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construction on VdlP

jjarnold

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
camino francés 2008, Via de la Plata March-april 2016
Greetings. I am planning my second camino - having done the camino frances in 2006, i am now yearning for the via de la plata, departing easter 2016. it is likely i have only 5 weeks for walking and had wanted to start in Seville. So either i must start elsewhere, or skip some sections (which i didn't allow myself to do on the CF!) For instance, I see quite a few comments about disruptions to the route from civic constructions of roads and tramlines and thought it might be desirable to avoid those unpleasant sections. Is this still an issue? Any advice gratefully received.
 
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Memorable construction on the VDLP/Sanabres:
The stretch between Casar de Caceres and the Embalse de Alcantar. They had a road crew person on the camino who was actually encouraging people to walk along the road (No thanks!) but it is a very nice hiking trail up there.
A Gudina to Laza - ignore the board and just do the north route. The south route is fine for about half of it but then the markings disappear at the worst moments.
There was another spot where there is a new highway that is not completed where the signs disappear (Melanie mentions it in her app). Just walk on the new highway. You can see the town you are trying to get to so you can't get lost per se.
 
Just to clarify what @Donna Sch means re the A Gudiña - Laza stage: when they were first working on the AVE and there were lots of trunks on the Camino leaving A Gudiña (you follow the road for much of the way) it was suggested that you go through Verín via the south rather than through Campobecerros and on to Laza. When I went through the first time in 2013 we left early and missed the trucks.
I have since then done this part twice: October 2014 and this past July. Neither time was there a problem as the work has moved on to other parts. This stretch has lots of asphalt but I wouldn't miss it for anything as it is still beautiful despite the AVE works.

Re stage to Lubián: my friend José Almeida the hospitalero in the Albergue in Tábara said that he has added new arrows so as to avoid some of the construction.

I am not sure what she means by the last paragraph. Either way all of the Plata is well marked, the second time I did it without a guide book. Recent construction before Salamanca I can't help you with as the last time I did that stretch was February 2014.

Enjoy! It is a great Camino. If you walk an average of about 30-32 a day you could do it all in 5 weeks.
 
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thanks for the tips. seems those sections still worth it. What is this app of melanie to which you refer?
 
thanks for the help. looking forward to setting out next easter 2016.
 
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Hi everone,

I have to add the constructions (?) between Riego del Camino and Granja de Moreruela (july 2014). I started out from Riego in the dark, noticed there were new signs (peregrinos and arrows painted on plastic sheets instead of the regular ones on stones), then I got lost, ended up on a road that seemed to take me to the Monastery outside Granja, but corrected my mistake before arriving to the monastery, and set off for the right track, thanks to my compass. I entered Granja from another angle than the traditional camino (I have done this strech before so I knew I had left the camino). That's when I saw heavy trucks and construction gear right outside the town, right on the road I think was the traditional camino. I think they put up alternative signing so the pilgrims had to do a detour around the constructions.

Or perhaps I just got lost!! :OP

/BP
 
thanks for the info - don't fancy getting lost myself - perhaps i need to take a compass as you did. hopefully some of these constructions might have been completed by next spring,
 
There is an app in the App Store by Wise Pilgrim. I have downloaded it and it looks useful - but of course it is hard to know until you're on the trail! Has anyone used it?
 
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Currently in Plasencia and heading to Caparra today. The section from Casar de Cáceres to the Embalse was fine trail walking. The highway construction you encounter just before the reservoir has a diversion that takes you off to the left to an underpass and then back up and eventually onto the N 630 where you have to walk for about 6 Kms until you can get off road again. That bit on the N 630 is part of the route and is not a diversion.
 
Memorable construction on the VDLP/Sanabres:
The stretch between Casar de Caceres and the Embalse de Alcantar. They had a road crew person on the camino who was actually encouraging people to walk along the road (No thanks!) but it is a very nice hiking trail up there.
A Gudina to Laza - ignore the board and just do the north route. The south route is fine for about half of it but then the markings disappear at the worst moments.
There was another spot where there is a new highway that is not completed where the signs disappear (Melanie mentions it in her app). Just walk on the new highway. You can see the town you are trying to get to so you can't get lost per se.

Donna, is Melanie's app pretty much up to date? I'm thinking of walking the section from Caceres to either Salamanca or Zamora this year and was a little worried about the construction.
 
Donna, is Melanie's app pretty much up to date? I'm thinking of walking the section from Caceres to either Salamanca or Zamora this year and was a little worried about the construction.
Annie, I have used the Eroski guide three times now and have always found that they give up to date info on construction -- take a look here, for instance: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/etapa-de-puebla-de-sanabria-a-lubian

So, how many caminos are you going to walk this year, anyway?! Buen camino, Laurie
 
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.
Annie, I have used the Eroski guide three times now and have always found that they give up to date info on construction -- take a look here, for instance: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/etapa-de-puebla-de-sanabria-a-lubian

So, how many caminos are you going to walk this year, anyway?! Buen camino, Laurie

Haha! Yes, I tend to think out loud...

I'm walking from Madrid to Sahagun from April 17 to May 4.
Then I have a group on the Camino Francis until June 1.
I don't leave Spain until June 15, so I'm trying to decide what to do.
I want to save the Ebro for next year.
This year, I'd like to finish up another stage on the VDLP so I'm trying to decide if it will be from Caceres to Salamanca or Zamora.
Or if it will be the Sanabres, which was part of my plan of the VDLP.

I'm worried about the construction because I'm a coward and can't walk 38 kilometer stretches like you do! :eek::eek::p

I have Melanie's app but didn't know if it included the latest on the construction.
I'm looking at the eroski site again now.
 
So, how many caminos are you going to walk this year, anyway?! Buen camino, Laurie

As many as I can :p

Once I'm there, I'm there.
Sometimes I stay my 3 months, go visit friends in Wales, then return.
The overseas flight is hard on me, and so I tend to do as much walking as I can while I'm there.

How many will you do this year?
 
Also, I haven't seen anything on Eroski that gives a date as to when the information has been updated. Have you?
I don't know if the info about Ave is current or not, which is why I asked about Melanie's app.
It would be easier to use the app, if it's updated, than to carry pages of notes .

I'd love to have one of those GPS contraptions, but that's out of my budget.
 
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Also, I haven't seen anything on Eroski that gives a date as to when the information has been updated. Have you?
I don't know if the info about Ave is current or not, which is why I asked about Melanie's app.
It would be easier to use the app, if it's updated, than to carry pages of notes .

I'd love to have one of those GPS contraptions, but that's out of my budget.

Hi, Annie,
You're right that there aren't dates on the eroski site (at least none that I've seen), but in my experience it is generally very up to date. They get albergues on there before we hear about them on the forum usually, etc. And you can download the ap for free on your phone, so no need to carry any printed notes (like I did the first two times -- last year on the catalan/aragones I just had it on my phone and it was terrific). Look in the ap store for "Camino" (there's also a link to it on the eroski webpage).

I have never seen or used Melanie's ap, but I remember some recent forum discussion about it not being available or having been updated recently.

But finally, I don't think the construction is going to throw you for a loop even if it comes up on you unawares. In my experience on the Sanabres (most recent is 2013 so I know it's out of date), there is plenty of info about the detours, both in albergues and in signs that are posted. Buen camino, Laurie
 
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I have used Melanie s app on the VDLP and the following year on the Sanabres and swear by it but that was 2012/13.Excellent!
 
Melanie's app is currently (as of my conversation with her just last week) unavailable because the host has changed. She's as frustrated as pilgrims!
 
Melanie's app is currently (as of my conversation with her just last week) unavailable because the host has changed. She's as frustrated as pilgrims!
I would have gone insane without that app although Gerald Kelly's e-book is good. Melanie's app has just enough detail to let you know what to look out for but isn't so detailed that you no longer have an adventure.
 
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I would have gone insane without that app although Gerald Kelly's e-book is good. Melanie's app has just enough detail to let you know what to look out for but isn't so detailed that you no longer have an adventure.
Hopefully the wise pilgrim app will be just as good!
 
Annie: I used Melanie's app in March (until I dropped my phone in the toilet:() and it was very accurate with excellent advice and comments that helped me avoid some lengthy detours. You can use it off line so you don't need Internet access. As Laurie says, you really don't need to worry. Once I lost access to the app I just followed arrows and found the albergues had posted advice on the detours. Even when I got lost (generally from lack of attention, not construction) it only took me a short time to figure out the correct way and get back on track. I only walked 35+ km after Oviedo and that was by choice. Look up Laurie's recommended stages and recommendations - they were very helpful and accurate.
 

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