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Sanabres spring 2024
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I walked from Sevilla last April (same time as your first attempt). Some times the yellow arrows were confusing. In cases such as you described I opted to follow wise pilgrim route and I also had maps that I download the night before when I have wifi access so I can compare. I found Wise Pilgrim was more reliable than the arrows.Last year I started the Via de la Plata in Seville with my friend Tom from Sydney whom I met at a yoga studio in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We and his girlfriend Julie walked the Camino Frances my second time, their first time in the autumn of 2017. With the pandemic dehind us and both Tom and I recently retired, we set out from Seville the day after Easter and a week of Semana Santa celebrations. By Granja De Moreruela, I had developed severe tendonitis in my lower left leg, and with the pain worsening every say I stopped.
After arriving home early, disappointed and frustrated that I was not able to finish, I decided to return and finish this spring. My brother-in-law and a close friend of his joined me, we met in Madrid, then started walking in Zamora on May 2 (east train access from Madrid to Zamora).
We are now in A Guidina (this particular keyboard does not let me easily add the accents, so please forgive me), having gotten over the longest and highest point on the Sanabres yesterday. We have been using the Wise Pilgrim app and Gerald Kelley's notes, but mostly just follow the yellow arrows. That is leading us to a good bit of frustration, especially yesterday and today. Yesterday was Puebla de Sanabres to Lubian. Even Gerald Kelley noted to watch out for conflicting arrows. But he does not indication which to actually take. And the Wise Pilgrim route is not at all the same as following the yellow arrows. There was one point where there were not one, not two, but three yellow arrows (one was a monument waymarker) saying to go right, so we did. We saw some more yellow arrows going down to Aciberos, then they disappeared completely.
We are completely aware that there were many differing and changing detours while the high-speed rail was being constructed. That is now complete, so we were hoping for a fairly clear route over the mountain. No such luck.
After not seeing arrows for close to an hour, and too many unknowns ahead, we backtracked to the intersection with the three arrows. Wise Pilgrim says to go left here (?!?!), so we followed Wise Pilgrim's route and eventually got to Lubian. While following Wise Pilgrim's route from this intersection, there were NO yellow arrows, not a single one, except signs advertising Casa Irene in Lubian. All of the backtracking added about 5 kilometers of mostly uphill climbing making for a very frustrating and tiring day.
And today, following the yellow arrows as we approached A Guidina took us off Wise Pilgrim's route. We do not know this area - should we trust Wise Pilgrim or trust the yellow arrows and waymarkers? This has become the Camino de Frustration. With the AVE construction well completed, can Wise Pilgrim, Gerald Kelley, and the people who paint the yellow arrows and place the granite waymarkers please, please get in synch? Or is this just asking the impossible?
I don't get it. I was hoping to follow a known route. Having to often guess where to go is not facilitating an atmosphere of reflection as we make this pilgrimage walk across Spain.
Buen Camino!
--james--
Last year I started the Via de la Plata in Seville with my friend Tom from Sydney whom I met at a yoga studio in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We and his girlfriend Julie walked the Camino Frances my second time, their first time in the autumn of 2017. With the pandemic dehind us and both Tom and I recently retired, we set out from Seville the day after Easter and a week of Semana Santa celebrations. By Granja De Moreruela, I had developed severe tendonitis in my lower left leg, and with the pain worsening every say I stopped.
After arriving home early, disappointed and frustrated that I was not able to finish, I decided to return and finish this spring. My brother-in-law and a close friend of his joined me, we met in Madrid, then started walking in Zamora on May 2 (east train access from Madrid to Zamora).
We are now in A Guidina (this particular keyboard does not let me easily add the accents, so please forgive me), having gotten over the longest and highest point on the Sanabres yesterday. We have been using the Wise Pilgrim app and Gerald Kelley's notes, but mostly just follow the yellow arrows. That is leading us to a good bit of frustration, especially yesterday and today. Yesterday was Puebla de Sanabres to Lubian. Even Gerald Kelley noted to watch out for conflicting arrows. But he does not indication which to actually take. And the Wise Pilgrim route is not at all the same as following the yellow arrows. There was one point where there were not one, not two, but three yellow arrows (one was a monument waymarker) saying to go right, so we did. We saw some more yellow arrows going down to Aciberos, then they disappeared completely.
We are completely aware that there were many differing and changing detours while the high-speed rail was being constructed. That is now complete, so we were hoping for a fairly clear route over the mountain. No such luck.
After not seeing arrows for close to an hour, and too many unknowns ahead, we backtracked to the intersection with the three arrows. Wise Pilgrim says to go left here (?!?!), so we followed Wise Pilgrim's route and eventually got to Lubian. While following Wise Pilgrim's route from this intersection, there were NO yellow arrows, not a single one, except signs advertising Casa Irene in Lubian. All of the backtracking added about 5 kilometers of mostly uphill climbing making for a very frustrating and tiring day.
And today, following the yellow arrows as we approached A Guidina took us off Wise Pilgrim's route. We do not know this area - should we trust Wise Pilgrim or trust the yellow arrows and waymarkers? This has become the Camino de Frustration. With the AVE construction well completed, can Wise Pilgrim, Gerald Kelley, and the people who paint the yellow arrows and place the granite waymarkers please, please get in synch? Or is this just asking the impossible?
I don't get it. I was hoping to follow a known route. Having to often guess where to go is not facilitating an atmosphere of reflection as we make this pilgrimage walk across Spain.
Buen Camino!
--james--
Hi JamesTo Gerald Kelly,
First, my apologies for misspelling your last name. I have your app, and have contributed to you in some way in the past because while the app is "free," I think developers of useful apps deserve to be compensated. I bought your actual guidebooks before my first pilgrimage walk on the Camino Frances in 2016.
Second, my brother-in-law figured out how to get to the profile and map sections of your app -- it is so easy, I'm embarassed to reveal that I did not figure that out earlier. Nevertheless, we now have even more information with which to continue our pilgrimage walk. Today to Laza.
Third, how can I re-up or whatever my purchase of the app? Even without knowing how to see the map and elevation profiles, your notes on the stages and towns have been invaluable. Now knowing how to really use your app, it is even more valuable and I want to contribute.
My brother-in-law, his friend, and I are really enjoying our walk on the Camino Sanabres. It is quite the contrast from my walk last year on the Via de la Plata from Seville to Granja de Moreruela. We are loving the beautiful vistas and the walk itself.
Thank-you Mr. Kelly, thank-you Camino Forum.
Buen Camino,
--james--
It was bothersome, but we took it slow. Yes, it is hard on the knees. Hiking poles help. And the pilgrim's rest area just before the downhill started was a nice break. The lady who runs it deserves a medal!James, it looks like that l o n g downhill to Ponte Ulla didn't bother you at all. Possibly I am the only wuss whose knees were affected by that 10% grade that continued for 2.5k! Thankfully my knee is nearly recovered a full week later.
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