Camino Primitivo Guidebooks....

[rappahannock_rev]

I'm a Brierley devotee, but there is no Brierley Camino Primitivo guidebook,.

Ivar is currently selling three different non-Brierley CP guidebooks through the Forum store, some of them 'hot off the presses', as they used to say! ... Which one should I buy to help me plan for a possible 2020 walk?

 

[Via2010]

I can only report on the german guidebooks (outdoor and rother). rother has better maps, but plans with fixed day-by-day-stages, whereas outdoor contains more information (though some is only the personal opinion of the author and some is not really relavant for the average pilgrim). The outdoor describes the camino from albergue to albergue, thus encouraging you to plan your individual stages, whereas the rother has some stages which seem rather ambitious for the average pilgrim.

If I were to walk again, I would use this tool to plan my stages

Camino Primitivo - plan and micro-guide

and check possible accomodation (albergues etc.) with Gronze.

A guidebook is not really necessary, unless you want to know more about the cultural background.
Perhaps it is possible to check the various options on Amazon with "look inside the book"?

BC
Alexandra

 

[Walli Walker]

I’ve got both the Wise Pilgrim Guide & the Village to Village Map Guide.
I start from Oviedo on Friday. I’ll let you know how they are.
Jacki.

 

[Tincatinker]

Your question intrigued me so I tried to remember which guide book I used on my first Primitivo. I found the Cicerone guide to the Northern Caminos on the shelves but I know I didn't carry it 'cos it covers all of the Norte as well and is fairly chunky. Then I found the battered Moleskine into which I'd transcribed information from Cicerone supplemented by lots of information from this very forum, from Gronze and even (from the look of it), a couple of cut & pastes from Tripeadvertiser. I'd added scraps of interest from Michelin, Oz Clarke's Wine Atlas and Lambert's Birds of Iberia. I don't remember getting lost, surprised or disappointed so I guess it worked ok.

I did take a couple of A4 pages with a print-out of the Camino Verde "guide" second time out. Getting from Sobrado to Santiago was just a case of "follow the pilgrim in front".

I like Mike's Wisepilgrim guides & have no experience of Village to Village. You could always download a couple of tracks into Maps.me if you're not hot on spotting yellow arrows but all the information a good pilgrim needs is out there.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

Your question intrigued me

Wine Atlas?! Wow! I suspect that I could learn a lot from you! ... If you and I met in Oviedo we could walk it together -- a Camino ecumenical triumph!

 

[lt56ny]

I used Wise Pilgrim when I did the Norte. It is downloaded on my phone. Good resource for albergues and when I used the GPS for a few alternative routes. Between Gronze.Com and Wise Pilgrim you should be completely covered. Especially good to have if you are walking during non peak times to know what is open.

 

[VNwalking]

If you and I met in Oviedo we could walk it together -- a Camino ecumenical triumph

Oh to be a fly on the wall.


Michael (@wisepilgrim)'s guide will be both up to date and well done. I can't speak from experience with this route per se - just speaking in general.

 

[john newman]

I used:
Wise Pilgrim,
Gronze and
Buen Camino apps.
No paper, no weight. I didn’t miss hard copy. They were sufficient and quicker than paper. Make sure you download the maps (Wisely) to your phone so you’re not wasting battery and data looking for a signal (there often isn’t one).
They also allow you to one click through to phone accommodation, and can individualise stages for you.
Each has its strength but combined, they are a good and cheap package.
John

 

[Eswee]

All you need is a map on your smartphone. I found the "WISELY : Camino Forum Places" app on this forum. It was a project of this forum with Wise Pilgrim Guides. It is free. You download your maps with the app and then you can use the app offline, without any wi-fi. I will do the Primitivo in September and this will be my guide.

 

[Via2010]

If you rely on an app, make sure not to break your smartphone.
I knew a Dutch girl who abandoned her camino because of that.
I do not think, that maps or an app with maps are really necessary. When I walked the Primitivo last year it was perfectly marked, but I would at least take a paper with the stages and the albergues available.

 

[jkk]

I’ve got both the Wise Pilgrim Guide & the Village to Village Map Guide.
I start from Oviedo on Friday. I’ll let you know how they are.
Jacki.

What is your recommendation now ?

 

[spursfan]

Wise pilgrim - slim, clever height profiles and wonderfully-detailed town plans as well as copious info re accomodation choices and distances

 

[jkk]

Wise pilgrim - slim, clever height profiles and wonderfully-detailed town plans as well as copious info re accomodation choices and distances

I am glad to hear that. My Wise Pilgrim Book arrived in the mail today. I am leaving next Wednesday. I am walking the San Salvador first.

 

[john newman]

If you’re taking a smart phone I’d also advise you to access Gronze.com and the Buen Camino app. I found Buen Camino the most useful on the Primitivo (June 2019).
John

 

[jkk]

If you’re taking a smart phone I’d also advise you to access Gronze.com and the Buen Camino app. I found Buen Camino the most useful on the Primitivo (June 2019).
John

Thanks.

 

[MollySpears]

I'm a Brierley devotee, but there is no Brierley Camino Primitivo guidebook,.

Ivar is currently selling three different non-Brierley CP guidebooks through the Forum store, some of them 'hot off the presses', as they used to say! ... Which one should I buy to help me plan for a possible 2020 walk?

I just finished C. Primitivo about 10 September. It was my first Camino. I really enjoyed the solitude of the Camino and became very anxious as the two Caminos merged with C. Frances about day 13. You will be quite happy with CP for all it glory.. however, as a guide(s), village to village was the primary guide for its ease. Careful with its distances, I would add km to your day in your mind. Be prepared to walk up to an additional 5 km outside of what the book states. Leaving Melide, I actually did 30 Km but the book said 25 km to my next location. But bare in mind I had reservations along the way and I needed to make the reservation... thus relegated to the Kms to walk. I also used Wisely Camino app (highly recommended) for distances and bought The Northern Caminos by Cicerone. That was just a guide.. village to village was the best to carry. Good luck.. Buen Camino Ann

 

[Ian Afloat]

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/wise-pilgrim-guide-to-the-primitivo.64032/

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I used the Cicerone guidebook "The Northern Caminos" and found it very sufficient, although it did take a while to adapt to the differences from Brierley's. I walked half if the Norte, then turned on to the Primitivo. Thoroughly enjoyed them both.