I too favour an umbrella, when usable from a strength-of-wind standpoint.
If wet weather settles in, I buy a €12 type - which seem to be generable available and can be a welcomed parting gift at a bar or shop at the Camino’s end - or if there is a lot of wet weather forecast in advance of...
Bradypus in post#21 rightly included pigs.
The only time that an animal of any kind on Camino has truly scared me was in 2016 and also on the VdlP….the difference being that it was a pig - actually a fairly large herd/“collective nounfull” of pigs, with one particularly aggressive “lead pig”.
I...
Thank you for this and for the info that you have. The responses to you had wandered off-topic a bit, but yours and Peregrina2000’s replies are most helpful - thank you again.
I’ve walked the section beyond Astorga 9 times in the past over the years and I continue to discover new “gems”, places...
I’m curious about this, as I’ve never taken the detour.
Are there any views on making the detour after Camponaraya to visit Monasterio de Carracedo and then rejoining the main route again? Is it worth it? …and is it a road route from the main Frances Route and back to the Frances or a path/road...
Rick M writes almost exactly my own thoughts. I too am part mountain goat, having spent my early years living in a mountainous area.
I love it too, but after this - my 8th time walking this stretch in 10 years - my feet were punished “Big Time” for the first time. It was a hot day and I tackled...
Well said, Bradypus….Agree, absolutely and with your later comment.
I regularly receive RR’s items to ponder, but like much that’s generally “out there”, some will resonate personally and some just doesn’t seem to. Richard Rohr often speaks against judgemental and “dualistic” viewpoints...
My own personal favourite stretch - this year (April) was my 7th Camino to include it, mostly generally around March and April in past years. I’m including the Astorga start again in next year, at the end of April.
You will love it, I am absolutely sure! There is no sugar-coating it in terms of...
Well said Tincatinker. Now those two questions of yours are quite something! The second question is possibly rhetorical…..Perhaps a pilgrim never does actually step off the road and “back”. Could open up and revisit that - but won’t!
Paraphrasing a certain author:
Why do we leave our homes and...
Go with it and I hope that any nudges or calls you get come about and you are rewarded greatly, Matt.
I also hope this isn’t “grammar gangbusting” Matt(?)! I do now mostly get a sense of where to go as well as when and over the years it’s worked pretty well for me - but I think I understand what...
This has “morphed” very slightly, but is in essence something by one T Pratchett and summarised my feelings on my 3rd Camino, whilst foot-blistered (again) and walking in a rain storm to Roncesvalles 🙄. The final two lines in particular express a good Camino Sentiment, I always felt……
Why do we...
Well said Auburnfive and others above.
I once heard it similarly expressed in a way that I liked and that personally resonated with me as “…. the discovery of the divine grace gift of simple things”.
I’ve walked a similar selection of Caminos to Damien over the past nine years and - for me -...
I have only ever seen a single snake whilst on Camino - around five years ago in that valley path on the way down to Molinaseca, after the descent from Cruz de Ferro. It was brown and surprisingly big (by UK standards)…..I stopped in my tracks and watched it slither across the path in front of...
For different - non-Covid - reasons, I have been asking myself these very same sorts of questions. A really good question to open up on the Forum, Domigee - and thanks to Anniesantiago and to others for their own thoughts.
In short, last year I had very strange and near fatal bike accident (no...
VNwalking understands the reasoning behind my thinking I believe, Martin. Some of these 13 Cominos I have walked in the past involve two "routes" - VdlP followed immediately by Ingles, for example on one occasion. I have walked 9 routes and simply choose to "ring the changes" in how I construct...
Thanks to all for the above responses and for the helpful comments/observations and maps. All I recall are very busy roads around that area, so the cycle path appears very helpful in that respect.
For the whole upcoming planned Camino, I am ringing-in the changes along a route I've done lots of...
I have walked into Santiago at the end of various Caminos 13 times in the past and for a change, I am thinking of coming off the Frances Route after O Pedrouzo and simply walking into the Airport to fly home.
My question is, has anyone ever done that? ....and if so, how did you do that?
I...
I have found this thread to be particularly interesting and insightful!
I echo R's comment immediately above - every Camino is different and in fact the same Camino will be different on other different occasions. One significant "variable" (apart from the weather!) can be the folk we come...
Anniesantiago summed it up so well - it all happened so very quickly and was almost surreal.
I had night-walked up to Cruz de Ferro under a clear sky with an amazing star-filled display on March 13th. The next morning, I descended from the mountains to Molinaseca and Ponferrada into a world that...
It is an amazing composition and I may be re-quoting this, as it may have been already added in the past. Someone once said "Valasquez paints the truth not as it is, but as it appears to be." That statement comes back to mind, especially when I look at the clothing material...just how is that...
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