traveling the Camino Sant Jaume from Montserrat

[sebwalks]

Hello Perigrinos!

I am traveling my first Camino in June. I am still deciding my route. It's come down to a battle between the Catalonia route from Barcelona to Montserrat to Logronos and on to SDC along the Frances....OR....making my way from Barcelona via trains/bus and then starting the Frances in SJPP. (I'm booked into Barcelona to see some friends so I am starting from there.)

I am really attracted to the Idea of starting my walk mildly alone on the Camino Sant Jaume (as many have posted this is a rather unpopulated route) and then Joining up with the Frances and the greaat mass of walkers that June seems to contain. I am just not sure if I will have enough time. Does anyone have an general idea of # of days this Camino takes? (Montserrat-logronos-SDC) I am scheduled to have 40-41 days for my Camino.

And any new updates on good guides for this route in the recent months/year?


Muchas Gracias!

 

[KinkyOne]

Hello Perigrinos!

I am traveling my first Camino in June. I am still deciding my route. It's come down to a battle between the Catalonia route from Barcelona to Montserrat to Logronos and on to SDC along the Frances....OR....making my way from Barcelona via trains/bus and then starting the Frances in SJPP. (I'm booked into Barcelona to see some friends so I am starting from there.)

I am really attracted to the Idea of starting my walk mildly alone on the Camino Sant Jaume (as many have posted this is a rather unpopulated route) and then Joining up with the Frances and the greaat mass of walkers that June seems to contain. I am just not sure if I will have enough time. Does anyone have an general idea of # of days this Camino takes? (Montserrat-logronos-SDC) I am scheduled to have 40-41 days for my Camino.

And any new updates on good guides for this route in the recent months/year?


Muchas Gracias!

That's great if you'll choose Cami Catalan (it's on my bucket list also). In that case try to read some of the writtings by @DSouthard . Beautiful blog and also a book published if I remember well.

But reconsider that in accordance to your hiking "skills". If that is gonna be your first Camino maybe you would choose a little bit more populated one. Not entirely because of pilgrims but especially for accommodation and language. I don't know your abbilities and skills, so sorry if I sounded like a teacher

Ultreia!

 

[sebwalks]

Thanks kinkyone! @DSouthard 's stuff if really helpful!

I would love to be really emersed in the gulture and language of Catalonia, so hopefully the isolation from other pilgrims may help encourage that.

It looks like such an interesting walk. I'm just hoping that I have time to do it. (practicing lots of spanish!)

thanks for the help!

 

[J C T Jennings]

I walked my first camino from Montserrat to Santiago de Compostela during September - November last year. I went via Zaragossa, and walked into Logrono 21 days after leaving Montserrat. I arrived in SdC after 47 days, including three rest days all up.

I had picked up a guidebook in the bookstore on Montserrat, and largely followed the stages therein. I took a rest day in Zaragossa, and two days over the long Logrono-Cervera stage, stopping at the truck-stop in la Panadella. I also took two days over the 36km Alcanadre-Logrono stage, breaking it at the wonderful and hospitable town of Arrubal (where there is a superb and brand new albergue literally underneath the 15C church).

I saw seven pilgrims to Santiago in those 21 days. Four were cyclists and they would go by quickly on the trail, as they did all the way to SdC. I met two others walking from Montserrat, one to Zaragossa, the other to Logrono. A Belgian guy walking his ninth camino caught up to me at Alcanadre, and he had started in Zaragossa and was walking to SdC. A further pilgrim from Slovakia followed me into Logrono, and we met at at the parish albergue attached to the Santiago de Real Church (recommended!) He had started at Zaragossa as well. I was told of an older French man a day ahead of me, but I never saw him. That's it.

So for 19 of those days I walked alone. I have plenty of English, limited Spanish, limited French, and no Catalan. I managed to get by in Catalonia. The people were very friendly, and interested in a pilgrim, and where I was from. They all recognised a pilgrim with a shell on the back-back!! I walked past orchards as they were getting the apple harvest in and was given apples. In the middle of nowhere the Guarda would appear, stop and ask if I was ok. Train drivers would sound their horn as they went by, and farmers and truck drivers would wave. Plenty of people would ask me to pray for them when I got to Santiago.

There is a great solitude walking from Montserrat, and the silence and space that goes with that. It is good for your head.

There is a definite pilgrm infrastructure on this camino, but it is nowhere near as developed as the Camino Frances. My impression is that there is still a great respect for the pilgrim, and that care for pilgrims was seen as a good and necessary thing, and that the appearance of a pilgrim was still regarded as a very interesting event. People wanted to help, to see I had lodging for the night, was fed et cetera.

The way-marking was excellent. Arrows everywhere, and really good signage across Catalonia, and then up the Ebro river. The guide book had really good maps (blue cover, Jacobeo? I forget now).

I met nearly 30 pilgrims coming the other way! They were on the new camino ignaciano - a large group of Australians, assorted young Germans, and some Spaniards. In some small towns along the way I would be asked whether I was going to Manresa (the Ignatian camino) or to Santiago! I was greatly helped by the caminoignaciano website - it has great maps and, very helpfully, many suggestions for accomodation. I recommend it. That camino goes through Logrono and travels in the opposite direction all the way to, and past, Montserrat. So, there were often yellow arrows and their orange arows painted together! Be aware of the slight detour to Verdu around Tarrega, and slight divergances around Fraga and near Fuentes de Ebro.

I had WiFi all the way, apart from a hole around Castellnou de Seana. In that town there is a very spartan but clean albergue, and I recommend the famous Cafe Modern, where, for 5 Euro I was presented with the largest plate of food I have ever seriously been offered.

The dogs. Catalan dogs, unlike Galician dogs, are unused to pilgrims. They are very large, very fierce, bark a great deal, and seem quite angry. Yet, without exception, they were all very well chained up, or behind enormous fences. Sometimes they were quite close to me, but always unable to get at me.

It was very hot as I walked in September. And there are some unavoidably long stages, such as Bujaraloz - Pino de Ebro, and Gallur - Tudela.

The whole world changed once I got to Logrono and joined the very busy Camino Frances.

If you have further questions post them here and I'll try to answer them.

 

[J C T Jennings]

Oh, and you mention immersion in the culture and language of Catalonia. The town for this is Cervera - music and food and drink!

 

[sebwalks]

Oh, and you mention immersion in the culture and language of Catalonia. The town for this is Cervera - music and food and drink!

Thanks! J C T Jennings... This is certainly the most comprehensive run down I've found sofar. Very grateful indeed for it.

Your description sounds like its a really wonderful camino experience. Was it difficult integrating with the mass camino ers once you got through logrono?


Also many people have talked about how the route Is more costly than CFranses. Can you remember how much you were spending on the Catalonian route?


I'm sure there are many more ??s. I'll keep posting them to you if that's ok!

Thanks!!

 

[peregrina2000]

This is also a camino I would love to walk. There is a great website, first posted by anniesantiago, I think, with tons of information on distances, stages, etc. http://www.camidesantjaume.cat/index_ing.php

My own preference would be to walk from Port de la Selva, which takes you to the monastery of St. Pere de Rodes, another one of those un-missable romanesque monasteries for those of us who are taken by that style of architecture.

I haven't done a whole lot of research on this route since it won't be this year, but my understanding is that there is a branch at some point where you choose to go to Logrono (maybe through Zaragoza?) or swing north to get on the Camino Aragones near Jaca. That would be longer, but would also take you past San Juan de la Pena, a built in the rock face church/monastery that is just amazing (but again, that's for the romanesque fans out there).

Sulu is walking now, and has a blog. She started in Port de la Selva and is taking the route to the Aragones.
http://notdunroaminyet.blogspot.com

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[sebwalks]

Thanks Laurie,

those romanesque vistas look incredible, however I think I wont' have time on this trip.

Putting together maps and routes and guides for the walk Montserrat>Logrono>SDC is a bit piecemeal, but that is part of the fun right?! Your recourses have been very helpful!

What is everyones feeling on Rest days. Frequency, how much cushion time to give yourself, etc. Obviously it is different for each pilgrim, just trying to get an idea of the philosophies!


Gracias!

 

[J C T Jennings]

To respond to your questions Sebwalks:

Actually getting to Logrono was like starting another Camino such was the dramatic contrast. It was good to now be part of the forming and reforming little communities and camino families along the kms. The solitude and silence of the first 500km was good and necessary. Walking with others was just as good and necessary - the Camino would now seem much richer and varied, and would remind me how interesting other people are.

Also, the close and frequent towns et cetera was consoling. Previously I had walked up to 30km without anywhere to stay in between, and had really long stages. The CF doesn't require anything like that at all.

Cost. From Montserrat to Logrono I used a variety of accomodation. Where there are albergues they tend to be pretty basic - something like the 12-bed second floor of the train station (Alcanadre), or the 8-bed space at the local football ground (Castellnou de Seana). Both of these places were FREE, and great little towns in the evening. Arrubal, a day out from Logrono, was brand new, and 6E, and the best albergue on the entire 1100km. Other albergue tended to be the same quality and price as the CF. I'm sorry I didn't keep great records of this sort of thing.

I used the truck stops at La Panadella and Bujaraloz, where there were special prices for pilgrims, and the Sagrada Familia nuns in Cervera (16E with your own room). Elsewhere hostels, pensions, and modest hotels for about 20-25E. So somehere like Candasnos had no albergue, but two bars/hostels in the township with rooms above them, and a place just before the town too (which was closed for holidays when I walked through).

Like DSouthard, I would just wander into town, go to the ayuntamiento and ask. Or if it was closed and not re-opening for a few hours, look about for signage for somewhere to stay, which was never hard to find. Or just stand in the Plaza Mayor looking forlorn and someone would offer to help within minutes!

You will have to spend more on accomodation before the CF, and rely on different types. Bear in mind too, that after 36km in heat and dust, your own room and bathroom is a very very good thing!

 

[econodan]

Hola Sebwalks,
We walked from Montserrat along the Camino Catalan and then the Camino Aragones (and then onward) starting in May 2012. The Catalan was fantastic: we really appreciated the solitude and the tremendous welcome we received as pilgrims along the way. It was mostly not hard to follow the route, and there were enough albergues (mostly free). Including some rest days and detours we took about three weeks to where we met the Camino Frances near Puente la Reina. (Note that we took the northern branch, not the one that goes directly to Logrono.) Your mileage may vary.
You can read details of the stages and see a few photos on our blog here, and are welcome to email me with any specific questions.
Buen Camino.
Dan

 

[DSouthard]

To respond to your questions Sebwalks:

Actually getting to Logrono was like starting another Camino such was the dramatic contrast. It was good to now be part of the forming and reforming little communities and camino families along the kms. The solitude and silence of the first 500km was good and necessary. Walking with others was just as good and necessary - the Camino would now seem much richer and varied, and would remind me how interesting other people are.

Also, the close and frequent towns et cetera was consoling. Previously I had walked up to 30km without anywhere to stay in between, and had really long stages. The CF doesn't require anything like that at all.

Cost. From Montserrat to Logrono I used a variety of accomodation. Where there are albergues they tend to be pretty basic - something like the 12-bed second floor of the train station (Alcanadre), or the 8-bed space at the local football ground (Castellnou de Seana). Both of these places were FREE, and great little towns in the evening. Arrubal, a day out from Logrono, was brand new, and 6E, and the best albergue on the entire 1100km. Other albergue tended to be the same quality and price as the CF. I'm sorry I didn't keep great records of this sort of thing.

I used the truck stops at La Panadella and Bujaraloz, where there were special prices for pilgrims, and the Sagrada Familia nuns in Cervera (16E with your own room). Elsewhere hostels, pensions, and modest hotels for about 20-25E. So somehere like Candasnos had no albergue, but two bars/hostels in the township with rooms above them, and a place just before the town too (which was closed for holidays when I walked through).

Like DSouthard, I would just wander into town, go to the ayuntamiento and ask. Or if it was closed and not re-opening for a few hours, look about for signage for somewhere to stay, which was never hard to find. Or just stand in the Plaza Mayor looking forlorn and someone would offer to help within minutes!

You will have to spend more on accomodation before the CF, and rely on different types. Bear in mind too, that after 36km in heat and dust, your own room and bathroom is a very very good thing!

You bring back such fond memories. One of which -- on a particularly long, hot etapa, in the 100+ degree heat of Aragon I would stand in the shower of each irrigation sprayer to soak and cool off. Ten minutes later I'd be dry, looking for the next shower. During my sojourn on the Camino Catalan, before Logroño, I was always the only person in the albergue, whatever the form of accommodation. Logroño was a rude awakening but more than made up for by the people I met there.