Camino de Santiago de Compostela

[Peter Robins]

the governments in Galicia and Leon have decided that the Camino de Invierno, aka Camino del Sur, will be added to the list of officially recognised Caminos, much to the delight of the Asociación Camiños a Santiago pola Ribeira Sacra, which has been campaigning for this for many years now. The route leaves the Camino Frances at Ponferrada and avoids the heights of O Cebreiro, using the much lower Sil valley via Lemos and Chantada to join the Sanabres/Mozarabe route near Lalin.
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/ed_lemos/n ... TO=5246922
The Association is at http://www.caminodeinvierno.com/

[William Marques]

The Sil valley is really beautiful / dramatic. I have only seen the lower end near Ourense but the canyon formed by the Sil and the steep sides with the grapes of the Ribeira Sacra vineyards are worth seeing.

William

[ivar]

I went there this summer with my wife (driving) and took a few pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ivar.rekve/RibeiraSacra

It is beautiful; parts of it reminded me of Norway. I think this might be a good option even for summer pilgrims as long as there are albergues all the way.

Un saludo,
Ivar

[michael]

So is this a completed project with infrastructure for pilgrims or an “aspiration” as they say?

[Peter Robins]

it should be more or less waymarked by now; Lugo marked their section, roughly half the route, several years ago. Presumably once the Xunta adopts it, they will want it to be of the same standard as the other routes.

Anyone who's been west by train from Ponferrada will have gone along the Sil valley.

[Peter Robins]

The Diario de Leon reports that official waymarking with granite plinths of the Leon/Bierzo section, from Ponferrada to the border with Galicia, is starting today.
http://www.diariodeleon.es/se_bierzo/no ... TO=7134118

[Peter Robins]

more on this in Voz de Galicia. It seems that Turgalicia is starting to promote this route, but official recognition will not happen before 2010. It seems the Camino Portugues de la Costa will also be recognised as an official route.
The photo shows the 1st albergue on the route, a former school.

[Peter Robins]

La Voz http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/lugo/2008/ ... 416737.htm reports that a guide in Castilian/Galician is now available, with an English version planned. I assume this will be available in the local tourist offices, though, frustratingly, the association's website has not been updated for several years now.

[Rebekah Scott]

Ironically enough, when I enquired about using the Invierno route for a hike this month, the guy on the phone with the Amigos advised me not to do it. I asked why. "Because it´s winter," he said!

I love this country!
Reb.

[Peter Robins]

which Amigos was that?

If you do walk some of this route, I'd be interested to hear how you get on.

[Ian Holdsworth]

Peter, Where can I get this new guide, even if it is in Spanish the photograph of the launch seems to show a map. This is of great us, even if one does not understand the text

[Rebekah Scott]

The funny phone call was made to the contact person in Monforte de Lemos.

Here are some links to info about the route. I was in Ponferrada recently and no one there seemed to know where to pick up the path, though...

#
camino1
Dispoñible en breve. Entrar en Castellano.
http://www.caminodeinvierno.com/ - 2k - En caché - Páginas similares
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Camino sur o de invierno a Santiago
Al responsable de Turismo de la Xunta le parece que el Camino de Invierno tiene entre sus ventajas que pasa por «un parque natural, o da Enciña da Lastra, ...
http://www.jrcasan.com/Noticias/sur/csur.htm -
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Colección de foto - país, camino, invierno
http://www.fotosearch.es/DNV168/018p1003ll/ - 32k - En caché - Páginas similares
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El piojoso encadenado: Galicia tramitará el Camino de Invierno por ...
La declaración de ruta jacobea para el Camino de Invierno, senda que recorrían los peregrinos desde Ponferrada a tierras de Pontevedra para evitar las ...
elpiojosoencadenado.blogspot.com/2006/11/galicia-tramitar-el-camino-de-invierno.html - 22k -
#
Presentadas en Monforte las nuevas guías del Camino de Invierno ...
La asociación Camiños a Santiago pola Ribeira Sacra presentó en Monforte las nuevas guías del Camino de Invierno que se utilizarán para promocionar por ...
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/lugo/2008/ ... 416737.htm

[Peter Robins]

Where can I get this new guide

I assume it will be distributed to the local tourist offices, including in Ponferrada. The Association at http://www.caminodeinvierno.com/ should know; you could try emailing them, though whether they have anyone who can read/reply in English I don't know.

[Javier Martin]

:-)

which Amigos was that?

If you do walk some of this route, I'd be interested to hear how you get on.

As far as I Know, the majors from towns in this route weren't interested on Camino when it was marked many years ago, before 1,993. Now, thinking of Xacobeo 2,010, they look at this direction, as a change in their point of view.

I know any pilgrim who cycled this route two or three years ago. If you are interested in something special tell me and I can ask him.

Buen Camino, and Happy New Year.

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.

[Peter Robins]

seems to now be officially confirmed for 2010
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/santiago/2 ... 457231.htm
This article says it starts from Molinaseca not Ponferrada

[Peter Robins]

a more detailed description has just been posted on one of the Spanish forums http://www.peregrinosasantiago.com/foro ... hp?1,42073

[Peter Robins]

and infobierzo.com http://www.infobierzo.com/infobierzo200 ... &Itemid=22 reports that the local governments are looking into creating albergues and rest-areas ready for 2010, proposing that the rest-areas be planted with indigenous trees (i.e. not eucalyptus).

In a comment, someone suggests planting marijuana "to reinforce the mystical experience".

[Winterpilgrim]

I'd like to tell you that in the Netherlands under the auspices of the Dutch Association of St. James, has started a working group "camino de invierno".
The workinggroup will in close cooperation with the local association in Monforte de Lemos (president Aida Menendez) bring out a guide (in principle in the Dutch language but other languages may follow) to widen knowlegde about this route, the culture in this area and make this route more familiar to all those who are planning a pilgrimage to Santiago. It is our goal if there is more international interest to try to start conversations with other interested people.
We do have quite a lot of information about routes (including maps) etc. and are busy at the time to organize this information. Anyone who means he can be helpful is invited te give reaction.
George H.M.J. Mulders

[Ribeirasacra]

I was given this link to this video by someone on this forum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLmcIoPHC9g
The group sitting at the desk have folders /information about this route. I have also read that these are in Gallego, Castelaño, English and French. We have yet to see these so personally we do not know the level of information on them.
The local Casa Rural association for this area has not been approached so it is still unclear as to what information they have added with regards to accommodation. We know that a few Casa Rurals are not particularly interested in having pilgrims sleeping overnight.
When I have time I will write about one Albergue that is planned to be opened soon.

Winterpilgrim heeft u een website?

[lindissima]

I am thinking of walking the recently opened Camino de Invierno towards the middle of June 2010.

Because of time constraints, I will only be able to do the last 100k before Santiago. (I am walking parts of the Le Puy route and the Camino frances that I did not do last time as well.) My walking companion is very interested in getting her first Compostela, and wants to walk to Santiago, but we are very concerned about the predicted crowds in Galicia this year being Jacobeo. Can anybody tell me:

1. Where do we need to start the Camino de Invierno in order to complete 100k and get the Compostela?

2. What would be approximate time needed to do these 100k, assuming 15 to 20 k days, level of difficulty etc.

3. How much infrastructure has been developed for pilgrims re: albuerges and small hotels?

Also how does the Invierno compare with the frances in terms of beauty? Thanks very much and buen camino!

[peregrina2000]

Well, according to some translations I did and posted here: camino-de-invierno/topic7619.html
it looks to me like Chantada would be the town of choice for a 100 kilometer walk.

But I think some caution may be in order. According to some of the other posts in the Camino de Invierno section on this forum, it is not known whether the Invierno will be recognized by the Church. This route appears to have experienced a lot of political tug of wars, and there are naysayers who dispute its authenticity.

Rebekah is currently walking on it, and you should check out her blog http://www.moratinoslife.blogspot.com/ -- maybe she will try for a Compostela and answer the question authoritatively!

There are no albergues, but if you look at the pages I translated, you can see there are plenty of pensiones and small hotels.

A more sure option would be Ourense to Santiago on the Camino Sanabres (about 110 km). Ourense would be much easier to get to, and there's no doubt about the compostela.

[sillydoll]

I didn't think that one had to walk any specific 'route' to Santiago - only 100km from any direction.
What happens to the people who live in between the so-called 'camino routes'? Surely they don't have to travel onto a specific route to start walking?

[Peter Robins]

Chantada it would be (just about), but the Invierno joins the Sanabres route from Ourense for at least half the 100km, so you would only be walking a small part of the Invierno anyway. I would agree: Ourense is much easier to get to (and more interesting).

In terms of the scenery of the route as a whole, I would have thought the Invierno would win hands down, but if you only join at Chantada you miss the scenic bit.

[Peter Robins]

btw, the only people I know of who don't approve of this route are the Galician Amigos, who question its authenticity and view it as a local-government invention. As Sil says, the Pilgrim Office is supposed to issue a compostela to anyone who can show they've walked 100km, though it may well be that the people who man it have never heard of the Camino de Invierno! That will change once the Xunta gets around to officially supporting it better - whenever that might be.

[sillydoll]

If Mr Garcia walks from his home in Rubia (200km) or from Montforte (135km) and collects two sellos a day, I don't see how any of the staff can refuse him a Compostela. There is nothing in the list of requirements for a Compostela to say that one has to walk on a designated route.