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  1. peregrino_tom

    Alert Theft at Roncesvalles

    It's really important on a forum like this to appreciate we all have a very different sense of what constitutes safety, risk and prudent behaviour. Commands in cap locks are very Facebook. The important thing here IMO is to think for yourself. On the camino your environment changes every day -...
  2. peregrino_tom

    Finding this a bit lonely

    Hey Donna - hang on in there! The magic is definitely around you, but maybe you are temporarily slightly out of sync with it... stay mellow and breathe in the wonder of the camino and hopefully it'll come right back to you. As Simperegrina says, you might need it to help it along a bit and stay...
  3. peregrino_tom

    Unfortunate, but true...

    Another grumpy old so-and-so here, not giving you the advice you are asking for. I strongly recommend what Vacajoe is suggesting and starting closer to Santiago and doing one long walk. If SJPdP is important to you then give it its fair due and make it the starting point for your epic...
  4. peregrino_tom

    Route from Vigo changed?

    Interesting. I don't go on FB unless an emergency, so can't cross-ref there. On Mapy.cz outdoor map I can see a cycle route from the station Vigo Urzaiz. It seems to run beside a small railway track and initially beside the autostrada (which can't be very nice) then beside the Avenida de...
  5. peregrino_tom

    Am I the only one perplexed by WhatsApp?

    Hi Senora1 I think you've got useful responses above, just adding my view on top! I think it's fairly likely that if you got a number in South America that situation is about the country code and not about WhatsApp. Secondly a proper Hotel will probably have a phone system installed and a...
  6. peregrino_tom

    Bugs / Insects on Route Frances

    It seems every year there are more reports of ticks spreading across Europe. There was a thread on here about ten years ago about a tick removal tool, smaller than a credit card and equally slim. As there are a lot of spare slots for cards in my wallet :-( I have one that sits in there...
  7. peregrino_tom

    Returning Home & Preventing a Bedbug Infestation!

    Hi Luisa, this sounds like a horrible situation. Once bed bugs get you they can really play with your head too. So hang on in there! I suggest that only by being ruthless about your possessions can you truly exorcise the fear of them getting into the flat - even if that's now actually a low...
  8. peregrino_tom

    Night stage recommendation?

    I have to say, if I wasn't so old, tired, lazy and curmudgeonly... I'd love to set out on a starry or moonlit night across the meseta... starting anywhere around Tardajos- Hornillos with a full limitless horizon on all sides and a track without car roads nearby - and maybe finish up at the...
  9. peregrino_tom

    Pilgrim rates for Hotel Accommodation?

    My experience is not much help on this as I walked in February when it was pretty quiet. Obviously the central and coastal options meet at Redondela and run together to Pontevedra. Then shortly after you'll turn left on the Spiritual route. So that R->P stretch is likely to be the busiest...
  10. peregrino_tom

    Ground conditions - Camino Del Norte

    Hi Mark Irun to Bilbao is likely to provide a few of the muddiest sections, as we experienced March/April a few years ago. A couple of times we stopped and scratched our heads, working out how to get through a section, but that was all. There's still going to be a lot of asphalt and...
  11. peregrino_tom

    Poles or No Poles?

    Claire I didn't start faffing about with two poles until I was more than twice your age. My younger self had no interest in them other than when hiking mountain terrain with a full pack. First couple of caminos I took one collapsible pole, which was handy for negotiating tricky ground and...
  12. peregrino_tom

    Pilgrim rates for Hotel Accommodation?

    Hey Jen (hello again from your other thread...) Portuguese coastal is a different beast to the CF. As you can see on Gronze, a good proportion of the albergues are not exclusively for pilgrims, whereas on the CF nearly all of them are. No discounts for pilgrims! We found (in February) prices at...
  13. peregrino_tom

    Irún to San Sebastián first day

    it's a long time since I did it, but back in the day, Irun-San Seb was the standard stage that people walked. I think we set out about 8 and got in about 3.30-4pm (in March) - to the albergue 'Juvenil' which is right at the very far end of San Seb. So that's about 26km I'm not sure I fully get...
  14. peregrino_tom

    Have Pilgrim's Passport, but do I need to register at a local pilgrim's office before I can stay in municipal albergues?

    In my recent experience, February, this is not accurate. You are encouraged to register online before you reach Santiago and obviously it helps the Pilgrims' Office to manage numbers. But it is not mandatory. If you forget or don't have, or won't use the smartphone technology, you can still...
  15. peregrino_tom

    Accommodation that offers hosted dinners ?

    Hi Jen, my experience walking this last February was that the kinds of communal dinners you can find on the Frances are not a feature of this camino. But it was February and it's possible other options will open up as the season get's busier. FWIW, in my view if the communal meal is something...
  16. peregrino_tom

    Vigo the happiest city in Spain

    I very much enjoyed my brief time in Vigo in February. It got me wondering why a city that's larger than Porto has such a low profile here in the UK (and perhaps other places as well). I think this is mainly because it is resolutely Galician. It has never had the influx of nationalities that a...
  17. peregrino_tom

    Ideas on ways to extend the Coastal Camino portuguese

    Hi Jen, this is a kind of second-hand recommendation as I haven't done it myself, but a pilgrim friend did it, and had a great time - BRAGA! I saw the pics, heard the stories - and it looked fab. She took the bus from the coast at around Fao/Eposende (probably at the end of your third or fourth...
  18. peregrino_tom

    Pilgrim rooms at San Martin Pinario in Santiago

    I stayed a couple of nights in February. We all got upgraded to the proper fancy hotel rooms, because the pilgrim ones were being renovated, but still only charged us pilgrim rates. My fellow pilgrims, who had entered Santiago for the first time were amazed. I've always phoned a few days in...
  19. peregrino_tom

    Lightweight backpack for petite female

    This sounds a bit tiresome, but be warned.. if you have an amazing experience on the Frances, when you return, you may also find yourself blathering on uncontrollably when someone mentions the trigger word 'camino'
  20. peregrino_tom

    Spring Camino, where?

    Nice one Beatrice. Good luck for an excellent adventure. Hope we get a few reports (please) Just to add: I know you're going to take GR GPX tracks, but also be worth having Mapy.cz app as well, as it's really good at showing which paths are GR and which is the camino - and how they cross over...

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