- Time of past OR future Camino
- Past: a few
Last: Camino Sanabres
Next: tbc
I was extremely fortunate to be able to walk another pilgrimage this year, this time from Ourense on the Sanabres.
I made the decision to walk on 24 May, picked up a credencial on 25 May, travelled to Ourense on 26 May and started walking on 27 May. This is clearly a short time frame, added to which I did want to see if it was still possible to walk in much the same way as I did back in 2010, when I first walked the CF. I am pleased to say it was.
I ended up booking at Estacion de Lalin and Ponte Ulla, but nowhere else. After Ourense, where there were just two of us in an albergue with 40 bunks, the other Xunta albergues were never full. Indeed, no top bunks were occupied by other than people putting their gear up off the floor. I know that @dick bird and others have been making the observation that the accommodation issues that seem to be affecting the CF are not evident on other routes, and my experience supports that view.
Some pilgrims had used the closure of the albergue at Castro-Dozen as a reason to take a taxi from Oseira. I found that an unusual approach in the last 100 km.
There were others who were walking in groups, with the individuals carrying no more than a water bottle and a sit pad. Clearly pilgrimage takes many forms!
On the walk into the Praza do Obradoiro, I planned to drop my pack at Albergue do Seminario Menor and visit Pilgrim House on my way, so I plotted this out on OSMAand+, not that it was going to be a difficult variation to the route on the Plata app.
I didn't use the Gronze app as much as I thought I might, preferring to go directly to the website in a browser.
And in all of this, the waymarking was excellent, and it would have been possible to just follow that. There were only one or two places where one might have had to be careful, but that could be said of waymarking anywhere.
I made the decision to walk on 24 May, picked up a credencial on 25 May, travelled to Ourense on 26 May and started walking on 27 May. This is clearly a short time frame, added to which I did want to see if it was still possible to walk in much the same way as I did back in 2010, when I first walked the CF. I am pleased to say it was.
Equipment
Earlier this year, I took advantage of being in Portugal to get up to Valenca, and walked the Variante Espriritual. There were a few things that I knew hadn't been used during that walk that I knew could come out of my pack, and nothing that needed to be added. The basics were:Pack - Aarn Natural Exhilieration. This was my wife's 2016 camino pack. The Aarn concept is based on the same principles as military load carrying equipment, but isn't nearly as robust, and I have now had to make running repairs to this pack on three occasions, including on this trip. I like the concept, not impressed with the execution.
Footwear - Snowgum Cooper Mk III waterproof mid-height boot with an aftermarket Scholl insole. This has a mesh fabric and suede upper with a rubber toeguard and is reasonably well padded. The lacing arrangement is not ideal for a hiking boot - it doesn't allow for two tightness zones - but it can be set up for tractor lacing. I also carried a very light pair of Dunlop beach shoes for evening wear.
Clothing - I wore a long sleeved knit shirt as a base layer, a trekking shirt, briefs and trekking trousers, and carried a complete replica set. In addition, I had a rain jacket, rain pants, light fleece and a pair of boxer shorts to sleep in. I use liner socks inside a mid-weight trekking sock. I had four pairs of trekking socks in total, enough to change socks during the day for two days in a row, and two pairs of liner socks.
Medical / First aid - the first aid kit that I use is one I use at home bushwalking, and is now probably overmatched against the needs of the camino, and needs to be reduced in size before being used on another camino. I carry a travel CPAP with its associated accessories, and prescription and complementary medications. I carried a commercial re-hydration powder which I take at the end of each walking day.
Night - sleeping bag and liner.
Food/Water - 2 li Source bladder with a 500 ml reserve bottle. Muesli bars, gummi bears, hard candy and chocolate. Fruit, normally an apple or orange, an emergency ration, and on a couple of days, a packed lunch.
Gadgets - mobile phone in a waterproof sleeve, GPS and small camera, power bank, travel adapter, charging cables, pocket knife, spork, multi-tool, cable ties, lightweight trowel (and TP), hikers wool, paper tape, cord and emergency blanket.
edit: Wet bag - liquid soap, facecloth/towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail kit, comb, denture care pack, foot powder, etc. It was trimmed a little before I left, but there are still items that weren't needed.
Other - this year is the first time that I have carried an umbrella, specifically the Telescope Handsfree from EuroSchirm. It works well in light rain and is a great parasol, but it is not a complete solution in wind driven rain. There is enough said about umbrellas that I won't do more than say it was worth the extra weight.
Accommodation
There wasn't time to do a lot of research, and I didn't intend to book any more than was absolutely necessary. My experience on the CP in 2022 and again this year was that albergues that cannot be booked, like the Xunta, municipal and some parochial and association albergues, were never full. This might be different on the CF, but I was banking on it being possible to walk most days to an albergue and get a bed without booking. The only difficulty that I foresaw was that the only albergue in Castro-Dozen was closed, and to keep to around 20 km/day, I would have to go through Oseira and have a couple of shorter days.I ended up booking at Estacion de Lalin and Ponte Ulla, but nowhere else. After Ourense, where there were just two of us in an albergue with 40 bunks, the other Xunta albergues were never full. Indeed, no top bunks were occupied by other than people putting their gear up off the floor. I know that @dick bird and others have been making the observation that the accommodation issues that seem to be affecting the CF are not evident on other routes, and my experience supports that view.
Other Pilgrims
There was a floating group of about 20 other pilgrims, some of whom I saw several days in a row. Others were walking much longer distances than I was, and I didn't see them again. Cyclists one only saw the once. The ones that I did see passed with plenty of warning and didn't create any alarm for me.Some pilgrims had used the closure of the albergue at Castro-Dozen as a reason to take a taxi from Oseira. I found that an unusual approach in the last 100 km.
There were others who were walking in groups, with the individuals carrying no more than a water bottle and a sit pad. Clearly pilgrimage takes many forms!
Tools and Apps
I downloaded tracks from the Centro de Descargas, and loaded them onto my GPS. I purchased the Wise Pilgrim Plata app, and I have OSMAnd+, Gronze and the IGN app loaded on my phone. I tend not to use my phone for navigation, preferring to use my handheld GPS. But that being said, the Plata app was excellent. When I discovered an omission in the Plata app, it was fixed within a couple of hours of letting @wisepilgrim know about it. It was a little unstable on my phone, but that appears to have been addressed as well.On the walk into the Praza do Obradoiro, I planned to drop my pack at Albergue do Seminario Menor and visit Pilgrim House on my way, so I plotted this out on OSMAand+, not that it was going to be a difficult variation to the route on the Plata app.
I didn't use the Gronze app as much as I thought I might, preferring to go directly to the website in a browser.
And in all of this, the waymarking was excellent, and it would have been possible to just follow that. There were only one or two places where one might have had to be careful, but that could be said of waymarking anywhere.
Some final observations
This short pilgrimage has demonstrated to me that it is still possible to walk without too much preparation and planning. It seems a shame to me that routes like the CF have become more difficult to undertake. I suspect that the combination of baggage transport and bookings have created an entirely different set of circumstances to that which existed a decade ago. There is probably no going back now, and it is what we will live with. But this short camino has demonstrated to me that it is still possible to walk without booking, and I am still fit enough to carry my own pack, so I expect that I will be thinking of another Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
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