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I have the maps-only version for our continued trip to Finisterre and Muxia but the maps are clearly innacurate in the main guide. So inaccurate that they could be dangerous if this was a wilderness guide without all the markings found along this route. Consequently I'm hoping those paths are well marked because I'm not confident the maps will be of any real use.The Brierley guide served my purposes quite well, so I can't answer your question. My preference is the maps-only version.
Consequently I'm hoping those paths are well marked because I'm not confident the maps will be of any real use.
But it is not a wilderness guide! If you are a fan of precise maps, then this book was not a good choice. Personal preference.they could be dangerous if this was a wilderness guide
I just wonder what you expected. The maps are representational - one might say topological. They correctly represent the layout of the route without ever claiming to represent distance or direction with any accuracy. If you wanted topographic or photo-mapping levels of accuracy, you clearly didn't look at what you were going to get. To compare it to a wilderness guide when the camino is far from wilderness strikes me as just a little over the top.I have the maps-only version for our continued trip to Finisterre and Muxia but the maps are clearly innacurate in the main guide. So inaccurate that they could be dangerous if this was a wilderness guide without all the markings found along this route. Consequently I'm hoping those paths are well marked because I'm not confident the maps will be of any real use.
I like spiritual reflections, appreciate them, in fact, but his seem to be laboured.I just wonder what you expected. The maps are representational - one might say topological. They correctly represent the layout of the route without ever claiming to represent distance or direction with any accuracy. If you wanted topographic or photo-mapping levels of accuracy, you clearly didn't look at what you were going to get. To compare it to a wilderness guide when the camino is far from wilderness strikes me as just a little over the top.
And if you don't like the spiritual reflections, ignore them.
So far, everyone who has responded has failed to answer your question, which was itself a game-like challenge.I asked if there was a worse guide book. You failed to answer. No, Brierly's guide doesn't work for me. It seems heavily criticized by pilgrims along the trail with whom I am in contact. That does not infer that I am an author. If you choose to send up a challenge game please play your games elsewhere and do so with someone else. I'm allowed to question his book and his skills.
So far, everyone who has responded has failed to answer your question, which was itself a game-like challenge.
Its fortunate that the trail is so well marked that the book really is never needed for trail guidance.
I'm also finding the V-to-V guide is far more accurate and useful than Brierly.I used the Village to Village to the Camino guide twice and loved it ! km's are accurate (I got the same distances on my Polar watch) .
The distances and maps are wrong and misleading.If the trail is so well marked, why is it necessary or useful for someone to spend the effort to create a guide that would go way beyond its utility?
We used Brierly with no problem.
It's good you had no issues but that doesn't make the guide good
Not life threatening for a healthy person but still seriously wrong and could lead to people not refilling water bottles because they believe they are closer to a village than is true.
I did post it on Facebook. Hovever the majority on FB seemed to criticize Brierly. It was referred to there (until the posts were deleted) as the book of lies.This is a subject that is purely a personal choice.
Posts that are overtly hostile have been deleted.
It is fine to post your opinion on the merits of the book...for your needs. Please do not attack other people who have a different opinion.
This same subject was posted (by the OP) on a different site and drew much of the same type of replies.
The distances and maps are wrong and misleading.
Not life threatening for a healthy person but still seriously wrong and could lead to people not refilling water bottles because they believe they are closer to a village than is true.
It's good you had no issues but that doesn't make the guide good
IMHO , it really seems that the places marked in his guide are the ones that paid to be put there, so much is left out and the KM are off to the point that sometimes not sure where you are, and also some listings are out of order, saying they are in one village but are actually in another, anyway, my rantSadly hard to find those guides in the small villages that are along the route. I should have picked up the Michelin guide in Leon (or earlier).
I do have a Kindle copy of The Village to Village Guide to ththe Camino and find it better, but still not great.
I'm curious what guide is worse than Brierly's?
Seems like Brierly is trying to highlight the spiritual aspects (which I do greatly appreciate, at least in theory) but his attempts to do so seem to fail. So his maps are inaccurate, his path guides woefully incomplete, and his spirituality seems to fall flat. Clearly my opinions, but WOW its hard to imagine something is worse than this guidebook. It seems good at home but fails in actual use.
Its fortunate that the trail is so well marked that the book really is never needed for trail guidance.
I didn't think the guide was my ,go to, depend on, or all would fail, but I did expect , that when a guide says , to point a . 1/2 km, turns out to be 1.5 km, or albergue , b, 2 km , and it s1/2 km, I did use it and found it very helpful, just needed a bit of editingThis poisonous kind of post is exactly why I got out of the guide-writing business. Some people expect WAY too much from a trail guidebook, and then write vituperative comments when it does not answer their questions or give them exactly what they want.
If you are fit and reasonably resourceful, you can walk the Camino Frances without a guidebook. When you see a fountain, top up your bottle. When you are tired and there's an inn with rooms available, jump on it. If you can't go another step and there's no room, ask the bartender or policeman what place he knows where you can go.
Sleeping in the sports hall or church porch is not fatal.
Maps are iffy, hostels and albergues open and close without notice. Life is full of suffering, and a pilgrimage is supposed to teach you to depend on providence, or your own enterprise.
Guidebooks are good, they are fun to write, but guide writers are not be responsible for the success or failure of anyone's Dream Holiday Vacation of Enlightenment.
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