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It is a huge new albergue. Clean, modern facilites. But I would skip it if I walked through Roncesvalles again; the reason being that I am a light sleeper. It is long building with bathrooms at one end, so whenever someone gets up to go, their flip-flops reverberate up and down the hall. I...
Puenta la Reina is worth a stop for the best Tortilla on the Camino - with spinach, ham, onions / fresh and warm, at cafe Hotel Jakue, just as you enter the town.
There is simpler option - walk the lower trail and stop overnight in Valcarlos. The trek from SJPP to Valcarlos is not too taxing and the albergue in Valcarlos shouldn't require a reservation. Then strike out from there on your second day. The Valcarlos-Roncesvalles stretch is challenging...
My wife is allergic to wheat gluten and milk. She carries a small laminated card describing her condition, in Spanish. Before she orders a meal she shows the card to the waiter who usually consults with the cook about which menu items are safe. We have found that restaurants are often familiar...
To put those numbers in perspective: 907 is very manageable. The day we arrived in Santiago (Sept 4, 2014) there were 989 - and we had no problems getting beds in pilgrim albergues during the last week of our walk (granted, we usually stopped walking about lunch time). When we got to Santiago we...
As to bed availability - We finished our Camino on Sept 4, 2014, and had no problems finding accommodation anywhere. Based on warnings in this forum, we were expecting difficulty from Palas de Rei to Santiago so in Melide we decided to stop before noon and checked into the albergue - we were the...
We didn't get tested, so, of course, we cannot say definitively it was water. However, the day we got sick, we had filled our bottles from an unmarked fountain (a foolish act). I'd say that fountain was the most probable source of our discomfort. We have been more cautious during 2 subsequent...
We filled our bottles from a fountain in Galicia and it made us sick for 2 days. We were flat out, in bed - couldn't eat anything. When we recovered we didn't feel like walking very far. Some fountains are labelled "agua potable" or "agua tratada" and are probably safe. Others may say "agua no...
Pigrims walking now can relax - we finished our Camino on Sept 4 and had no problems finding accommodation anywhere. We were expecting difficulty from Palas de Rei to Santiago so in Melide we decided to stop before noon and checked into the albergue at the main intersection - we were the very...
Congratulations Jan:
We have heard from this forum that the final stages are very crowded. Did you have any problems getting accommodation towards the end? Any particular bottlenecks to avoid?
thanks
Be careful where you get your water. We filled our bottles at a public fountain along the route and it ended our Camino in 2012. We became very ill and spent 2 days laid out in a hotel. When we recovered we were weak and didn't much feel like walking. Whenever possible refill your bottles at...
Thanks for the heads up. Does anyone have current information on accommodation availability: Palas-de-Rei to Santiago. Or numbers of pilgrims arriving daily at the Camino office in Santiago.
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