Warning: locals at Orbenlle just before Porriño

[jefferyonthecamino]

It's not only the confusion with arrows, crossed out arrows and damaged signage, but when I walked by yesterday some locals were standing on the Camino before the new Orbenlle route turn off through the woods and along the Louro river, insisting that pilgrims follow the Camino on the old route through the industrial estate of Porriño. Clearly they are not happy about losing potential customers at their bar down the road.

The route down the hill and into the forest is much nicer and once you find the river the signage is clear and not tampered with.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Any idea how far it would be to wander along to the bar and then backtrack to the river route?

 

[anniethenurse]

It's not only the confusion with arrows, crossed out arrows and damaged signage, but when I walked by yesterday some locals were standing on the Camino before the new Orbenlle route turn off through the woods and along the Louro river, insisting that pilgrims follow the Camino on the old route through the industrial estate of Porriño. Clearly they are not happy about losing potential customers at their bar down the road.

The route down the hill and into the forest is much nicer and once you find the river the signage is clear and not tampered with.

The people living along the old route are losing business if all the pilgs choose the new route.
There is a really great restaurang in Orbenlle ( Restaurante Orbenlle).

There is a way to get back to the new route after visiting the restaurant and in that way avoiding the industrial section in the outskirts of O Porriño.

http://www.amigosdelcamino.com/attachments/article/541/orb_porr_eng.pdf

 

[anniethenurse]

Any idea how far it would be to wander along to the bar and then backtrack to the river route?

A couple of km extra.
Look at the map in the link above. You can walk back to the new route from the restaurant if you would like to visit them.

 

[Camembert]

Any idea how far it would be to wander along to the bar and then backtrack to the river route?

Friendly shake hands with them , say you are not thirsty or hungry and you work on an industrial estate and have seen them all and today fancy a nice walk into the green. They definitively will not offend you .

 

[miguel_gp]

Any idea how far it would be to wander along to the bar and then backtrack to the river route?

It is approximately 500m to the Restaurant Orbanelle and 950m to the Cafe Bar O Novo Cazador just on the outskirts of the Industrial Estate. Between the two there is also an unattended rest area where you can picnic (has a stamp pad and sello attached to a chain).

... but when I walked by yesterday some locals were standing on the Camino before the new Orbenlle route turn off through the woods and along the Louro river, insisting that pilgrims follow the Camino on the old route through the industrial estate of Porriño. Clearly they are not happy about losing potential customers at their bar down the road.....

Were the locals intimidating in any way or just protesting/directing? I am taking a group of 5 through that area in a week's time and having walked through the industrial estate on four earlier occasions (and made use of some of the hostelries on offer ), this year I am going to walk the new route.

Mig

 

[anniethenurse]

Orbenlle is a great stop for your breakfast/ relaxing break if you start from Tui. It is about 10 km meaning 2 - 3 hour walk. Great place to relax and have a break in the garden chatting with other pilgrims having your croissant, tortilla, cafe con leche, aquarius and cold drinks.
Have fun
Buen camino @miguel_gp
I have 13 more sleeps to go.

 

[miguel_gp]

Orbenlle is a great stop for your breakfast/ relaxing break if you start from Tui. It is about 10 km meaning 2 - 3 hour walk. Great place to relax and have a break in the garden chatting with other pilgrims having your croissant, tortilla, cafe con leche, aquarius and cold drinks.
Have fun
Buen camino @miguel_gp
I have 13 more sleeps to go.

Thanks Annie. 7 sleeps for me! A shame, we miss each other again by a few weeks .

Thanks for the recommendation for the breakfast stop.

Buen Camino Amiga.
Mig

 

[Meldelcamino]

Friendly shake hands with them , say you are not thirsty or hungry and you work on an industrial estate and have seen them all and today fancy a nice walk into the green. They definitively will not offend you .

Sound advice Albertinho.

 

[StevethePlanner]

I found this video of the Porrino stage biking through the NEW way. It shows the old and damaged signs. This video helps to see what is there and you understand how confusing it is. Another unrelated thread says he has bad feelings about JB's (and other guides) just for this reason of cutting off commerce. My stage that day only goes from Tui to Mos. Porrino should be about lunch time. Worth the extra distance (and back track) for a good meal and help the local commerce. [On a separate note: my plan for beginning CP from Lisbon April 30 may be in jeopardy due to medical reasons. May need to push back 1-2 weeks. Or not. Undecided at this point.]

 

[StevethePlanner]

As I put a yellow sticky note in my JB guide about this, I did a little calculation. If the 500m estimate from Miguel is accurate, that's only a 6 minute walk for a good meal. Photos on Google Maps show a very relaxing place.

 

[grayland]

What is the distance on the two routes?
Which is longer?
I have never really minded walking through business areas along any of the Caminos. It is all part of the real Spanish life and I find it interesting most of the time.
Now...walking farther then needed is another matter!
My mantra is ...The shortest distance between two points is the best choice..

 

[anniethenurse]

They say the new route is about 1 km longer and it is much better environment for walking of course

 

[Saint Mike II]

It's not only the confusion with arrows, crossed out arrows and damaged signage, but when I walked by yesterday some locals were standing on the Camino before the new Orbenlle route turn off through the woods and along the Louro river, insisting that pilgrims follow the Camino on the old route through the industrial estate of Porriño. Clearly they are not happy about losing potential customers at their bar down the road.

The route down the hill and into the forest is much nicer and once you find the river the signage is clear and not tampered with.

When or why was the change made?? Also who made the change?? Maybe the village needs to discuss the matter with those who made the changes and as long as the route to rejoin the Camino is well sign-posted and not significantly "out of the way" or longer then maybe both routes should be indicated. Cheers

 

[peregrina2000]

It is approximately 500m to the Restaurant Orbanelle and 950m to the Cafe Bar O Novo Cazador just on the outskirts of the Industrial Estate. Between the two there is also an unattended rest area where you can picnic (has a stamp pad and sello attached to a chain).

View attachment 18004



Were the locals intimidating in any way or just protesting/directing? I am taking a group of 5 through that area in a week's time and having walked through the industrial estate on four earlier occasions (and made use of some of the hostelries on offer ), this year I am going to walk the new route.

Mig

So why can´t the "authorities" see that there is an easy compromise here? If Annie has found a way back to the Camino from Orbanelle, why not just keep the "old Camino" till there and then detour to the river? I´m not saying I agree with the tactics, but I can certainly understand why the owners are so upset at losing the stream of business going by.

 

[KatefromOz]

I found this video of the Porrino stage biking through the NEW way. It shows the old and damaged signs. This video helps to see what is there and you understand how confusing it is. Another unrelated thread says he has bad feelings about JB's (and other guides) just for this reason of cutting off commerce. My stage that day only goes from Tui to Mos. Porrino should be about lunch time. Worth the extra distance (and back track) for a good meal and help the local commerce. [On a separate note: my plan for beginning CP from Lisbon April 30 may be in jeopardy due to medical reasons. May need to push back 1-2 weeks. Or not. Undecided at this point.]

I found this video of the Porrino stage biking through the NEW way. It shows the old and damaged signs. This video helps to see what is there and you understand how confusing it is. Another unrelated thread says he has bad feelings about JB's (and other guides) just for this reason of cutting off commerce. My stage that day only goes from Tui to Mos. Porrino should be about lunch time. Worth the extra distance (and back track) for a good meal and help the local commerce. [On a separate note: my plan for beginning CP from Lisbon April 30 may be in jeopardy due to medical reasons. May need to push back 1-2 weeks. Or not. Undecided at this point.]

Steve, can you point out how to find this on Vimeo.. it's hard to follow the link from this end..many thanks from oz..

 

[miguel_gp]

Link below, but remove the spaces either side of the forward slashes before using

https: // vimeo.com / 106925465

 

[danielc]

It's not only the confusion with arrows, crossed out arrows and damaged signage, but when I walked by yesterday some locals were standing on the Camino before the new Orbenlle route turn off through the woods and along the Louro river, insisting that pilgrims follow the Camino on the old route through the industrial estate of Porriño. Clearly they are not happy about losing potential customers at their bar down the road.

The route down the hill and into the forest is much nicer and once you find the river the signage is clear and not tampered with.

Who needs the hassle - I shared a taxi with 3 others from Tui to the alberque in Porrino – thus avoiding the ‘industrial ‘ area – the cost of the taxi €5 each

 

[miguel_gp]

What is the distance on the two routes?
Which is longer?

By my calculations the new route is about 450m longer from the diversion point to the Albergue in O Porrino (8.4km as opposed to 7.95km).

So why can´t the "authorities" see that there is an easy compromise here? If Annie has found a way back to the Camino from Orbanelle, why not just keep the "old Camino" till there and then detour to the river? I´m not saying I agree with the tactics, but I can certainly understand why the owners are so upset at losing the stream of business going by.

I suspect that it is not just the restaurant in Orbanelle and the bar just before the Industrial Area but also the many bars and restaurants along the main road (N550) into Porrino and within the town centre itself. The new route looks to cut along the back of the town to the Albergue so you would essentially miss the town centre. Of course, if staying at the Albergue then there is the possibility to venture out there in the evening but in our case we are walking on to Mos, so will walk straight on out of town.

 

[annedoran33]

Walked from Tui to Porriño on 8th April this year. We saw a lot of signs of the new route, the nature reserve. We didn't know what to do. Stayed on the Camino until the restaurant in Orbenlle. We got lovely Spanish omlettes and the waiter recommended us to go the nature reserve route. He said it was 4 km longer! The route into Porriño seemed to be never ending. Signs through the new route were clear! Enjoyed the new route and places to rest too!

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

Walked from Tui to Porriño on 8th April this year. We saw a lot of signs of the new route, the nature reserve. We didn't know what to do. Stayed on the Camino until the restaurant in Orbenlle. We got lovely Spanish omlettes and the waiter recommended us to go the nature reserve route. He said it was 4 km longer! The route into Porriño seemed to be never ending. Signs through the new route were clear! Enjoyed the new route and places to rest too!

I did something similar, but i had understood that it was only 2 km more...

 

[Angelo]

When I did the stage through Orbenlle a couple of Saturdays ago, I did notice the yellow arrows painted over with black and several yellow arrows on the pavement pointing straight ahead. I followed it and finally stopped to check out the sign for a nice looking Restaurant which was on top of a hill. I was the only Pilgrim there as I ordered lunch. The poor waiter chatted me up and we actually ended counting the number of pilgrims who wound up on the main road into the Poligono Industrial.
After lunch he instructed me to follow the yellow arrows pointing to a steep down sloping and winding trail through the woods. He said it is the better way and it was, indeed and cooler under the shade...Just approx 600m longer. I passed a few pilgrims and I spoke briefly with a local who rode a very handsome horse through this trail.
I must have been walking in a daze through the midday heat that I did not notice how far I walked until it was time for a coca cola break in a pasteleria in Centro.

 

[miguel_gp]

If you take the new detour, at the point the path heads back into the town of O Porrino you will come to this point (see link to google map below). There are many yellow arrows encouraging you to head straight ahead into town. However, as you pass under the bridge, there is a metal pedestrian bridge in front of you. Turn left before this on to a track (with river on RHS) and then almost immediately right by a large electricity pylon (there is only a faint yellow arrow pointing the way on the pylon). This path follows the river and eventually brings you out alongside the Albergue in O Porrino.

https://goo.gl/maps/f1wWg

 

[Rebekah Scott]

The new alternative was developed and waymarked by AGACS, the Gallego Camino Amigos group also responsible for waymarking several caminos and maintaining three albergues in Galicia. It was done with support and consultation from the junta and environmental authorities, and opened for business a bit more than a year ago. Since then, persons unknown have repeatedly painted-over, torn down, and set fire to the information plaques, waymarks, and maps set up to offer pilgrims an alternative to the ugly industrial estate.
Good food notwithstanding, the restaurants along the path are known to add a one-euro charge to your bill if you ask for a sello!
Buyer beware.