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2017 Invierno guide is DONE and posted!

peregrina2000

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https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/camino-de-invierno-2017-edition.535/

Here's the link, it's in the Resources section. I have a huge debt of gratitude to the forum members who stuck with me through this process. Thanks for your comments, your help, your posting of tracks and pictures to try to clear things up. Special thanks to the 2016 Invierno pilgrims I heard from (sabbott, jlsalt, MJB, Omicko, and chinasky -- if I have forgotten someone, please let me know and I will correct that omission!). Also a huge gracias to @Charrito and @KinkyOne. Our many back and forths obsessing about the details of this turn or that turn and this place or that place helped make this the best edition yet!

I am hopeful that many more forum members will get the chance to experience this route in 2017, now that the Xunta has made it an "official" camino. And I'm also hoping that you will be moved to "pay it forward" and send updates to me via the forum.

I will also say that doing these revisions has given me a huge urge to return this summer, but I am going to try to hold off for a couple more years!

Buen camino, Laurie
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Merci et félicitations!
What a great resource you have prepared!
So many pilgrims shall be able use this guide in so many ways as they follow in your footsteps.
 
Laurie, you are my lucky charm. I will start the CF at SJPdP on April 1. Today a friend of mine asked me if I'm taking the Camino de Invierno since I had already walked the CF once. I had never thought of this even though I knew there's an alternative route to the crowded last 100 km of the CF. I looked up the forum... Et voila! You had just posted the 2017 Camino de Invierno guide. I will download it right after this thank-you post to you. Now I know I will walk the Camino de Invierno for sure.

Buen camino. -Hieu
 
Join the Camino Cleanup in May from Ponferrada to Sarria. Registration closes Mar 22.
Thank you Laurie (and all who contributed) for the labor of love!
Someday, someday...if I could wiggle out of a Schengen visa deadline I'd be thinking this year.
But alas. :(
 
it has been a pleasure Laurie.

ps: i'm an happy, 2017 invierno pilgrim :)
 
Laurie, you are my lucky charm. I will start the CF at SJPdP on April 1. Today a friend of mine asked me if I'm taking the Camino de Invierno since I had already walked the CF once. I had never thought of this even though I knew there's an alternative route to the crowded last 100 km of the CF. I looked up the forum... Et voila! You had just posted the 2017 Camino de Invierno guide. I will download it right after this thank-you post to you. Now I know I will walk the Camino de Invierno for sure.

Buen camino. -Hieu
You will love it! Words cannot do justice to this wonderful Camino!
 
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Laurie:

A fantastic effort on your part, especially when you had to put up with people like me, KinkyOne and others bombarding you with extra information, slight amendments, alternatives and so on.

Congratulations and a great big thank you!

I will NOT be putting off my third Invierno for too much longer. I have convinced my wife to walk at least as far as Chantada with me this June (I'll carry on), and we're already counting down the days!

My suggestion to all forum members would be to donate a small sum (let's say 25 euros!) for your personal wine-drinking fund! That would entitle you to 10 visits to the wine museum in Monforte de Lemos, with 10 wine tastings!).;););)

See you in Salamanca soon, I/we hope!
 
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/camino-de-invierno-2017-edition.535/

Here's the link, it's in the Resources section. I have a huge debt of gratitude to the forum members who stuck with me through this process. Thanks for your comments, your help, your posting of tracks and pictures to try to clear things up. Special thanks to the 2016 Invierno pilgrims I heard from (sabbott, jlsalt, MJB, Omicko, and chinasky -- if I have forgotten someone, please let me know and I will correct that omission!). Also a huge gracias to @Charrito and @KinkyOne. Our many back and forths obsessing about the details of this turn or that turn and this place or that place helped make this the best edition yet!

I am hopeful that many more forum members will get the chance to experience this route in 2017, now that the Xunta has made it an "official" camino. And I'm also hoping that you will be moved to "pay it forward" and send updates to me via the forum.

I will also say that doing these revisions has given me a huge urge to return this summer, but I am going to try to hold off for a couple more years!

Buen camino, Laurie
Thanks to you and all who worked so much on this effort.
 
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Hmmm, my plan for 2018 was to be the Portuguese, then for a couple of reasons, had changed it to walk the Primtivo, with the hope of doing some Hospitalera time. But how lovely it would be to experience a newer and perhaps quieter way.
 
Laurie and everyone else, what a wonderful gift to the rest of us. I was thinking of doing the Invierno next year (Gw). This guide will be invaluable - thank you.
 
Thank you to Laurie and company for this marvelous guide! I'll be starting the Invierno June 7 in Ponferrada and walking 10-11 days with a friend from Pennsylvania. This pilgrim-produced guide is an excellent way to plan for what is plannable on the camino. I'll be taking notes when we walk in June so that I can hopefully contribute something to the 2018 guide.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Thank you to Laurie and company for this marvelous guide! I'll be starting the Invierno June 7 in Ponferrada and walking 10-11 days with a friend from Pennsylvania. This pilgrim-produced guide is an excellent way to plan for what is plannable on the camino. I'll be taking notes when we walk in June so that I can hopefully contribute something to the 2018 guide.
I may well bump into you somewhere up there!
 
Thank you to Laurie and company for this marvelous guide! I'll be starting the Invierno June 7 in Ponferrada and walking 10-11 days with a friend from Pennsylvania. This pilgrim-produced guide is an excellent way to plan for what is plannable on the camino. I'll be taking notes when we walk in June so that I can hopefully contribute something to the 2018 guide.
Hi, Fr, Stuart,
Hope you have a wonderful Camino de Invierno. And thanks for your offer to help, since it's really the only way to keep the guide up to date. I would love to go back every year to update, but unfortunately that's not possible! Buen camino, Laurie
 
Thanks for doing this update, Laurie! I'm looking forward to reading it again as a chance to relive my walk on this beautiful route last spring. If I hadn't had your original pdf (printed out at the last minute at a copy store in Ponferrada) I never could have found my way on the Invierno--and even with your excellent help, it was sometimes a challenge to know where i was! Your guide became very creased and stained as I studied it intently over many a cup of cafe con leche and glass of vino along the way. And what a wonderful time I had....
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Thank you so much Laurie. After spending over 40 hours looking over your material and sending you edits from the perspective of a person who has not het walmed this route I fee ready to walk it and send you more coments after I wak it next May,
 
Started in Zamora some days ago, up to Astorga, Ponferrada. Now first day on Camino de Invierno. Very good marking! No open bar until Borrenes (friendly). Dogs barking but stayed on their side of fence. Skipped Villavieja (took the road) Nice weather! Now in Pueno de Domingo Flóres (Hostal la Torre)
 
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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Göran , good luck on the Invierno and it would be great to hear about your trip on this forum? I am thinking about the route myself for next year so apart from the new guide, any advice or thoughts from yourself would be most welcome.
But in any case, hope you have a great walk and enjoy Semana Santa on the Camino.
 
Thanks,

I'll be on the Invierno mid-July, if everything goes according to my plans. Last time I didn't have any guide, hence a few misfortunes along the way. This tine I'll be better prepared!

Bye!

BP
 
Started in Zamora some days ago, up to Astorga, Ponferrada. Now first day on Camino de Invierno. Very good marking! No open bar until Borrenes (friendly). Dogs barking but stayed on their side of fence. Skipped Villavieja (took the road) Nice weather! Now in Pueno de Domingo Flóres (Hostal la Torre)

Hi Göran,

I remember Hostal La Torre - liked it. But had to search a long time before I found it... Please tell us more about your journey here on the Forum!

/BP
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
I say it again, the best marking ever! Overall very friendly atmosphere. Beautiful landscape. Signed guestbook in bar yesterday, two men from Santander three days ahead of me. "Our" guidebook the best. What else? Now in A Rúa, Quiroga tomorrow.
 
I had a brilliant lunch and jaunt in the English countryside today with José Manuel Sánchez Grande (who made the alt route O Camiño Verde). He showed me photos of the Invierno on his phone and now I have decided to do this camino ASAP!
 
I had a brilliant lunch and jaunt in the English countryside today with José Manuel Sánchez Grande (who made the alt route O Camiño Verde). He showed me photos of the Invierno on his phone and now I have decided to do this camino ASAP!

If you have time to add an extra couple of days to your Invierno, consider this beautiful route that leaves from Ponferrada or El Acebo. It would be an amazing combination!

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...n-splendor-from-ponferrada-or-el-acebo.27697/
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Wowzers! How busy would they be in August? (I would book in Santiago but don't massively like booking other than that if I don't have to.)

Love that word, wowzers, it is appropriately used in this context! Reb and I met in a private albergue in Ponferrada, then walked to El Acebo on the Puentes de Malpaso trail. Plenty of options there (on the Francés). From there to Peñalba, where there is not much in the way of lodging, so I would reserve in the albergue, it's extremely nice, La Masera (not a camino albergue). But, now that I think of it, there is reported to be a pilgrim albergue there, opened after we walked, but I know nothing about it. Then for the third night we headed back to Ponferrada. Another option would be to walk on a marked trail from Peñalba to As Médulas, which is on the Invierno. Still on my list, it should be very pretty.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
On the Invierno, so many of the nights are spent in hostales and pensiones, it just seems to make sense to call them the night before. But reservations are probably not at all necessary in most of the larger towns like Quiroga, Monforte, Barco de Valdeorras, etc, because there are several choices. I also think Asún likes a heads up for her place. But you should have absolutely no trouble. Unless this year (the first after official recognition by the Xunta) sees a massive explosion in numbers.
 
Wowee it sounds great. Thanks so much. I am going back to do the Green Way and visit José Manuel in early August, and I can feel another alternative route calling out to me. Do you know how the official recognition came about? I asked José if he aims for official status for the Verde, and he said he doesn't mind really, he would not push for it. He raved about the Invierno though.
 
Wow it sounds great. Thanks so much. I am going back to do the Green Way and visit José Manuel in early August, and I can feel another alternative route calling out to me. Do you know how the official recognition came about? I asked José if he aims for official status for the Verde, and he said he doesn't mind really, he would not push for it. He raved about the Invierno though.
Well, it was years and years of papeleo and meetings and pleadings and begging and official actions, until finally the Xunta accepted the associations' assertions about the historical authenticity of the Camino. I am by no means an expert on this, but the only routes to receive official recognition are those that can establish medieval authenticity, I believe.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
If you have time to add an extra couple of days to your Invierno, consider this beautiful route that leaves from Ponferrada or El Acebo. It would be an amazing combination!

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...n-splendor-from-ponferrada-or-el-acebo.27697/
blogger-image--1303309791.jpg

Talking about alt route. Saw this sign between Montefurado (ghost town) and Bendilló yesterday. Any ideas?
 
Well, things must be picking up if an untraveled route like this is developing off-route spurs! Goran, did you take it? Looks like a lot of blue sky in the background, hope the weather is good for you. Buen camino, Laurie
 
This time next month I'll be on the Invierno. I decided to do a high-intensity training day today since I had the time. 16-18 miles on mostly gravel roads, complete with streams to be forded, loose barking dogs, curious cows, 83 degrees F, a weighted pack and an almost complete lack of facilities or even places to sit and rest until I reached my halfway point at a monastery. Invierno, bring it on! It was a beautiful day deep in the heart of Cherokee County, Oklahoma, and even though my body is presently reminding me of what "first day" on the Camino is like, I can't wait to get on the Invierno.
 
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https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/camino-de-invierno-2017-edition.535/

Here's the link, it's in the Resources section. I have a huge debt of gratitude to the forum members who stuck with me through this process. Thanks for your comments, your help, your posting of tracks and pictures to try to clear things up. Special thanks to the 2016 Invierno pilgrims I heard from (sabbott, jlsalt, MJB, Omicko, and chinasky -- if I have forgotten someone, please let me know and I will correct that omission!). Also a huge gracias to @Charrito and @KinkyOne. Our many back and forths obsessing about the details of this turn or that turn and this place or that place helped make this the best edition yet!

I am hopeful that many more forum members will get the chance to experience this route in 2017, now that the Xunta has made it an "official" camino. And I'm also hoping that you will be moved to "pay it forward" and send updates to me via the forum.

I will also say that doing these revisions has given me a huge urge to return this summer, but I am going to try to hold off for a couple more years!

Buen camino, Laurie

Okay,

I have just downloaded it so I can use it this summer. I am leaving the next week. Thanks!

/BP
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Well, things must be picking up if an untraveled route like this is developing off-route spurs! Goran, did you take it? Looks like a lot of blue sky in the background, hope the weather is good for you. Buen camino, Laurie

I can check out those arrows in Barco o Valdeorras that we talked about some year ago... I will get my revenge on the Camino! He he he he :O)

/BP
 
Thanks so much Laurie. It's because of you and the others who produce these wonderful guides that inspires me and gives me the courage to walk different Caminos. You're a star.
Elaine
 
I returned from the Invierno a little more than a week ago, and am finally getting around to sharing some notes from the trip. We did a 10-day Camino Invierno, and I decided the easiest way to share observations is to summarize my journal. In general, this route is becoming better known, at least by Europeans (we were bumping along with 3 Spaniards from Cantabria and a Frenchwoman from Bordeaux). The local folks are getting accustomed to seeing pilgrims, but infrastructure along the route is still developing slowly (i.e., places to stay, eat, etc.).

Ponferrada to Las Medulas: Be aware that the villages you pass through today may have some services as indicated in the guide, but are not necessarily on the waymarked part of the trail. They're small towns, though, so you won't have to look far to spot the main street. The Castle of Cornatel was back on its regular schedule (closed Tuesday, open other days from 11 am to 1:30 pm, also some evening hours). Las Medulas is a bit dead during the week, but Casa Socorro is anxious to welcome pilgrims. It's near the small church in town but isn't particularly well-marked by signage, so you may want to ask a local to point you to it.

Las Medulas to O Barco: Lots of welcome signs for pilgrims; you may be a bit disconcerted by the sign entering Pumares which welcomes you and says Santiago is 200 km, only to find later a sign on the ironwork pilgrim statue in Entoma that says it's 215. There's a cafe next to the ironwork sculpture in Entoma keen to welcome the pilgrim trade. Most of the guide-listed accommodation in O Barco is toward the far end of town, so you'll walk along the lovely river for awhile. Pension do Lar was great, though the wifi is still spotty.

O Barco to A Rua: Short distance. Staying with Asun and her mother at their private albergue is a real treat, but phoning ahead or arriving early afternoon is a good idea, as Asun is frequently out working on behalf of the pilgrim association in the mornings. She also has books and info galore on the Invierno.

A Rua to Quiroga: There's a new granite fountain and bench for pilgrims in the square of St. Michael's church in Montefurado. Official waymarking can be a bit spotty after entering Lugo province. There also seemed to be attempts to lure pilgrims off the LU-933 to some villages and casas rurales in the hills; we stuck to the guide-approved road and were fine, but one will run across arrows with signs saying Camino Alternativa leading you up the hill. There's some ambiguity in the guide upon entering Bendillo; the waymark will take you left upon entering town instead of right, although I have a feeling they probably end up in the same place. Also, upon reaching the river below Bendillo one should go across the bridge, then cross the highway and pick up the waymarked trail. You will see an association sign that keeps you on the right side of the highway and takes you up the hill. I'm sure the two paths wind up in the same place, but we chose to stick with the yellow arrows. Municipal albergue in Quiroga is very easy to find. The Restaurante Aroza is still excellent. The historic pilgrim hospital and San Salvador church are the big white complex on a hill to your right as you are entering Quiroga.

Quiroga to Monforte de Lemos: Well-marked up to Pobra do Brollon. The marked path will take you along the right side of the river until you come to a bridge. We couldn't tell if there was a waymark or mojon pointing into town because of a large pulperia stand at the intersection. It's not hard to find the middle of town and the Guardia Civil, though, and you can find the mojon that takes you out of town. The water-logged portion before Monforte has not been re-routed, but wasn't too terrible as we'd been enjoying dry weather. Odd thing about Monforte: we did not follow the waymarked path all the way through town to the Puente Romano, but ran across yellow arrows near the 15th-century gate leading people up toward the parador and away from the Roman bridge. Rather odd.

Monforte to Chantada: Leaving Monforte is tricky, made all the more difficult by the stages and booths of the local festival still filling the old town square. It's not too hard to get on the Rua Abeledos; if you overshoot the left turn onto the side streets, just turn left when you reach the highway on the edge of town, and you'll soon see the roundabout which now has a statue of St. James the Pilgrim walking toward A Vide. The Diomondi church is currently undergoing exterior restoration and is covered in scaffolding, but you can still see the famous cows on the side door. The marina bar in Belesar is closed on Mondays. Spanish pilgrims reported another bar open on the opposite side of the river if you take the road rather than the marked trail up the hill. Be warned: at the end of a long, hot day, the waymarked "steep ascent" the guide mentions is an understatement. People with heart conditions should definitely be warned to take the road. Chantada is a delight. There is a new LavaXpres laundromat in the block behind the Hostal Yoel, and close by the Hotel Mogay. We also ate in a great little pizzeria called Bohemia off the northwest corner of the Plaza Sta. Ana, which is the way by which you leave town in the morning. They specialized in pizza, but had a conventional Spanish menu, too. The pizza, made with local ingredients, was FANTASTIC.

Chantada to Rodeiro: Waymarking is great, no problems. Cantina O Peto in Penasillas was still not open mid-morning (a perpetual problem along the Invierno, where they're still not accustomed to the early starts of pilgrims looking for their cafe con leche). However, there is a new cafe with a sello called Bar O Recanto just before you reach Rodeiro. Also, at the Alto de Faro, when you reach the picnic area at the top you can take an asphalt lane to the left which circles the peak and takes you past a small shrine to the hermitage of Our Lady at the summit. The views are spectacular. It's also an easy, well-marked exit back to the trail from the peak. Entering Rodeiro can be a bit confusing; yellow arrows point you left, but the mojon takes you straight to the Casa de Concello (which closes for the day at 2:30 pm). The Hospedaxe O Guerra advertises as a cafe-restaurant, but has a limited number of rooms. The Hostal Carpinteiras at the top of the hill has more room, and is not much further along.

Rodeiro to A Laxe: Good waymarking. Our only hesitation was after coming out behind the Torre do Dozo in the industrial park before A Laxe. You reach the hotel and are guided behind it on a path that comes to a clearing with an intersection. Take the paved road to the left (there is a faint waymark on the ground that is easy to miss). This brings you to a parking lot where a mojon will guide you on a grassy trail with the businesses up the hill to your right and the highway below on your left. We happened upon the 10th-century church of Our Lady of Remedies in upper Lalin while they were cleaning up from the feast of St. Anthony the day before. There is a also a receptionist in the sacristy of the main church of Our Lady of Sorrows in Lalin who is happy to provide a sello for pilgrims. The river path out of Lalin is now easy to follow; just don't be seduced by the the first overpass with the fountain on the left. The ascent up to the main highway is well-marked.

A Laxe to Ponte Ulla: We decided to break our journey in Ponte Ulla because a) better food options, and b) we were spending a couple of days in Santiago and didn't feel pressure to make the noon Pilgrim's Mass on the day of our arrival. Bar Rios in Ponte Ulla was closed for renovations at the time, so we stayed at O Churrasco and ate at O Cruceiro across from the Dia supermarket (pretty good food).

Ponte Ulla to Santiago: Easy enough route, but the albergue in Outeiro is definitely a bit isolated. You do come across an interesting spot a few kilometers out from Santiago that has a bench and a sign that says "Here the team of oxen rested when Sts. Theodore and Athanasius brought the body of St. James to Libredon." Given the proximity to the Pico Sacra which figures in the legend of St. James' burial place, it's certainly possible, but I rather suspect it's the product of local imagination.

Well, those are my main notes from the Invierno in June. It was marvelous, and I'm glad to have walked it when I did. From the observations of townsfolk along the way, traffic is picking up along the Invierno route - mostly Spaniards and some Europeans, and a few Americans. 2019 is being promoted by the regional council in Galicia as the Year of the Invierno, so we'll see what comes in the before/during/after. I'm glad to have walked the Invierno sooner rather than later, as I'm definitely a road-less-traveled guy.
 
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€60,-

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