I’ve also now completed this walk. Having started in Sevilla, we headed SW from Salamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo, then NW through Portugal (Almeida, Pinhel, Trancoso, Lamego, Amarante, Guimarães, Braga), not seeing another backpack until Ponte de Lima, from where, as expected, we saw many.
Waymarking on the whole, was very good (an opinion coloured, perhaps, by the expectation, prior to walking, that we’d find little). That said, there were sections / occasions where I was glad of the security of having GPX tracks to hand.
All-in-all, a great Camino- lots to offer- Spain, west of Salamanca, was impressive – wide vistas, big sky, muchos toros. Portugal, the Duoro valley particularly (as mentioned by “Perigrino Robert”), is genuinely beautiful. Also, even coming from the VdlP (quiet itself in July), the peace / solitude / whatever one might call it, offered by the ‘Torres’ is a great attraction – our arrival in Ponte de Lima, with its relative hoards of pilgrims, required a little mental readjustment.
On that subject, the hospitaleiro of Alba De Yeltes, the third stop after Salamanca, a very helpful man by the name of Jacinto Martín García, keeps a register of all pilgrims who stay at the albergue – and all walkers (save for people camping I suppose) must – no other towns within reasonable distance, and no other accommodation possibilities in the town. His register begins in 2011, when a single individual, a cyclist, stopped there. In 2012, there were 12 pilgims (5 walkers and a group of 7 cyclists). 2013 shows 31 pilgrims (9 walkers and 22 cyclists – including a group of 17). In 2014, up to late July, when we passed through, there had been (including us) 9 pilgrims, all on foot. That made us pilgrims numbers 52 and 53, and walkers numbers 22 and 23 – as stated, quiet. And, I noted that I appear to be the first Irish person to walk the route (Woo-hoo!).
Anyway, much to be enjoyed, a great walk.
, but am a little concerned about the Albergues until then. If there are any.
