• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
This is a mobile optimized page that loads fast, if you want to load the real page, click this text.

Difficult to read yellow route on Buen Camino app

S

spring24

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Spring 2024 (planned)
Hello everyone, I am planning to do the Portuguese Camino Coastal route next month and have been using the Android Buen Camino app for advice and suggestions etc.

I like it very much but came across one issue, when looking at the map of the route my coastal trek appears as a rather faint yellow. It's very hard to discern which is the route especially in daylight.

I have a Samsung S24 with the latest Android version. I am running version 2.4.1 of the app and have the language set to "English", I have downloaded my particular route and have subscribed.

I have been in touch with someone called Carlos via email and he suggested a couple of things and we continue to communicate but so far no resolution.

I am wondering if anyone has experienced this and if they managed to find a "cure". Maybe a Google map setting?

Many thanks for your help.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
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.
I agree. The app has recently changed the color of the Camino route and it is difficult to see. I suggest sending a WhatsApp message to the developer at +34 654 50 43 90. Also post a review on Google Play. Hopefully if enough of us do so it will be changed.

I sent the WhatsApp message and he suggested that I turn down the brightness on my screen, which didn't help

What did help was changing the map to satellite view.

 
You are correct, it was a poor choice of colour, especially when it runs through an urban area (coloured in yellow) or along a road (also a shade of yellow)

But Google maps alao has washy colours that are hard to distinguish.

I guess it's not going to be changed without confusing 100s of app users and the changes also clashing with map colours eg blue for rivers, green for rural areas.

Gronze maps doesn't have offline support or the features of Buen Camino but the line is much easier to see.
I have both apps installed. Also very helpful for alternative routes
 
Altus ANDES 400 H30 sleeping bag
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Promote your Camino Project on the forum
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Following the arrows would be ideal but they can be feast or famine. So many arrows you think they're actually taking the p155, then no arrows for 5km. And worst is when an arrow is missing... And you check your app to discover you're in the middle of a lake
 
Tincatinker said:
Innit funny. All this teknology to make stuff easier what only seems to make it harder.

Could always use a Brierley or even just follow the arrows but that wouldn’t be very modern would it
Click to expand...
Every year (minus the pandemic) from 2015 until 2022 I managed all of my various Caminos with only a guidebook for each route and info gleaned on this forum. I never really got lost with the exception of a short fifteen minutes to a half hour a a couple of times...it was no big deal.
 
Altus 24 Liters daypack (DENON 24 H30)
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-

How did you figure out you were on the wrong route after 15-30 mins?

I had a few experience like that and generally after becoming suspicious about the lack of arrows i checked an app..... Actually as a result of these experiences i unfortunately found myself checking my phone too much.

One place for example, i continued on a paved road (a bend) while the arrowless camino route actually continued straight down a laneway

====\\------
.........||
.........||
.........||



Actually there were 3 places i lost the camino within maybe 100-150km and i know this because i ended up walking at the same time as another pilgrim and he made these same 3 mistakes as i did. Twice had the above scenario where "following the road" was incorrect, another time the marker was confusing and also damaged.

That's excluding times i preemptively checked
 
I know I’m a grumpy old bugger, frequently baffled by this modern world, but I’m having real trouble with this concept of “lost” on the Camino Frances. Between the arrows, the groove worn in to the very ground, the ever present kindness of the local people and the fact that all you have to do is walk West (toward the setting sun for those who can’t be arsed with the cardinals) I can’t see how anyone can get “lost”. Off the official track for a bit maybe, on an unplanned diversion perhaps, but lost. Lost is what happens at sea, occurs in mountainous country if you probably shouldn’t be there. Lost is finally noticing that you’re in a bit of a city where you probably didn’t oughta be.

Or maybe I’ve lost the plot
 

Seems like it

No one mentioned the Frances!
 
Best lightweight Camino guides
Ideal pocket guides for during & after your Camino. Each weighs only 1.4 oz (40g)!
Ah. That's just demonstrating how the line looks on the app. The original topic!

Actually today i made a detour to Lalín (not somewhere I particularly wanted to see - a guide suggested it as a way to break up a stage, but in fact it just saved me 3km that I'll have to walk with interest tomorrow - nice town. Plenty of places for tapas).. no sooner did i step off the path, I'd say 200m and a motorist pulled up to tell me.
 
Antnix1 said:
How did you figure out you were on the wrong route after 15-30 mins?

I had a few experience like that and generally after becoming suspicious about the lack of arrows
Click to expand...
I usually have walked with my son, who is an avid backpacker, and he has a very keen sense of direction. It didn't take him long to sense a "missed step" and we'd backtrack. I now plan stages with Gronze and he sometimes will double check on google maps.
 
Altus BALI Sleeping bag liner
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
One can certainly complete a Camino with no apps, no Internet, no mod cons. Such was my experience in 1989. One can also complete a Camino with no backpack and no trail runners. Many, many pilgrims have done so in previous centuries. Yet I find myself appreciating my backpack and shoes. And I also find myself appreciating my apps. If someone asks my advice with an app, I'm generally inclined to try and help them use the app (as trecile has done so well) rather than advise that they just do without. Just as I don't respond to questions about trail runners or backpacks by saying that centuries of pilgrims did without and so should they.

But that's just me. YMMV.
 
David thank you for saying that so eloquently and mirroring my thoughts exactly. Thanks to those of you who actually tried to help with advice on the specific question I had posed.
If I manage to get help with this from the programmer/developer or from Carlos I will fill you in later.
 
I think Camino Chrissy's advice is worth listening to.

"I've managed without apps. How? I walk with my son, he is an avid backpacker, has a keen sense of direction and he occasionally uses Google Maps."
 
Altus 24 Liters daypack (DENON 24 H30)
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
I added the mapy.cz app before my last Camino and found it very useful navigating through cities. Cities are where I loose the Camino. Buen Camino
 
Camino Preparation Guide
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I use Camino Ninja exclusively for my route map which is marked in bright red.
I started using this app before the owner died. I’m sorry I can’t remember his name.
It became unavailable but previous downloads still worked - just weren’t being updated.
It’s up and running again. You might try it just for the map.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_8563.jpeg
    806.3 KB · Views: 5
Can I borrow your son next time I venture out?
 
Camino Preparation Guide
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
As usual tincat you are on the right track (pun intended)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Camino Photo

Most read last week in this forum

Similar threads

  • Tags phones/apps/gps/maps
    • My Buen Camino app is crashing!!
    Replies
    30
    Views
    2K
    Umwandert
  • Tags phones/apps/gps/maps
    • Recommended phone apps (iOS)
    Replies
    38
    Views
    3K
    Frankybaby66
  • Tags phones/apps/gps/maps
    • Camino apps
    Replies
    17
    Views
    3K
    CaminoPhotos
    Menu
    Log in
    Register