Advice / Help / Tips / Experiences VDLP - Ourense to Santiago

[m00nman]

Hi everyone...Hope you are all well...only me again looking for some new advice. Hope you can help. Quick bit of background so far...

I stumbled onto the whole Camino de Santiago experience a couple of years ago and in 2012 a friend and I walked the Camino Ingles. A fantastic experience for us both, especially for me as, the following year (2013), I dragged by wife and two boys along the first 5 stages of El Camino del Norte from Hendaya as far as Gernika...we will pick that route up again in 2015. Hopefully you will be able to see our blogs for each trip embedded in my signature.

Anyway, Craig and I have managed to find flights in early October this year (2014) which will allow us 4-5 days walking again. As much as we loved the Camino Ingles and will hopefully do it again one day, we would love to try something new...so I have stumbled onto this part of the Forum.

My questions are these if anyone can advise...

• Would you recommend walking from Ourense
• Is it as easy to travel down to Ourense from Santiago airport?
• Is there a Jonnie Walker guide like the Ingles? (what a fantastic guide this was by the way)
• Any other advice on the terrain to be honest
• We do not want to walk from Sarria this time round (one day for sure) but apart from the VDLP route are there any other options available to us. We want to ensure we complete the 100k minimum to obtain the certificate

Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated...thanking you all in advance,

Neil and Craig!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

• Would you recommend walking from Ourense

Yes. It is a very nice walk, with a substantial climb out of Ourense.

• Is it as easy to travel down to Ourense from Santiago airport?

Yes. Take the bus to the bus station, then take a bus to Ourense. Monbus, if I recall correctly.

• Is there a Jonnie Walker guide like the Ingles? (what a fantastic guide this was by the way)

Yes, I think.

• Any other advice on the terrain to be honest

It is not difficult after the climb out of Ourense, which actually starts with a climb down to the river if you start at the albergue. There are two routes, both with the same climb.

• We do not want to walk from Sarria this time round (one day for sure) but apart from the VDLP route are there any other options available to us. We want to ensure we complete the 100k minimum to obtain the certificate.

The Camino Ingles from Ferrol qualifies as well.

 

[madrid12]

Yes, I would recommend this, I think its quite different from the Ingles which I have walked a few times. But last year I walked from A Gudina via Verin and Ourense to Santiago.
I caught the airport port bus and got off at the train station to get my ticket for later the same day, there are lots of daily trains to Ourense.
I always use the CSJ guide although mine was really old [ not by JW] but its a well marked route
I stayed in a mixture of alburgues and hostels[ it was wet, cold and snowy]
Not sure how to describe the terrain because on the CI there are a few steep hills so probably not much different.
it was 5 days walking from Ourense to Santiago.
Liz

 

[madrid12]

Just to add to my post above, both the bus and train station are a little way out from the centre of Ourense but the VDLP goes past them, so it may be a case of going into Ourense to get your sello and walking out again. There was another train station in Ourense but I'm not sure if its still open.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Neil and Craig,

I think the walk from Ourense is very nice, but you could also choose to start from Valenca do Minho (Caminho Portugues) or Lugo (Camino Primitivo). Those are all about 100 kms from Santiago.

I don't think there's a CSJ guide for the Sanabres, but if you look at mundicamino, http://www.mundicamino.com/rutas.cfm?id=44

and the Eroski guide, http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/los-caminos-de-santiago/sanabres/

you'll get a good idea of those last kms from Ourense.

 

[miguel_gp]

Hi Neil and Craig,

The VdlP from Verin via Ourense to Santiago was my first venture on the Camino in 2007. I walked the Ourense to SdC stages over four days - 21, 33.5, 33 and 16 km respectively. There is a steep climb out of Ourense 12% for approx 2 km but mostly it is undulating, not too taxing and very picturesque.

I'm not sure what has changed in terms of infrastructure since 2007 but I certainly remember the Albergues at A Laxa (Lalin) and Capilla De Santiaguino being very modern and clean. Ourense and Cea were older but comfortable.

There is a downloadable guide from Xacobeo to the route and also some dedicated web pages. Not step by step instructions but a good overview. I used Alison Raju's guide and just copied the pages for the stages in Verin so I didn't have to carry the whole book.

I've attached a kmz file of the route which you should be able to load in Google Earth to see stages, elevation profiles etc. Can also be viewed here in Google Maps. It may have changed slightly over the last 7 years to avoid the new Motorway and High Speed Railtrack but should still give a good representation.

I have walked into Santiago on all routes now and VdlP is still my favourite approach.

Good luck with your planning for whatever route you decide to take

Buen Camino
Mig

 

[mmm042]

I've only walked the VDLP, and so am totally biased. So yes, do walk from Ourense. There's a lovely detour at Cea to Oseira and a Cistercian Monastery; take it for sure.

I took the bus from Santiago to Ourense in 2009, and I believe it was 1-2 miles to walk from the station to my lodging in the center of the city.

If you like e-guides, I've written a VDLP app for Apple products and Droids (I'm a travel journalist).

Like the others said, there's a big climb out of Ourense, and a few other reasonably large hills (like the one going down into Ponte Ulla, then up and out again), but overall it's not terrible.

FYI, I've walked Ourense-Santiago twice in the fall, and the weather has been lovely. A little cool in the morning, but things warm up nicely during the day. This year I'll walk that stretch in early April, so I'll be interested to see the difference.

Buen Camino!

Melanie

 

[m00nman]

Folks, thank you all for your input, it's fantastic! Mel the App sounds great, what is it called and I'll look it up...I'm an Android user!!!

 

[whariwharangi]

Hi everyone...Hope you are all well...only me again looking for some new advice. Hope you can help. Quick bit of background so far...

I stumbled onto the whole Camino de Santiago experience a couple of years ago and in 2012 a friend and I walked the Camino Ingles. A fantastic experience for us both, especially for me as, the following year (2013), I dragged by wife and two boys along the first 5 stages of El Camino del Norte from Hendaya as far as Gernika...we will pick that route up again in 2015. Hopefully you will be able to see our blogs for each trip embedded in my signature.

Anyway, Craig and I have managed to find flights in early October this year (2014) which will allow us 4-5 days walking again. As much as we loved the Camino Ingles and will hopefully do it again one day, we would love to try something new...so I have stumbled onto this part of the Forum.

My questions are these if anyone can advise...

• Would you recommend walking from Ourense
• Is it as easy to travel down to Ourense from Santiago airport?
• Is there a Jonnie Walker guide like the Ingles? (what a fantastic guide this was by the way)
• Any other advice on the terrain to be honest
• We do not want to walk from Sarria this time round (one day for sure) but apart from the VDLP route are there any other options available to us. We want to ensure we complete the 100k minimum to obtain the certificate

Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated...thanking you all in advance,

Neil and Craig!

Santiago airport to Santiago bus station (EE AA) or train station with Empresa Freire.

Santiago bus station to Ourense with Monbus; or, Santiago train station to Ourense with Renfe

Santiago SCQ Labacolla
http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-Santiago/en/

Empresa Freire
http://www.empresafreire.com/html/castelan/seccion0.php

Santiago bus station
http://www.tussa.org/web/interior.php?txt=arbore_web6&lg=ing

Monbus
http://www.monbus.es/index2.htm

Renfe
http://www.renfe.com/

 

[m00nman]

Nice one whariwharangi, again, much appreciated!!!

 

[Texaloha]

I highly recommend Melanie's app. I leave in April and it has been great learning tool. Also Google earth has mapped most of the route that is in main roads.

 

[lynnejohn]

Folks, thank you all for your input, it's fantastic! Mel the App sounds great, what is it called and I'll look it up...I'm an Android user!!!

Here it is - I'm also android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sutromedia.android.guide.vdlp

 

[m00nman]

Thanks forthe link, I'll take a look later this evening!

Has anybody walked this route in early October? I'm assuming it'll be fresh without being cold and I wonder what sort of numbers of pilgrims we will meet at this time of the year? I do remember the Ingles being fairly quiet in early September when we walked it???

 

[mmm042]

Thanks for sending the link for me, Lynnejohn. I'm still somehow missing notification when people respond to a post (even though I thought I signed up for it), so I can be a day or two late in responding.

Neil, I've walked this last section in September and October several times. Yes, it was fresh without being cold. I liked having light gloves for my hands for the first hour or so in the morning, which was the coldest time of day. I'm also a big proponent of compression sleeves for your arms and calf sleeves for your legs. They keep you warm, but aren't bulky or heavy and you can easily roll them down if it gets a little too warm. Then you can walk with shorts and just a light shirt and maybe a light vest.

The VDLP in general doesn't get a ton of pilgrims, but in the fall you should see some most days. If not while you're walking, then certainly at night in the bar-restaurants and albergues.

Melanie

 

[m00nman]

Thanks Melanie, much what I thought to be honest...it's all good!

Credentials are en-route thanks to the Peterborough Pilgrims so just have to be patient now, enjoy summer (if we ever get one in Northern Ireland) and look forward to hopefully another venture to Santiago de Compostela (with a few treks around the Mourne Mountains to keep the legs in check over coming months).

Trying to convince a few friends to join us so we'll see what happens. I honestly cannot talk highly enough of my previous Camino experiences and know that there is plenty of adventure still to come!

Thanks again to all of you who posted, it's great to hear from you all!

Neil and Craig

 

[m00nman]

Well we made it...what a fantastic walk, far too many memories to comment on. I will put a blog together for the trip and share it as soon as I can...
Thanks to everyone who supported the charity along the way including Anna and her sister from County Wexford, you're amazing people!!!

justgiving.com/Neil-Armstrong5