Camino de Santiago de Compostela

[MikeB]

While researching my VdlP this year, I came across this downloadable 150+ page guide to the VdlP, complete with stage and town maps where appropriate.

http://www.aucoeurduchemin.org/spip/-Via-de-la-Plata,574-.html?lang=fr

and click on the document to download it.

The guide is written in French, but even if your French is poor, the maps should help, and being downloadable, you can just print out (and carry !) those pages you need.

I am not totally sure the "Mis à jour jeudi le 14 janvier 2010" is correct, as when saving it to my computer, the pdf save command showed "Updated: 31/08/2007" (mis à jour = updated, and if the rest does cause you difficulties, then perhaps the written parts may not be the best guide for you !!).

Bon chemin à tous
Mike

[isabelle304]

Hi Mike

That's the guide I used in October-November just gone. It definitely has not been updated since 2007 and is therefore out-of-date - right from the start. For example Stage 1 (Sevilla-Guillena) makes you go via the original camino from Santiponce to Guillena - that path however is now unpassable but this becomes quite obvious when you get there and after a while you are unable to carry on due to overgrown vegetation. Another example is the stage from Almaden de la Plata to El Real de la Jara, where it makes you go via the road (the guide was written when access through the Cortijo Arroyo Mateo was not allowed) whereas now it is possible to walk through the estate. It also does not reflect recent motorway and railway construction/developments, eg between Salamanca and El Cubo del Vino, Caparra and Aldanueva del Cano etc... However, having said that, I found it invaluable, both for the text and the maps, in many places where the signage suddenly disappears (especially in many villages/towns). The guide, mixed with a bit of common sense, keen observation and deduction skills and also a bit of luck, meant that during the whole trip I only got lost (or rather, deviated) just once or twice.

For more up-to-date info about accommodation ie albergues, hostals etc I used http://www.caminoguide.net/via.htm and also the little free guide published by the Xunta de Galicia.

I had 5 items with me which I would have been absolutely gutted to have lost during my trip: (1) my passport; (2) my credit cards (3) my camera (4) my camino credencial (5) this guide . The one I carried was a small book-size version (available for a small fee from Lulu) which fitted perfectly in my cargo pants side pockets - I tore the pages off as I went along.

[MikeB]

Hi Isabelle

Thanks for confirming my suspicions regarding the dates, and also for the other guide to the VdlP. I do prefer these brief guides over the turn left here, go straight on 200m etc type guides - one of the joys of walking on the caminos is the waymarking, and you can concentrate on the camino and the surroundings, rather than have your nose in a guide. Having said that, my favourite guides are the Miam-Miam-Dodo - easy to see at a glance where are shops/cafes/albergues etc and enough of a schematic map to help if necessary.

The home page of the guide you indicated, http://www.caminoguide.net/, also has links to similar guides to the Caminos Frances & Aragones which some people may appreciate.

Mike