best trail description in a guide book

[Mapman]

Hello fellow pilgrims. I am beginning my second Camino Frances on August 31. I am embarrassed to admit that I would probably still be finding my way to Santiago ,while on my first Camino ,which began on Sept.11 2015. if it had not been for other pilgrim friends I met from day one. I am directionally challenged to put it mildly.
Well I am starting out alone again and I can't be sure my luck finding a pathfinder will hold. Any suggestions on a guide book which covers trail description in a way that I might be able to follow? Thanks and Buen Camino

 

[Hiawatha]

Nothing is clearer than the ubiquitous yellow arrow.
After I returned to Barcelona from Finesterra I became annoyed by their absence. I had become so used to following them for almost two months that I just expected them to be everywhere.
Far more dependable than Google.
As far as guide books go the Michelin Guide to the Camino Frances is a simple bare bones strip map guide that I found invaluable . It fits into a pocket , is light , has decent sized print and easily read simple maps with ; most importantly, accurate distances.
It isn't bogged down with esoteric ' junk' information either.

 

[Deleted member 43985]

Personally, I think in September your biggest challenge will be finding away to be alone from the herd, not finding people to tag along with. That said, I've used the oft maligned Brierley twice and would happily do so again next time. Enough information, accommodations with phone numbers and maps/distances that were more than fine enough to find St James the Greater. Some seem to not enjoy his writing however I rather enjoy it in this environment, after all, I am walking a Pilgrimage so thoughts of spirituality seem appropriate to me. If that's not for you then you can buy his 'maps only' book (or the electronic version to save even more weight) and you'll be good to go. Buen Camino!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Brierley is fine. What did you use the first time?

 

[FLEUR]

Brierley and Michelin are my book recommendations too. As others have said the yellow arrows are good and mark the path well.
You can get the Brierley guide as a Kindle version and carry it on your phone.

 

[Lleslie]

I used the village to village guide ' Hiking the Camino de Santiago' by Anna Dintaman and David Landis. I really liked having the entire route elevation profiles at the front of the book to assist with planning as we did our own 'stages'. Easy to follow route description and maps, info on each town/hamlet, points of interest, accommodation etc. I would love a book like this for our camino next year on the via Podiensis as i found it so easy to use. Buen camino

 

[SarahChapman]

Brierley and Michelin are my book recommendations too. As others have said the yellow arrows are good and mark the path well.
You can get the Brierley guide as a Kindle version and carry it on your phone.

Hey Fleur!

Where can you find the kindle edition? Amazon only comes up with paperback versions available when I look! Probably a silly question but it's driving me crazy!

 

[timr]

I think I am correct in saying that the "main" Brierley book is NOT available as an ebook, but the 'just the maps' versions of Camino Frances and Portuguese are available.
https://www.findhornpress.com/catalogsearch/result/?searchproductfield=brierley&q=brierley

 

[dfox]

I didn't have a map or guidebook while I was on the Camino Frances last April and completed the journey joyfully. (I had "Camino Pilgrim" app in my smartphone.)

I just followed the yellow arrows, "signs" of fellow pilgrims and asking locals for the direction Camino although, I don't/didn't speak Spanish.

I may have considered "lost" once was when leaving Leon, where I couldn't find any yellow arrows or any signs of fellow pilgrims for two hours or 8 kilometers around 7:30 am. I kept asking locals for "Camino" and heading back onto the Camino as it should be.

 

[Fares Ismail]

Theres a very helpful app called camino companion. I like it because it not only tracks u on a map but also shows how far each alburge or town is... But I use it along side wise pilgrim app because it gives some interesting historical information and reviews about each alburge. (keep in mind that reviews should always be read with a grain of salt and that bed bugs comment from 1 year ago doesnt mean its a bad alburge )

 

[FLEUR]

@timr
You are correct

I think I am correct in saying that the "main" Brierley book is NOT available as an ebook, but the 'just the maps' versions of Camino Frances and Portuguese are available.
https://www.findhornpress.com/catalogsearch/result/?searchproductfield=brierley&q=brierley

I have the map e book this is useful because one can expand the maps when necessary to see more details of town maps. I also bought J. Brierley's e book Sarria to Santiago and Finisterre and Muxia which gives maps plus written details about the routes and albergue information. It doesn't have all his personal thoughts and spiritual descriptions.

 

[Mapman]

Nothing is clearer than the ubiquitous yellow arrow.
After I returned to Barcelona from Finesterra I became annoyed by their absence. I had become so used to following them for almost two months that I just expected them to be everywhere.
Far more dependable than Google.
As far as guide books go the Michelin Guide to the Camino Frances is a simple bare bones strip map guide that I found invaluable . It fits into a pocket , is light , has decent sized print and easily read simple maps with ; most importantly, accurate distances.
It isn't bogged down with esoteric ' junk' information either.

Thank you so much for the info Charles. I will check out a copy.

 

[Mapman]

Personally, I think in September your biggest challenge will be finding away to be alone from the herd, not finding people to tag along with. That said, I've used the oft maligned Brierley twice and would happily do so again next time. Enough information, accommodations with phone numbers and maps/distances that were more than fine enough to find St James the Greater. Some seem to not enjoy his writing however I rather enjoy it in this environment, after all, I am walking a Pilgrimage so thoughts of spirituality seem appropriate to me. If that's not for you then you can buy his 'maps only' book (or the electronic version to save even more weight) and you'll be good to go. Buen Camino!

Thanks for commenting jozero. I used his guide the last time and it was quite good. I still found myself not sure which route to take at times because I could not see an arrow. There were of course those arrows which pointed to a private alburge or a bar which were not along the Camino. Not complaining, just hoping to make this one go smoother.

 

[Mapman]

Brierley is fine. What did you use the first time?

I used Brierley. It is a good book. See comment to jozero. Thanks for responding.

 

[Mapman]

Brierley and Michelin are my book recommendations too. As others have said the yellow arrows are good and mark the path well.
You can get the Brierley guide as a Kindle version and carry it on your phone.

Thanks Fleur. I will take your advice. Thanks for responding.

 

[Mapman]

I used the village to village guide ' Hiking the Camino de Santiago' by Anna Dintaman and David Landis. I really liked having the entire route elevation profiles at the front of the book to assist with planning as we did our own 'stages'. Easy to follow route description and maps, info on each town/hamlet, points of interest, accommodation etc. I would love a book like this for our camino next year on the via Podiensis as i found it so easy to use. Buen camino

Thanks Lleslie. I just received a copy of that book, it does look very detailed.

 

[Mapman]

Thanks for the info Timr

I think I am correct in saying that the "main" Brierley book is NOT available as an ebook, but the 'just the maps' versions of Camino Frances and Portuguese are available.
https://www.findhornpress.com/catalogsearch/result/?searchproductfield=brierley&q=brierley

 

[Mapman]

I didn't have a map or guidebook while I was on the Camino Frances last April and completed the journey joyfully. (I had "Camino Pilgrim" app in my smartphone.)

I just followed the yellow arrows, "signs" of fellow pilgrims and asking locals for the direction Camino although, I don't/didn't speak Spanish.

I may have considered "lost" once was when leaving Leon, where I couldn't find any yellow arrows or any signs of fellow pilgrims for two hours or 8 kilometers around 7:30 am. I kept asking locals for "Camino" and heading back onto the Camino as it should be.

Thanks dfox, I found myself "lost" as well several and as you mentioned locals were very helpful. Hey, here I am at home so how bad could it have been?

 

[Mapman]

Theres a very helpful app called camino companion. I like it because it not only tracks u on a map but also shows how far each alburge or town is... But I use it along side wise pilgrim app because it gives some interesting historical information and reviews about each alburge. (keep in mind that reviews should always be read with a grain of salt and that bed bugs comment from 1 year ago doesnt mean its a bad alburge )

Thank you Fares Ismail. I will look for the app.

 

[WGroleau]

As far as guide books go the Michelin Guide to the Camino Frances is a simple bare bones strip map guide that I found invaluable.

I really like the format of the Michelin guide. Two caveats though: (1) No matter how many albergues are in a particular etapa, they will NOT provide an extra page. How they decide which to leave out, I do not know.
(2) I purchased the 2016 version. They still listed a parroquial that had not been open for about ten years (and the roof had collapsed about five years ago). So, it is possible that a cheap used 2010 is as good as full price for a new 2017. And supplemented with a more complete list from online (although I know many of those are also not updated either).

 

[JillGat]

I recommend the Wise Pilgrim Camino Frances phone app. and the yellow Camino de Santiago guide (translated from German to English) by Raimund Joos. The full title is "OUTDOOR The Way is the Goal, Camino de Santiago St. Jean - Santiago - Finisterre. Great route descriptions and info. about villages along the way.

 

[notion900]

These days I often end up just using Gronze.com I save all the pages of the stages offline on my phone in case the signal is bad. This month I walked the Ingles with no guidebook whatsoever.

 

[Shelova]

Hello fellow pilgrims. I am beginning my second Camino Frances on August 31. I am embarrassed to admit that I would probably still be finding my way to Santiago ,while on my first Camino ,which began on Sept.11 2015. if it had not been for other pilgrim friends I met from day one. I am directionally challenged to put it mildly.
Well I am starting out alone again and I can't be sure my luck finding a pathfinder will hold. Any suggestions on a guide book which covers trail description in a way that I might be able to follow? Thanks and Buen Camino

 

[Shelova]

I found this invaluable, on my walk , and downloaded it to my phone

http://caminoguide.net/

 

[Richmond Gardner]

Hello fellow pilgrims. I am beginning my second Camino Frances on August 31. I am embarrassed to admit that I would probably still be finding my way to Santiago ,while on my first Camino ,which began on Sept.11 2015. if it had not been for other pilgrim friends I met from day one. I am directionally challenged to put it mildly.
Well I am starting out alone again and I can't be sure my luck finding a pathfinder will hold. Any suggestions on a guide book which covers trail description in a way that I might be able to follow? Thanks and Buen Camino

It might seem a little risky to start with only a phone, but when I misplaced my Brierley guidebook, it was easy to take photos of the map routes of another pilgrims guide. It also cut down the weight and clutter. Furthermore, the pilgrim office in SJPP hands out a paper foldout with topography information on the whole trip and albergue information for all towns along the way.
Good luck and don't worry. Just ask another pilgrim for some help!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

albergue information for all towns along the way

The Red de Albergue group put out an excellent albergue brochure annually.
http://www.alberguescamino.com/

You can pick up a copy at any member albergue.

http://alberguescamino.com/guia.pdf