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  1. Bradypus

    Re: Current Lunch Prices

    Half the posts I read online about the Caminos seem to be designed to make something essentially straightforward seem enormously complicated and difficult! As if the authors want applause for having achieved some miraculous feat beyond mere mortals like their readers.... :-(
  2. Bradypus

    Message from the Roncesvalles albergue - a difficult day.

    An example of lack of planning. This post appeared on Facebook this evening. Someone who arrived in Santiago on a Saturday in the week of a major public holiday. Surprised to find that they cannot simply jump on a bus or train on a Sunday in a holiday week without reservations and be in...
  3. Bradypus

    Passport stamps

    Almost all Spanish businesses will have a sello. Many churches too. There are even dedicated patrols of the Guardia Civil to police the Camino who carry one. You can find them very easily.
  4. Bradypus

    LIVE from the Camino Feels Unpleasantly Busy on the Camino Frances (May Day, 2024)

    There is a problem right there. What is "the most traditional Camino experience"? I have walked the Camino Frances in 1990, 2002, 2016 and 2023. Each of them a very different journey. I would say the most traditional experience was my first Camino: mostly solitary, sometimes going two or three...
  5. Bradypus

    San Anton albergue (Castrojeriz) closes till further notice

    An article posted on a Facebook group today. It seems that helmets are being provided for the 30m walk underneath the arches at San Anton. My cynical side thinks that is probably more for publicity purposes than strictly practical ones...
  6. Bradypus

    Re: Current Lunch Prices

    Apart from bars and restaurants (and very large supermarkets in the largest towns) almost everything in a Spanish town is likely to be closed from about 2pm until around 5pm. The Spanish take lunch very seriously and are usually in no hurry over it.
  7. Bradypus

    Najera albergue reopens after renovation work

    I have just seen a Facebook post from FICS announcing that the recent renovation work on the Najera municipal albergue has been finished and the albergue is now open again. https://www.facebook.com/groups/544764125895308/permalink/2107338786304493/
  8. Bradypus

    Message from the Roncesvalles albergue - a difficult day.

    Paying more attention to public holidays and planning travel dates to avoid them would prevent quite a lot of this hopefully short-lived issue. The May holiday is a permanent fixture and large numbers associated with it are nothing new and quite predictable. I remember seeing a post online...
  9. Bradypus

    LIVE from the Camino Feels Unpleasantly Busy on the Camino Frances (May Day, 2024)

    You are right of course. My mistake!
  10. Bradypus

    Getting from Orisson to Roncesvalles

    I do find it very hard to understand the business of going all the way to Pamplona then taking a bus through Roncesvalles and Valcarlos just to turn around and walk back the same direction! There are plenty of equally (or more) interesting views west of Pamplona.
  11. Bradypus

    LIVE from the Camino Feels Unpleasantly Busy on the Camino Frances (May Day, 2024)

    That has been happening for some time. In 2013 the Portugues and the Portugues Costa together only made up about 14% of the Compostela totals. By last year that had risen to 32%. Tui is now in second place to Sarria as the most popular starting point. The days when "the Camino" effectively meant...
  12. Bradypus

    LIVE from the Camino Current big wave at beginning of Francés

    Pretty much obligatory on my first Camino as a few of the refugios only offered bare floor space on which you could lay out your own mat and sleeping bag. In many places there were no private rooms and refugios were the only option. And later a mat was useful for sleeping on the floor of...
  13. Bradypus

    Message from the Roncesvalles albergue - a difficult day.

    I agree. Most of my Camino walking is done in winter and on quiet routes so booking is rarely necessary. But walking the Frances with a friend in September last year we found the pressure of numbers quite daunting and so we booked for SJPDP, Roncesvalles and Larrasoaña in advance then played it...
  14. Bradypus

    Advice for Sleeping Options and Other Advice for Inaugural Pilgrims

    Camping is quite a controversial topic. There are very few offical camping spots and wild camping is largely illegal. But some people do all the same. I usually settle for a halfway position and carry a bivvy bag which allows me to spend the odd night in the open if conditions are right. So far...
  15. Bradypus

    Message from the Roncesvalles albergue - a difficult day.

    A message has just been posted on the Facebook account of the albergue in Roncesvalles. It seems the combination of pilgrim numbers beyond their capacity and poor weather has made this a difficult day. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/Xgeo6wQayprpaiWN/
  16. Bradypus

    Where to buy a Brierley Book in Leon

    The Libreria Galatea list it on their website. Worth trying there
  17. Bradypus

    LIVE from the Camino SJPdP “Completo” tonight!

    True. And many first-timers (and some old hands too) have outdated ideas about the Caminos. Especially the idea that the Camino Frances and "the Camino" are more or less interchangeable and that "the Camino" starts in SJPDP. In reality only about 10% of those who receive a Compostela these days...
  18. Bradypus

    Requirement for Compostela certificate

    Not quite that simple. The Ingles from Ferrol is well over 100km and so is long enough to qualify by itself. The exception which allows someone to walk 25km+ in their home country first is to allow people to walk the Ingles branch from A Coruña which is only about 80km and still receive a...
  19. Bradypus

    San Anton albergue (Castrojeriz) closes till further notice

    Part of the text is an argument for stopping or limiting traffic through the arches. As I understand it the closure will not prevent people walking on the road but will stop them entering the enclosed areas of the ruins and the albergue. The section of the text through Google Translate:
  20. Bradypus

    Overcrowded Camino Frances

    I read a few days ago that the fronton could hold up to 20 on mattresses. Perhaps people need to be a little more flexible and less picky about their choices.

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