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Camino with the most nature / forest

Jean Ti

Active Member
Good day

In the past I have walk the camino Norte, Vía de la Plata, Primitivo and Portuguese.

In all these camino's there is a mix of walking on the street and in the nature/forest. For example there is a lot of walking on the street while doing the Norte.

From your experience what are the camino were you have experience the porcentaje of walking in nature/forest?

This info would certainly influence my future camino selection.

Thank you for your help.
 
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The le Puy route (Via Podiensis) in France. That would be my best overall suggestion for you.

The Camino Frances has frequent wide vistas with mountains in the distance from Pamplona to Leon. A very different feel from the le Puy route. It becomes progressively more forested as you enter Bierzo and Galicia.

I would nominate these two routes based on my recollections of each. Others may poke holes in my estimation. Let's see. ;)
 
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I guess Members will continue to conflate Pilgrimage and a nice walk in the Spanish countryside as it suits them. If you want to make pilgrimage, take pilgrimage; if you want a nice hike have one. There are no rules on Camino.

Gronze.com is pretty good at designating tarmac & nature. If you want to get to Santiago and his shrine - well there are many roads and some of them are hard & some of them are soft. The soft ones tend to stick to your boots...
 
Good day

In the past I have walk the camino Norte, Vía de la Plata, Primitivo and Portuguese.

In all these camino's there is a mix of walking on the street and in the nature/forest. For example there is a lot of walking on the street while doing the Norte.

From your experience what are the camino were you have experience the porcentaje of walking in nature/forest?

This info would certainly influence my future camino selection.

Thank you for your help.

Vasco or tunnel route is for the most part in the Pyrenees. A beautiful walk through Basque Country with some nice sections of forest.
 
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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Of the various caminos I have done, I think that the most foresty would be (in order): 1) the Vadiniense, between Potes and Mansilla las Mulas, 2) the Castellano Aragones, between Borja and Silos, or 3) the Tolosana, between Toulouse and the French border. The Aragones between Jaca and Puente la Reina is also good.

Walks in the countryside often turn into pilgrimages, in spite of the walker's intent, and I think that the Vadiniense is the strongest in that direction. Centuries of smelly sweaty people praying as they stumble along have a way of transfiguring the landscape. While the Aragonese has a decent pilgrim population and some infrastructure, although nowhere in the same league as the Francese, the three I have mentioned are very solitary--- you might run into no other pilgrims in the full length of them!-- and the infrastructure is light.
 
It's interesting that this thread, out of so many that compare the merits of various caminos, has attracted critical responses. I'll sidestep the discussion about the nature of pilgrimage, and focus instead on the nature of nature.

If by "nature" we mean a landscape that hasn't been shaped by human intervention - virgin forests etc. - I think that this is vanishingly rare on the camino routes in Spain. Pilgrims, historically, have cleaved to the "beaten paths" (e.g. trade routes and cattle roads) rather than straying far from them. When taking routes from town to town, one tends to pass through agricultural, not natural landscapes. Today, even when you find a wooded area, it's often a managed woodland with trees in neat rows.

Perhaps the dehesa that one walks though in Extremadura on the Via de la Plata has relatively little evidence of daily human intervention - livestock roam freely on the plain with scattered holm oak trees. But this is not a forest. It is far from lush and while the plains may appear wide open at first glance, the beasts are nonetheless kept on their owners' territory by fences and walls.

To say that it is not natural is not to disparage the scenery of the camino. I have spent many days agog at the splendor of the landscapes - from the badlands around Guadix, the vast olive groves around Baena (although, to be honest, this monoculture has gone too far), the dehesa in Extremadura, and the lush countryside of Galicia. For me, the chance to contemplate these landscapes is a large part of what makes the camino rewarding.

If you want true wilderness and forests in Europe, I think the best place is Romania. If you want the lushest landscapes in Spain with all the infrastructure to support you, I think Galicia is the place to go. If you want a pilgrimage that takes you through virgin forests and cost is no object, I think the Kumano Kodo in Japan is probably tops.
 

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The Camino of Slovakia starting near the eastern city of Kosice is almost all nature until you enter big cities. I agree that it’s a pilgrimage and personally do not scoot around “industrial” sections as those sections make the more nature set stages even more precious. At this point ANY camino would be amazing.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
The Camino of Slovakia starting near the eastern city of Kosice is almost all nature until you enter big cities. I agree that it’s a pilgrimage and personally do not scoot around “industrial” sections as those sections make the more nature set stages even more precious. At this point ANY camino would be amazing.
Great to hear, as I didn't know there was a camino starting in Kosice, which is near the place I was born, though now in Canada many years. I'm interested to hear if you walked the whole way from Kosice to SdC or what part you did. I'll definitely consider that for a future pilgrimage. Oh and I totally agree that at this point I would be thrilled to walk any pilgrimage.
 
Based on google map the distance on foot from Kosice to Santiago would be 2850 KM.

Wow sound like an amazing trip to me! On a 25km average it would take 114 days of walking.

I wonder if anyone on this site did ever walk that much in one single trip?
 
Based on google map the distance on foot from Kosice to Santiago would be 2850 KM.

Wow sound like an amazing trip to me! On a 25km average it would take 114 days of walking.

I wonder if anyone on this site did ever walk that much in one single trip?

Of course.
See @domigee who walked from the UK to Jerusalem.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Based on google map the distance on foot from Kosice to Santiago would be 2850 KM.

Wow sound like an amazing trip to me! On a 25km average it would take 114 days of walking.

I wonder if anyone on this site did ever walk that much in one single trip?

Yes, and much more. (not me though)
 
Based on google map the distance on foot from Kosice to Santiago would be 2850 KM.

Wow sound like an amazing trip to me! On a 25km average it would take 114 days of walking.

I wonder if anyone on this site did ever walk that much in one single trip?
In 2019 I met three Czech pilgrims in Llanes, and later in Santiago, who had walked from Prague. One of them was fulfilling a vow and the other two, a couple, went along to keep her company. Kosice is 612km away from Prague, so that would take another month of walking. Another 2 months and 3 weeks could get you through the 2300km to Santiago de Compostela. The Czechs had been walking for three months and looked very fit.
 
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Great to hear, as I didn't know there was a camino starting in Kosice, which is near the place I was born, though now in Canada many years. I'm interested to hear if you walked the whole way from Kosice to SdC or what part you did. I'll definitely consider that for a future pilgrimage. Oh and I totally agree that at this point I would be thrilled to walk any pilgrimage.
The had only marked Kosice to Levice when I walked it. But it was very nice, rustic fresh cottage accommodation, seminary, a hostel f I remember. Now it’s marked to Bratislava. It was headed by a south American fellow who immigrated to Slovakia for studies and a Slovak young woman who had worked in Spain. I just moved back from Piestany where I lived 15 years......I miss it so much.
 
Chemin Arles between Montpellier and Castres and Voie Littoral between Sanguinet and Bayonne beat hands down all other other routes I have been on for trees, forests and lack of civilisation, however I done little sections on the Voie Ossau and Voie Piemont and they are right up there. On the Spanish side the most forestry is in Galicia, and the San Salvador, but I have not done the Camino de Invierno yet and that seems to have an abundance of trees and a lack of towns.
 
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You might want to check out the Piemonte. I have only walked the section west of Carcasone but it was very nice.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Based on google map the distance on foot from Kosice to Santiago would be 2850 KM.

Wow sound like an amazing trip to me! On a 25km average it would take 114 days of walking.

I wonder if anyone on this site did ever walk that much in one single trip?
Rome to Santiago in 2012. 2720 km, 97 days.
 
Historical Route on the Rota Vicentina. I walked 8 days in Feb, 2019, beautiful, serene. Add on the Fisherman's Route for coastal views.
 
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I am wondering if there is albergues along the way or you are sleeping in hotel most of the time?
54 of the 97 nights were in albergue/YH/gite style budget or donativo accommodation
 
Historical Route on the Rota Vicentina. I walked 8 days in Feb, 2019, beautiful, serene. Add on the Fisherman's Route for coastal views.
I walked the Fisherman's Trail in April 2019 before walking the Portuguese route from Porto...I loved the FT, too! Highly recommend it.
 
The OP asked a simple question. The thread was derailed by comment about the OP''s motivation and argument about pilgrimage v hiking.

The answers are off topic and also consider Rule 2 - no discussion about religion because it always ends up in a fight. Pilgrimage/hiking and religion/atheism?

I have removed most of the argumentative posts and ask that members stick to the point and answer the question posed: ie what is the best route for walking in nature/forest - noting that the OP has already walked the Primitivo, the Norte, and the Portuguese - wonderful how answers often ignore the information in the post they are answering!
 
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