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

[@paule2085]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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 😉🥰😘

[@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.

[@_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)!

[@xavierpasquets1049]

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

[@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 😅😅

[@Peter-MH]

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

[@MariaWinter-c7l]

Oooooh! This is so exciting! M.

[@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 😎

[@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.

[@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

[@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 😇

[@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 ☺️😇

[@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 🫠

[@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 😊

[@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 :)