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Laurie, you never cease to amaze me - not least because of your technical skills. (This is the person who persuaded me to use WhatsApp and, eventually to buy a smartphone.) The Wikilocs thing is brilliant (old-time map & compass guy here) and looking at your photos, I'm itching to go back. Looks...
I can recommend Manuel Ángel Martínez: used him two years in succession, just WhatsApp (+34 639241939) him with your present and next accommodation and leave the fee (€6 per stage last year) with your pack. Very reliable, goes all the way to SdC.
I bought a Tarjeta Dorada ( €6) at Ponferrada, handing over my Irish passport as proof of age. It gives my nationality as "Eirannach" which is Irish for - Irish.
Examining my Tarjeta Dorada some hours later (and many miles away,) I found that the clerk had recorded my name as Sr Eirannach. Which...
A number of ALSA buses run from Leon to Virgen del Camino and on to different destinations, but all leave from Estacion de Autobuses immediately to the south of the railway station. Is this the new bus station? I was last there in 2019 and it looked fairly new (if basic.)
Too late for the OP, but, if I was you, I wouldn't start from there. There are only two trains westward from Ponferrada each day, one at 06:15, which you have already missed, taking 4h 18m to SdC, including a bus service between Monforte de Lemos and Ourense, and the other at 18:36 (I took it...
That was probably me. Been through Chamartin three times in the last few years - on the first occasion I had a penknife in my pack, which was detected. However, the operator couldn't find it in the pack, decided I wasn't a high risk, and let me go through. On the two subsequent occasions I put...
I've passed through security at Madrid Chamartin and Ourense several times. Carried my folding knife in my trouser pocket, pack went in the scanner. No problem - no airport type body scanner.
I'd be interested to hear your experience. I stayed there last year in June and was the only guest, although I think there may be more people on the Invierno this year. Dinner was freshly-caught trout.
If you get the chance to visit Pension Pacita at Ponte, between Quiroga and Pobra de Brollon, please let us know if it's still open. Only open in the evenings last year, may have closed completely.
I met two 16 year olds on the CF, twin boys, who were managing just fine, and, separately, a 16 year old girl. (Although an older woman, 20s, took her under her wing.) I went to Paris on my own when I was 15, though just for the weekend. Hitched all over Europe in my teens, everyone did. I once...
I managed to lock myself into a church between Espalion and Estaing on the Podiensis. It wasn't easy, but I managed it. I waited for about an hour for someone to come along, but no-one did and I eventually freed myself by bending a steel bar (must have had my spinach that morning) which opened...
I haven't done this personally, but I know a man who did. (Actually, I think he started from Dieppe.) The main problems he encountered were:
France has roughly the same population as the UK, but is twice the size. This means that towns and villages are much more spread out with long walks in...
Thanks, really useful info. I was going to stay at the Garcas, but the earliest bus into town is too late for my train, so booked at the Nest instead. It's on the bus route from the airport, and there's a bus after my flight arrives. Again, thanks to all who contributed.
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