later in Galicia, but overall most of it was on tracks 🫤

[@mikebrown32]

Ah great that you’re doing a Camino! I’ll be attempting at least 2 next year (when I retire) and Via de la Plata is high on my list as its relatively less travelled. Really interested to see how you get on! I wonder why you started in Salamanca?

[@ellihikes]

Yep, definitely not a lot of people on the VdlP 😊 My dad has walked a couple of caminos before and he started the VdlP in Sevilla just before Covid, got to just before Salamanca and he now wanted to finish the hike and so we started where he had stopped last time.... also Salamanca was (kind of) easy to reach for Otto and I as it's a bigger city 😊

[@musingwithreba9667]

Vegan options might be more plentiful on the more popular Camino Frances. But it looks like you found something yummybto eat finally 😋

[@Specklesss]

Did you find it cold in your -3 quilt?

[@ellihikes]

No, my Apex 233 quilt was totally fine even without my winter base layers. I've used the quilt in -3/-4°C already and wasn't cold with an additional thermal layer and my winter sleeping mat :)

[@Specklesss]

@@ellihikes Thanks, deffo going to be getting one! :D

[@adriansmith38]

Any reason for not taking the Durston tent this time?

[@ellihikes]

Yes, I wanted a free-standing tent this time because I wanted to have the option of putting up the tent without pegs on a terrace, on a patio etc. Which is why I took my BA Copper Spur :)

[@DougieBegg]

Did you get tired of your Durston tent?

[@ellihikes]

No, not at all :) But I wanted a free-standing tent this time because I wanted to have the option of putting up the tent without pegs on a terrace, on a patio etc. Which is why I took my old BA Copper Spur :)

[@DougieBegg]

@@ellihikes That makes sense, I was thinking about doing the VDLP myself next April and was thinking about taking my Durstan because of the long distances between villages/towns but a free standing tent would work better.

[@ellihikes]

As I was with my dad, I was hoping that I would be able to stay outside the albergues so that we could spend the evenings together. But not all albergues have a garden, some only a terrace/patio. Took my free-standing tent to be flexible and even pitch on concrete etc. I sometimes even pitched in the hallway of the albergue with just the inner tent, so I was very happy with my choice :)

[@kristinabacikova490]

Hallo, neues Zelt ? schones Reise ...k.