Books are heavy

[MARSKA]

I know. Books are heavy. But.

The people with whom I walked studied their preferred guidebook (along with a variety of apps) EVERYDAY.

I left my book at home (books are heavy) but very soon regretted the decision. I looked in stores every chance I had but was unable to find my fav guide while on the Camino.
Luckily, a Pilgrim before me left a guidebook ( my second fav one) at an albergue. I snapped it up.

Pilgrims without books often asked those with books questions like "what does the book say" even though almost all of us had the apps.

Just say'n

 

[trecile]

Fortunately many Camino books are available in Kindle format, so they don't add weight to my pack.

 

[roving_rufus]

I have been known to photograph the guidebook on my phone so I had it but didn't need to carry it

 

[MARSKA]

I have been known to photograph the guidebook on my phone so I had it but didn't need to carry it

Yes, I know people do this. Much harder to read though.

 

[roving_rufus]

Yes, I know people do this. Much harder to read though.

Yes a book is easier to read - but for a few minutes reading I am willing to sacrifice that ease for weight.
But I know others spent a significant amount of time reading guidebooks. I tend not to but i wonder if this is now because I have a few caminos done- I did carry Brierley on my first camino so i am sure I read it, but never took one again. I do tend to have a distance sheet between towns (noting if accommodation is available) which I use to plan upcoming days. I more enjoy reading the guide at home than carrying it., but the photos let me refer to it if I want.

 

[good_old_shoes]

I prefer the old school printed books.

Tried e-book and photos of guide book... But realized I prefer a bit more weight over having to get out my phone, starting the app, and scrolling to the correct page whenever I want to have a look at the map ect. More complicated and takes longer to use the phone than the book, for me. With a book/map I need 3 seconds max to find the page/spot I need and it's always at hand (map is always folded to show the area I'm in at the moment).

For the Francés I don't use a guide book anymore, but the copies you get at the St. Jean pilgrim office (with elevation, distances and accommodation).

Love to read the guide books and to study the maps in the evening and morning.

I always rip out the pages I don't need anymore, so the book gets lighter every day.

Pilgrims without books often asked those with books questions like "what does the book say" even though almost all of us had the apps.

Yep. I also noticed that when I am hiking at home and sitting somewhere resting for a while, studying my old school giant folding paper maps while eating my sandwich, other hikers often approach me and ask for the way, even though they surely have a phone for navigation.

 

[Robo]

I've noticed these days that the books are in smaller and smaller print, making them very hard to read.
Of course it couple be my eyes
So I just use the Kindle/app versions now, as I can zoom in a bit.

But I do like a paper map, to make notes on.
A forum member 'gave' me one this year, that was Gronze maps printed 3-4 to a page.
Worked like a charm.......

 

[J Willhaus]

I love a good hard copy of anything. Probably my age, but I can read a lot
faster than I can watch a YouTube video. Apps have their place and I am trying to adapt to e-books. Still in my office as a professor (which will soon retire from) I have thousands of tree-killing articles printed and reach for them often.

Don't know what will happen when I retire in May, but think I will still like a hard copy guidebook.

 

[camino07]

I also like to take my guide book although I have Wise Pilgrim Apps on my phone. Also must have a book to read. Part of my must haves in my backpack.

 

[Scott Sweeney]

I know. Books are heavy. But.

The people with whom I walked studied their preferred guidebook (along with a variety of apps) EVERYDAY.

I left my book at home (books are heavy) but very soon regretted the decision. I looked in stores every chance I had but was unable to find my fav guide while on the Camino.
Luckily, a Pilgrim before me left a guidebook ( my second fav one) at an albergue. I snapped it up.

Pilgrims without books often asked those with books questions like "what does the book say" even though almost all of us had the apps.

Just say'n

Bought one years ago but never carried it nor never needed it. I'm always amused at the people that feel they need to buy a new guidebook yearly.

 

[JerryStroebele]

Some of the Village to Village guides I have used are very light and compact. But I have LOTS of apps and several books on my phone Kindle. Prefer paper just not
much. Buen Camino

 

[Bradypus]

I'm always amused at the people that feel they need to buy a new guidebook yearly.

The last Camino guidebook I bought was dated 1985. I seem to get by without buying a new one each time.

 

[woody66]

Hi!

All my books and apps are in audio format on my phone!
They weigh nothing. (18 at the moment)
For my Camino this year i had Sandy Browns guide book, i also used his GPX track to follow the path and some of the variants!
I set the text to speech engine to read one page at a time and not continuous reading.
Osmand+ has the stop music option; so when a direction change was required the book narration pauses then continues.
Gets me to Santiago with a fair bit of help from others to exit most of the larger towns!
My most memorable being the Spanish post lady with a ciggie hanging out of the corner of her mouth pushing her trolley in front of us for a very long way to get me back on Camino!
Bless her.
Woody

 

[Caminogoat]

I know. Books are heavy. But.

The people with whom I walked studied their preferred guidebook (along with a variety of apps) EVERYDAY.

I left my book at home (books are heavy) but very soon regretted the decision. I looked in stores every chance I had but was unable to find my fav guide while on the Camino.
Luckily, a Pilgrim before me left a guidebook ( my second fav one) at an albergue. I snapped it up.

Pilgrims without books often asked those with books questions like "what does the book say" even though almost all of us had the apps.

Just say'n

I love my guidebook also, but I did not carry a hard copy. I scanned each page. with my phone.

 

[Simon B]

I know. Books are heavy. But.

The people with whom I walked studied their preferred guidebook (along with a variety of apps) EVERYDAY.

I left my book at home (books are heavy) but very soon regretted the decision. I looked in stores every chance I had but was unable to find my fav guide while on the Camino.
Luckily, a Pilgrim before me left a guidebook ( my second fav one) at an albergue. I snapped it up.

Pilgrims without books often asked those with books questions like "what does the book say" even though almost all of us had the apps.

Just say'n

I always take my kindle - not very heavy and many Camino books can be downloaded. Also I am an avid reader so can have all my favourite novels with me.

 

[mlhhome]

I know. Books are heavy. But.

The people with whom I walked studied their preferred guidebook (along with a variety of apps) EVERYDAY.

I left my book at home (books are heavy) but very soon regretted the decision. I looked in stores every chance I had but was unable to find my fav guide while on the Camino.
Luckily, a Pilgrim before me left a guidebook ( my second fav one) at an albergue. I snapped it up.

Pilgrims without books often asked those with books questions like "what does the book say" even though almost all of us had the apps.

Just say'n

I remember the days when we tore out guidebook pages (after competing a stage) to make our backpack lighter….

 

[JulieandPeter]

I have a feeling you will be back. Like many of us, you will return again and again. During one of those walks, someone will ask you for directions. You'll reach for your well-worn, torn out page that has all of the "stages" on a single page (because you won't need a map of every stage anymore), and you'll realize you left the page at home. I'm NOT advising to travel without maps or a guidebook (we used our guidebook to get unlost on several occasions early on), but if you find yourself on the CF again and again and again . . . and again, you won't miss the extra weight of a book or single page. You'll know where you are.

Having said that, I just found this photo of a guidebook page we sent to our son when he was walking behind us in 2017. We got lost and found ourselves on a very pretty road without a clue we had taken a wrong turn. A group of women out for a morning walk let us know we were lost and set us off in the right direction.

We sent the photo to our son because we wanted to let him know where we went wrong, however, I'm sharing it here because of my note "grilled chicken." We had a great meal at Casa De Los Deseos! It's a wonderful place to stop for lunch. Obviously, based on the map notes, we wanted to make sure our son ate. Another fun reminder noted on this page is our decision to stay in private rooms on Camino #2 because we learned during Camino #1 that my husband "sure can snore!" (he also loves his plastic bags).

Wishing you many, many more walks!

 

[Bradypus]

I remember the days when we tore out guidebook pages (after competing a stage) to make our backpack lighter….

On my first Camino I used the guidebook written by Elias Valiña. Very distinctive page size and format. Someone ahead of me had been tearing pages from their copy for use as toilet paper. I didn't check but I assume they were for stages which were now behind them - in at least two senses....

 

[williamlittig]

I know. Books are heavy. But.

The people with whom I walked studied their preferred guidebook (along with a variety of apps) EVERYDAY.

I left my book at home (books are heavy) but very soon regretted the decision. I looked in stores every chance I had but was unable to find my fav guide while on the Camino.
Luckily, a Pilgrim before me left a guidebook ( my second fav one) at an albergue. I snapped it up.

Pilgrims without books often asked those with books questions like "what does the book say" even though almost all of us had the apps.

Just say'n

Authors deserve to be paid for their hard work. I buy the guides then using my phone photograph the pages, I can expand the images to see details and I haven't added weight.

 

[Richard Smith]

Someone ahead of me had been tearing pages from their copy

Initially I thought this was going in the direction of "what a great way to avoid the weight of bringing my own guidebook", until the rest of the sentence ...

for use as toilet paper.

 

[Icacos]

…. for use as toilet paper.

i hope that’s not a commentary on what he thought of the guide book.

 

[SeaHorse]

Hahaha, yes, I remember sitting in albergue common room and there was the big guide book. Browsed it, toyed with thought that I could take it with me, wouldn't it be awesome to know all about the Camino at a glance. Looked at the big brick and decided not to.

 

[J Willhaus]

Fortunate this December that the Brierley Guide is available to my student group as an e-book through our university library. It's the version for the last few stages from O'Cebrerio. Of course difficult to get lost on this stretch, but his writing style goes along with our Pilgrimage for the mind, body, and soul class theme. And I like that it tells you a bit about what you are seeing as you walk along. Dave Whitson's @Dave book Pilgrimage a medieval cure for a modern ills is our other textbook also available on e-book. I will carry both on my phone this year although I prefer the paper copy guidebook.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I LOVE book's, always have, always will. My bookshelves are literally overflowing. (I should buy another, but I hope to move home again in a few years...)

Guide books are a whole different story. My first step out of NZ was to Aus, relatively spontaneously - I had so much to do getting rid of most of my gear and storing a few special items ( eg book's) that the thought of a guidebook never even occurred to me. Spent 8 months touring around without one. Next stop England with 3 days notice - unmissable opportunity, long story.
Had no idea where to go or to stay once I hit London. I'd heard of Earls Court so that's where I headed and followed a backpack out of the station. Turned out to be a French guy and he knew where he was going to stay - we became good friends.
I did buy one for Europe but found that it was generally just a lot of dead weight other than the accommodation options. Got rid of it. I'd get one of those free local maps from wherever I was staying or nearby tourist info, mark my hostel, stick it in my back pocket and go for a walk. All day. Every day. I missed many famous sites but I also found lots of places that apparently the guide books didn't even mention. I found wonderful little bakeries, cafe's & restaurants by following locals; incredible little churches, bridges, icecream place's, picnic sites - you name it. At the end of the day I'd pull out the map and figure out where the heck I was and where I needed to go to get 'home'. Missed the last train in Paris once, it was a three hour walk.... .
So for the next 9 years that became my theme. I admit to missing having a guidebook in China though. Met an English woman on the Trans-Siberian railway and we were heading in roughly the same direction just via different places. We would arrange to meet every three-four days and every time we did I would avidly read her guidebook on the places I wished to go! Not so many tourists back then let alone English speakers. (Mind you I was a magnet for those! The Chinese - like everybody else - are a wonderful, welcoming people).

Fast forward to this year and my first Camino. Just the Inglès so rather short. No guide book, no map, no app - no problem. Had viewed a few YouTube videos though.
I did buy a very simple one to help me plan my stages for the Primitivo. The plan went out the window on day three because at Bodenaya I met some wonderful people that I walked with for the next couple of days - but hey that's what the camino is about right!
Except for the Verde Variant I just followed the arrows. To find that I followed the advice and guidance from here on the forum that some here very kindly gave.
No map, no app, no guidebook.
I have to admit to downloading mappy.cz now I'm back here in Germany, because with the project that I'm slowly working on - walking to Switzerland over the next couple of years - I'm finding that the camino/Jacob's Weg here is not very well marked. If at all sometimes. And my poor German reading skills put guide books a little out of contention. I also have a large map that shows all of the Caminos in Europe, for planning purposes.
I might have to consider a guidebook or at the very least Gronze for stage 2 if I ever get to it - Switzerland to Finisterre. Unless somebody knows a really good guide book in English? The winter is upon us, I'd love a good read!!!

 

[David61]

I know weight is everything but am pretty sure my guidebook was in the grammes rather than the kilogrammes

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I know weight is everything but am pretty sure my guidebook was in the grammes rather than the kilogrammes

My Primitivo guidebook was very light but I simply just didn't need it once the basic planning was done and for accommodation numbers for the first couple of days. I had a few notes in a (literal) notebook along with important details such as a few emergency contact numbers, passport details, flight numbers etc - literally a paper backup. I've learned the hard way that phones can die when you most need them!
For the rest it's because I love to explore and find out for myself. For me guide books create too many expectations, and I believe many people limit what they seek to what's in the book (or their app) and don't simply open their eyes and the hearts to the world around them. It also forces you to communicate with the locals!
Neither way is wrong.
We all walk our own Camino

 

[RJM]

Honestly I have never found the weight of my Camino guidebook to be even noticeable and if it really bothered me I'd tear out the pages that I don't need and they do have maps only versions.
The thing I like most about guidebooks is that I can disconnect even more from a cellphone/device when I am on the Camino. I try to have as little contact as possible with the electronic teat.

 

[WGroleau]

Don't know what will happen when I retire in May, but think I will still like a hard copy guidebook.

I like books, too. But when I retired and hit the road, I realized that the only way to keep my good-sized library was with an iPad.