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  1. oursonpolaire

    Public transport and the Aragones Route: Need advice

    I can comment on the trail between Jaca and Santa Cilia-- it follows alongside the carretera, weaving in and out; it's not too bad. What is really difficult is the trail between Jaca and the monastery; the trail between the monastery and Santa Cruz is also pretty unspeakable and involves...
  2. oursonpolaire

    A Quiet Camino Route?

    Cami Catalan, out of Montserrat. I've done it three times, totalling 40 days walking, and met five pilgrims in total. On the Vadiniense (10 days) I was the only one.
  3. oursonpolaire

    Cheese

    Both Canada and the US are very very strict about meat. Check on the official customs website before buying. I have found the cheese joints at the Abastos markets excellent; they likely have a similar opinion of me as I usually pick up about 100euro or so of cheese. I tell them that I have...
  4. oursonpolaire

    Time for more compostela type certificates?

    I would go for (obligatory) participation tattooes. Having been on the fringe of Camino decision-making, I shudder at the complications involved in changing the point to Portomarin, nor do I think it fair to the good burghers of Portomarin to subject them to the process. Life is short.
  5. oursonpolaire

    Time for more compostela type certificates?

    I've done rather too many Caminos, but my impression of the Spanish is t hat they liked to travel in groups-- schools, clubs, churches, alumni, gaggles of friends of longstanding, or just a few gathered together. For them perhaps it might be a reminder of that joint friendship exercise...
  6. oursonpolaire

    Pilgrim passport in Canada?

    There is also a Vancouver chapter of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims which holds weekly practice walks where you might be able to pick up some practical tips, especially if you have not done a Camino previously. (https://www.santiago.ca/chapters-local-contacts/).
  7. oursonpolaire

    Computer/ laptop for rent on Camino

    I saw a few locutorios on the del Norte, catering primarily to African and Latin American expats. Check with your search engine for locutorio placename. For example, Estella has three, Logrono seven, Sahagun five, etc... But for a job interview, you might be better placed with a private...
  8. oursonpolaire

    Montserrat to Pamplona Nov ´23

    I have been trying to figure it out and the Abbey to Can Macana is 14.6km along BP-1103-- from there one finds a direct trail to Sant Pau and to Igualada. When you get there you will see that the mountrain trail is very very very mountainous. I think that it would require a very very fit person.
  9. oursonpolaire

    Montserrat to Pamplona Nov ´23

    Do check out the Juderia in Monzon-- it's the few streets around the Cathedral. The cathedral itself has a small plaque in the interior to two of the cathedral clergy killed during the civil war (IIRC Jose Jordan and Jose Nardal). This is an interesting part of Spain, known to few outsiders.
  10. oursonpolaire

    List of Churches - Sarria to Santiago

    1) Almost every pueblo on the Francese has a church. 2) Most (not all) will have an evening mass, at 7 or 8 pm, depending on the season. 3) The time may not be posted or may not be posted accurately; 4) hospitaleros should know the time (some don't!), 5) the bartender nearest the church will...
  11. oursonpolaire

    Bourbon and cigars

    While a militant non-smoker, I have talked with US pilgrims who expressed their delight and wonder at the cigar selections in most estancos. One said that Estella had a better cigar selection than his home town of Athens, Georgia. I don't know if that means something, but I just hand it on for...
  12. oursonpolaire

    Pilgrim article in Globe & Mail

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-i-love-a-good-hike-but-walking-the-camino-taught-me-more-about-mental/ (for non-Canadians, the Globe & Mail is the largest-circulation English-language daily, out of Toronto. (Unkind commentators refer to it as the newspaper of those...
  13. oursonpolaire

    Burgos to Madrid airport

    €21 is really very good, especially if the bus takes you to the airport. By train it is €26 to €50.50. The 9.34 gets you there at 11.49 and the 12.02 for 14.19 if you want to spend more to get that extra cushion of time. The métro is 20 minutes from Chamartin.
  14. oursonpolaire

    Is it possible to get stamps from Albergues if not staying there?

    There was what I suspected was a house of ill repute west of La Isla on the del Norte, and the same question came to my mind. Enquiring of a more experienced pilgrim, she suggested that if the volunteer at the Pilgrims' Office was a priest, I could likely count on the sello being accepted---...
  15. oursonpolaire

    "Can pilgrimage be evangelistic?" - Church Times article

    I have met several evangelicals on the Camino, an Assemblies of God musician from Australia who was fascinated by his first in-depth encounter with the mainstream of western Christianity, students from Wheaton College, a non-denominational clergy couple frustrated by the lack of "believers'...
  16. oursonpolaire

    What would you change about the CF - if you could?

    Insurance agencies insist on it. In the 90s there was a string of thefts of paintings, retablos, statues, etc from Spanish churches-- warehouses were filled and sold to collectors who did not ask any questions. So the churches came to be locked--but the key is usually easily obtained from a...
  17. oursonpolaire

    Advice… please… 🙏🏻 (About starting time each day)

    Go Gronze.com, which will give you the latest. Before my first Camino, I would have thought that the early-rise etc was barbaric, but I soon found that: 1) there was little choice in the matter, as everyone in the albergue was up and moving well before closing, and 2) the early morning walking...
  18. oursonpolaire

    stopping in Uterga

    My notes tell me that I had lunch there about 16 years ago; I recall very little but it was the usual Navarrese village with not much to do aside from eat, sleep, and hang out with other pilgrims, which to me is an agreeable way to spend time. I daresay that, were I a local adolescent, it...
  19. oursonpolaire

    Has the Camino lost its way?

    Over my dozen caminos I have seen so many who have found it by accident, or tagged on to a group, or came to it thinking of it as an extension of Mexico, or hoped to get a course credit, or just wanted a walk away from things-- for time not to think. I've even encountered pilgrims who walked a...
  20. oursonpolaire

    Does anyone know of any shorter pilgrimage routes around the world?

    There are several well-established pilgrim routes in Québec-- links are to be found in this thread (https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/canadas-chemin-des-sanctuaires.4739/#post-1196096). Some of them are reservation-only as accommodation is in billets, but others are unplanned...

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