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  • Users: gml
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  1. gml

    Lisbon recommendations for the first night stay.

    I, too, stayed at Largo da Sé, but can't recommend it! Although I prearranged a time to drop off my backpack, I found the door locked and waited for 1.5 hours before staff arrived. My room looked nice and clean, but around 1 a.m., I awoke with 15 bedbug bites, sighted 3 of the creatures in the...
  2. gml

    Vodafone - Setting for crossing from Portugal to Spain

    With roaming on, the data on my Portuguese Vodaphone sim still stopped working when I crossed the bridge into Spain (I didn't test the phone function). Now I use an international data-only sim from a company called Keepgo. There is no monthly fee: you pay only for the data, and the data never...
  3. gml

    Sick of Merino! Bamboo instead?

    When merino tops (short- or long-sleeved) start to fall apart, I keep wearing them as base layers. There's no noticeable difference in their warming/insulating qualities, and the holes don't show when I'm wearing something over them. When these old friends eventually give up and fall off of me...
  4. gml

    European SIM - data-only or talk/text?

    I did the same thing last October -- got a 30-euro, 30-day talk-data-text SIM at Vodaphone in Lisbon with unlimited calls in Portugal and more data than I needed. When I crossed into Spain, I reinstalled my data-only SIM and had to rely on a somewhat unreliable phone app if I needed to make...
  5. gml

    How many days from Lisbon to Santiago?

    33 days, which included 3 rest days (Tomar, Coimbra, Porto), 1 big blister, and 14 days of rain.
  6. gml

    Advice needed: Managing a large blister on the heel

    I, too, got a huge heel blister on the CP. I drained it with a needle on the side and disinfected it daily (or more often) with iodine and/or rubbing alcohol, applied an antibiotic ointment purchased at a pharmacy, and covered it with Compeed. All these ministrations succeeded in preventing...
  7. gml

    Cats on the Camino

    Villamayor de Monjardín, Camino Frances
  8. gml

    Lodging between Padron and Santiago

    I stayed last October at Hotel Payro in O Milladoiro. The staff were very pleasant, and I had a comfortable, clean, spacious room, with good heating (it was a cold night). With a walk of only 7 km to Santiago in the morning, I arrived in plenty of time to drop my backpack at my accommodation and...
  9. gml

    Differences Portuguese/French way

    Here is Google translate's version of your post: Sorry if this has been discussed endlessly before, but I can't find a specific thread. I am considering the Portuguese or French route and would like to hear your subjective experience of the differences. I like that the albergues are more and...
  10. gml

    Need internet connection while on Camino

    Some Portuguese SIM cards may work outside of Portugal, but my Vodaphone SIM, bought in Lisbon, stopped working the minute I crossed the bridge to Spain. I anticipated this, as they told me if was for Portugal only, and they were right!
  11. gml

    Not what I expected!

    I was surprised by the extraordinary beauty of the CF. Before leaving, I had been on the forum and had read all about socks and shoes and blisters and bedbugs, but nobody had mentioned the sheer beauty of the landscape and the villages. I was just blown away by it, from SJPP all the way to Santiago.
  12. gml

    Permethrin

    I sprayed my sleeping bag and backpack with Permethrin and was still bitten by bedbugs.
  13. gml

    Central route and paved surfaces

    Having walked from Lisbon to Santiago a couple of months ago, this question made me curious. I added up Brierley's numbers for all of the stages between Ponte de Lima and Santiago, and here are the results: 57.9 km - natural path / forest path / gravel (36.3%) 88.6 km - quiet country lane...
  14. gml

    Share your backpack choice with your body info!

    DyanTX's advice to find a store where you can try weighted packs is exactly right! I spent an afternoon trying on nearly every pack in the store, weighted at about 20 lbs., and narrowed it down to two choices. Then went back a day or two later and test-drove each candidate for about 30-40...
  15. gml

    How can I buy an Altus poncho/jacket in the US?

    Using my Altus day in and day out on the C. Portugues last fall, I found that it got wet on the inside, too, but I was never sure whether it was leaking from the outside or whether it was self-inflicted condensation from inside. I suspect the latter, because my pack was always dry whereas my...
  16. gml

    How can I buy an Altus poncho/jacket in the US?

    In case you can't find one anywhere but the pilgrim's store in SJPP and you need to consider its weight and dimensions as you pack at home... StellarB, above, mentioned that his/her Altus is 326 grams (size not specified). For comparison, the L/XL (biggest you could ever get) is 435 grams in...
  17. gml

    How did you get to the Camino (not the travel part)

    This isn't what you were planning, but one possibility is to take turns, each going solo, comfortable in the knowledge that the other is at home looking after the family and the business.
  18. gml

    Camino Portuguese from Porto

    The Wise Pilgrim app maps the path from Vila do Conde to the central route near Rates. It saved me many times from getting lost.
  19. gml

    Best Time of Year to Start Camino Le Puy

    I walked Le Puy to Roncesvalles from Sept 28 to Nov 2, 2014, and encountered a heat wave midway (30-35C for more than a week) and a day or two of showers, but otherwise it was quite nice. To me, a bigger issue than weather was noise. It was autumn, the harvest was in full swing, and there was a...
  20. gml

    Coastal vs Central (Portuguese) in December

    The central route is not very far from the coast, so the weather likely won’t differ significantly. Leaving Porto in rainy October, I walked along the coast to Vila do Conde and then crossed over to Sao Pedro de Rates on the central route. The coastal route would probably be lovely in good...

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