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Camino Routes
🇪🇸 Routes in Spain
🇪🇸 Camino del SALVADOR (León - Oviedo)
Temperatures on the del Salvador in October
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[QUOTE="HermanTheGerman, post: 354082, member: 23737"] Hi Laurie, I'm glad you liked the blog. I thought I'd provide some more info on this Camino, as it certainly deserves it. I "jotted" down some bullets points in my Wordpress app during breaks and at the end of each day. There just wasn't enough time to write each day up fully, which I've managed to do now that I'm back and rested. I'll do my best to answer your questions from what I remember, wrote on the day and pictures taken. Here goes... [I]Was the Pensión El Arenal closed in Pola de Gordón?[/I] - this was going to be our last try. We did see it but it looked closed from the outside. After standing in the rain for half an hour out the front of the hotel, we headed to the bar for a cold beer. There we had been discussing that Pension El Arenal was going to be the last possibility and were also trying to formulate a plan B. Walking to Buiza would have been difficult in the dark, not to mention dangerous along the road. I cannot confirm whether or not it was closed or open, as just as we were leaving the bar my mobile rang. It turned out to be the hotel to say that they will be opening for us. In retrospect, I think the pension would have been the better choice (if it was open). I will correct my blog accordingly. [I]You mention that once the brown wooden markings disappear, all that's left are the yellow arrows on the stones. When I walked, Ender's metal arrows were everywhere. Have these all disappeared? - [/I]I do remember seeing these wonderful little arrows but I'm not exactly sure where. It could have been along the stretch of camino coming down out of the mountains and along the newly cut dirt roads entering Poladura de la Tercia. I think I also remember seeing the metal arrows coming down the trail from Puerto de Parayes. The part I was referring to was after Poladura, heading up to the giant Salvador post. I remember thinking that it would surely be difficult staying on track without GPS if there was a snow covering. [I]In Pajares -- is the bar up on the highway closed? Say it ain't so![/I] - it was our plan to eat there as recommended. I tried to ask Marisa the hospitaliero about this and she shook her head, offered me an explanation in Spanish which I did not understand and wagged her finger from side to side. As my knowledge of Spanish is not particularly good and the fact that she didn't speak English or German, it left some room for error when interpreting a meaning. There could have been 2 meanings now that I think of it... either a) the bar is closed (which did not surprise me at all) or b) pilgrims staying at the albergue are obliged to order food from the albergue kitchen (which I have not heard of up until now). I cannot confirm this, sorry. Even though I had an on-board outdoor map with contour lines, the marking of paved/unpaved roads on this map sometimes proved to be incorrect (causing an irritating pole dilemma - tips on, tips off, tips on, tips off). The stretch to Mieres as indicated on my outdoor map, was indicated as asphalt however and what we could see from the train appeared to be asphalt. I don't regret skipping this part. I loved this camino immensely and will gladly do it again in warmer weather. Next time I'll check these things for you :-) My notes of the Primitivo are all still in bullet point form and will require extensive work to put it all together. I'm not sure when I'm going to have the time to do it. In a nutshell, we liked the Salvador much more due to the better scenery (don't get me wrong, there was some great scenery too on the Primitivo) and small numbers. We had the most recent combined Primitivo / Finisterre guide version from Liz with us and planned our destinations each day based on the accommodation recommendations with two stars. It seemed that either all the other pilgrims had the same guide or that these places were also highly recommended in other commercial guides (sound familiar ? ;-) ). The end result was that something that would have well been a great experience with fewer people turned out to be not so enjoyable due to overcrowding... now before I go further on this, I'm not talking about Camino Frances crowding. We did not see crowds of pilgrims during the day (e.g. Frances looking back to the horizon seeing groups of pilgrims every 50 metres). For example, the lovely little albergue in San Juan (** recommendation) would have been a great place to stay with no more than 8 people. With 18 people all wanting to shower and cook it was not very enjoyable at all, having someone behind you the entire time. There was no bed race on the Primitivo and we always managed to find somewhere to sleep. Our tactics were to push ourselves slightly ahead by 5km or so, so that we'd only meet the super fast walkers from the group that had departed Oviedo on the same day, or the tail end of the group that had left the previous day. We ended up planning on avoiding the recommendations which sometimes worked out well and sometimes not. A pleasant surprise was the little albergue in La Espina above the grocery store. The grocery store owners also took care of the albergue and opened up especially for us after hours so that we could buy food to cook in the albergue kitchen. The hospitaliero also did our laundry for us! That's a first. :-) Donativo! A nasty surprise was the bar-run albergue in Borres. The cooking facilities consisted of a microwave and a couple of dishes that looked dirty and about 50 years old. The only alternative (surprise, surprise) was to eat at the bar where I had the displeasure of eating one of the most nauseating pilgrims' menus in history... all for €7. I can understand why this place received no recommendation. It did however put us in an advantageous position for starting the Hospitalers Route the following morning. I hope that answers your questions. Buen Camino, The German [/QUOTE]
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