Charles Hansen
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances 2004 road cycling
Frances path cycling (2016)
One of the most oft heard complaints is that regarding the entry into Santiago. It's impossible to enter a major city without dealing with some traffic, but I think this route minimizes it. Given the density of walkers in the final stretch from Arzua, you might want to consider taking to the road even if you've been on the path ever since SJPdP.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/6990864
If you look at maps of Santiago, all the major roads are to the north and south, while on the SE side there are fields until relatively close to the city. My group used AC-261, and we found it quite painless, although we did experience our first heavy rain of the entire Camino in the last few miles.
This route begins by following the Dutch / Jakobs-Radweg route from Arzua, but turns SW before reaching the vicinity of the airport. The major research was in finding paved connecting roads from DP-6603 to AC-261 - roughly miles 16-22. Careful observers will note that there are two other paved options heading south from the Moa area - I chose this road due to less complex navigation. You can stay on AC-261 at mile 34.2 for the same reason if you wish.
I had previously noticed the very high percentage of small, one-lane roads that were (well) paved in Galicia. I also discovered that in more densely populated areas - unlike, say, the Meseta - the Google camera cars will generally only drive down paved roads. This means that dragging the figure over the map will show you all the roads that are paved. I won't claim to have looked at every Km of this route in street-view, but have done enough of that to be fairly certain that all of it is paved. Most of it seems quite good, perhaps with the exception of the first few miles on AC-261.
One note of caution on RWGPS cues. I would say that they're accurate, but not necessarily complete, since they depend on data connected to the Google map vs. first hand observation. What they tell you to do will almost always be correct, but be cautious of situations when you may need to be aware of something that they don't mention. I would suggest comparing the cues to the map before using them, and adding your own notes where you wish. I did check these; I would have made the turns at 17.9-18.0 a "Straight at the crossroad" if I was writing the cues, but otherwise they seem fine.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/6990864
If you look at maps of Santiago, all the major roads are to the north and south, while on the SE side there are fields until relatively close to the city. My group used AC-261, and we found it quite painless, although we did experience our first heavy rain of the entire Camino in the last few miles.
This route begins by following the Dutch / Jakobs-Radweg route from Arzua, but turns SW before reaching the vicinity of the airport. The major research was in finding paved connecting roads from DP-6603 to AC-261 - roughly miles 16-22. Careful observers will note that there are two other paved options heading south from the Moa area - I chose this road due to less complex navigation. You can stay on AC-261 at mile 34.2 for the same reason if you wish.
I had previously noticed the very high percentage of small, one-lane roads that were (well) paved in Galicia. I also discovered that in more densely populated areas - unlike, say, the Meseta - the Google camera cars will generally only drive down paved roads. This means that dragging the figure over the map will show you all the roads that are paved. I won't claim to have looked at every Km of this route in street-view, but have done enough of that to be fairly certain that all of it is paved. Most of it seems quite good, perhaps with the exception of the first few miles on AC-261.
One note of caution on RWGPS cues. I would say that they're accurate, but not necessarily complete, since they depend on data connected to the Google map vs. first hand observation. What they tell you to do will almost always be correct, but be cautious of situations when you may need to be aware of something that they don't mention. I would suggest comparing the cues to the map before using them, and adding your own notes where you wish. I did check these; I would have made the turns at 17.9-18.0 a "Straight at the crossroad" if I was writing the cues, but otherwise they seem fine.
