Best Route to Avoid Vehicular Traffic While on Your Pilgrimage Walk

[anna ringstrom]

Hello,
I am currently in the initial stages of planning a pilgrimage walk to Santiago, during the autumn of 2015. I will be accompanied by one or two of my teenaged children and would like to be walking for approximately 4 weeks. We are fairly fit and hardy and are not frightened off by potentially staying in tents some nights, cooking our own food, or encountering chilly weather. What we are most interested in is avoiding vehicular traffic as much as possible. Could anyone out there comment on which route to Santiago would be most likely to be on pathways free of cars?

Many thanks!

 

[tyrrek]

Hi Anna. Other people will advise on the different routes better than I can. Maybe you could clarify - do you want to avoid walking on actual roads (for safety etc) or do you want to avoid the sight/sound of traffic altogether (for tranquility etc)? The Camino Frances, for example, follows the approximate route of a major road - sometimes even right beside it - but not actually on the road.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

There is a lot of rural Spain, but it is mostly in private ownership, so you cannot walk across it. The most efficient routes a thousand years ago were the most efficient routes when the automobile took over, so they are paved. A lot of Roman roads are under six inches of macadam. That means that pilgrimage routes are on public rights of way most of which are paved. To the extent possible the authorities that mark the route choose minor roads. When they can take you cross country, they do. However, there is no camino of which I am aware that extensively avoids roads. It is fairly rare that you cannot hear vehicular traffic for more than an hour.

 

[anna ringstrom]

Many thanks for your comments. I have read many negative things about having to walk while sharing the road with vehicles, and even read one blog recently where the author felt very afraid for their personal safety while walking on the side of the road. I am not afraid of poorly marked trails, bedbugs, poor weather, and blisters but the thought of walking on the side of a busy road with my children really isn't appealing - I think it would take away from the journey. I don't mind hearing the vehicles - I realize this is the trade-off of spending time in this beautiful country that is fairly densely populated and full of enchanting cultural artifacts around virtually every corner.

 

[grayland]

Anna..
It is less of a problem than it appears to be in the forum. Most busy roads can be avoided and, often, people are writing about an experience where they took the busy road to avoid a longer walk on the path or up a hill.
Take along some light weight Hi-Vis vests or something to make you easier to see. I would not let this concern dominate your camino...it is just not a big problem in the overall picture.

 

[anna ringstrom]

Anna..
It is less of a problem than it appears to be in the forum. Most busy roads can be avoided and, often, people are writing about an experience where they took the busy road to avoid a longer walk on the path or up a hill.
Take along some light weight Hi-Vis vests or something to make you easier to see. I would not let this concern dominate your camino...it is just not a big problem in the overall picture.

This is terrific to hear. I have wanted to do this walk for many years and must admit I was very disappointed to hear the negative comments about having to walk on the road. It is great to hear that it is unlikely to deter from the trip. The safety vests sound like a very sensible idea. Thank you!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

If you purchase http://www.amazon.com/dp/1844096246/?tag=casaivar02-20 the book gives a breakdown on the type of path for each segment.

 

[tploomis]

I think the problems of traffic on the Camino Frances have been greatly exaggerated on other discussions. I completed the Camino Frances from SJPP to Santiago between late September and early November, 2013. Occasionally the route was on an actual paved road, but these were virtually untraveled by vehicles, possibly a car puttering by once an hour and heard from a long way off. It was so safe we often walked in the middle of the road. If the route was along a busier highway, which was a small percentage of the time, it always involved walking on a path well off the main road. There was no chance of bad encounters with speeding cars. Occasionally the route was on a dirt farm road, and an occasional tractor would motor by on its way to a field, but that was rare as well. Heavier traffic was encountered in the cities, but there were always sidewalks in these situations, like walking through any city. From my point of view there is absolutely no reason for traffic concerns to dissuade a person from walking the Camino. The vast majority of the walk was completely free of traffic, and when there was traffic, it posed no safety threat.

 

[hampshire!tim]

I agree with tploomis
I did find one stretch before Pamplona where I choose to walk next to road because of very wet conditions on the path. I had fallen the day before and wasn't in the mood to do so again. But the traffic was not a problem, even the large trucks.
Caution as ever is the key.
Walk on the side where approaching traffic can see you.

I had read articles on web about how the camino sucks because of road issues. It wasn't my experience.

I have read and heard that camino del Norte is more of a problem with up to 70% on or next to road. But enough people seem to still do it and enjoy it.

 

[dalston999]

If you don't mind about ending up in Santiago, you could walk from Le Puy which is mainly on earth paths through beautiful countryside away from roads, (although there are some minor ones) and finish in one of the beautiful cathedral cities of Moissac, Cahors, Rocamadour...just a thought!

 

[colinwhite]

Anna..
It is less of a problem than it appears to be in the forum. Most busy roads can be avoided and, often, people are writing about an experience where they took the busy road to avoid a longer walk on the path or up a hill.
Take along some light weight Hi-Vis vests or something to make you easier to see. I would not let this concern dominate your camino...it is just not a big problem in the overall picture.

Unfortunately on Camino Ingles the route has been changed to follow the roads rather than the country paths. This was apparently done for commercial reasons to support that bars, restuarants and hotels on the roads 8-(

 

[Tincatinker]

Unfortunately on Camino Ingles the route has been changed to follow the roads rather than the country paths. This was apparently done for commercial reasons to support that bars, restuarants and hotels on the roads 8-(

Where did you get that information? The changes I'm aware of seek to avoid a once notorious hill and the revised route into Siguero which now parallels the road though the old Variante pista forestal is still walkable.

 

[C clearly]

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