First camino - 12 days in August - your opinion please!

[mira17]

Hello All,

My partner and I would like to walk part of the Camino for the first time over 12 days this August. We have been looking over this forum for several weeks, reading lots of wonderful posts and information, but now we seem to be unsure about which path to choose!!

We are very interested in the Santiago to Finisterre walk, so for that reason thought to combine it with about 7 days of walking leading to Santiago. Since some of the paths join the Camino Frances in the end, which we understand will be very crowded in August, we thought of starting with either the last bit of Via de la Plata (starting before Ourense) or the Camino Ingles.

It is difficult to know which to choose....we are both contemplative people and hoping for inspiring scenery and simplicity. We are both in good physical shape however will not have had much time to train for very long walking prior to our journey (so unsure about some very long days I saw as part of the Camino Ingles itinerary). I've also read about very hot August days on VdlP and wondering about that.

Thank you very much for your input! Also posted this in VdlP forum for feedback.

Cheers,
Mira

 

[gracethepilgrim]

Hi Mira, the VdlP will only be v hot in the South. From Ourense I'm sure you'll be fine. Burn Camino

 

[Camembert]

Mira. Welcome on the forum
A beautifull walk is the ruta dos Salnés aka the Variante Espiritual do caminho Portugues. We walked and sailed it 3 weeks ago. It is the only maritime camino in the world and follows the route the body of Saint James followed it by bringing to Santiago

It starts in Pontevedra and the leads you to VilaNova de Aroussa where a boat takes you to Padrón. Very spectaclular

The route is sufficiant for obtaining a Compostela but eventually you could start some earlier f.ex. In Tui.and the route is very quiet. We only met the pilgrims you see in the boat.
We walked three times to Santiago. One time the full caminho Portugues central from Lisbon, one time the camino Ingles (also a quiet option for you 5 till 7 days walking) and the caminho Portugues da Costa, the coastal variant from Porto this year and in here was the variante espiritual. The last one was the best ever.
In12 days you could walk from Porto or as we did from Viana do Castelo in Portugal. Great walk. Nice Portuguese people, great food and fantastic wines.

 

[Camembert]

 

[gracethepilgrim]

Albertinho it looks awesome. I might look into it in case I have time after the camino Portuguese Interior.

 

[Camembert]

Albertinho it looks awesome. I might look into it in case I have time after the camino Portuguese Interior.

You can combine it with allPortuguese caminhos Grace.
The central route, the interior (I doubt it leads to Ponte de Lima ? There are specialists here who can confirm or deny it . ) the coastal to Redondela and from there we all go to Pontevedra where you can go straight on to Caldas de Reis, Padrón and Santiago. Or 3 kms after Pontevedra you turn left to Combarro and the Salnés route via Vila Nova de Arousa to Padrón and Santiago.

 

[mira17]

Grace and Albertinho - thank you for your replies!

Albertinho the variante espiritual looks very interesting - now you've added another option to complicate things! What is the best way to get to Pontevedra?

I feel myself leaning though towards VdlP as I feel it will be quite accessible to reach Ourense....
If anyone has done this little bit, I wonder how scenic it is.

Cheers!

 

[Camembert]

Grace and Albertinho - thank you for your replies!

Albertinho the variante espiritual looks very interesting - now you've added another option to complicate things! What is the best way to get to Pontevedra?

I feel myself leaning though towards VdlP as I feel it will be quite accessible to reach Ourense....
If anyone has done this little bit, I wonder how scenic it is.

Cheers!

Depends where you come from and how.
There is a nighttrain from Madrid there is a train from Vigo to Pontevpedra. There is a bus from Vigo and I have to check but I think there is a bus from Santiago.

Lots of people arrive by plane in Porto and travel by train to Valença do Minho on the Portugese /Spanish border .walk over the frontierbridge built by George Eiffel(from the Eiffeltower in Paris) ,a beautiful 3 km walk and start their camino from Tui which is 100 km to Santiago.
Automaticly you arrive in Pontevedra and 3 km north of Pontevedra starts the Variante Espiritual.
and this is a great adventure what I wrote you allready.

The Via del Plata I know by traveling last year when my wife and I made a holiday tour by car and campingtrailer after walking the camino Ingles and touring through Portugal to Sevilla ,Salamanca Burgos and so back to France and Holland where we live.

Well wish you strenghth by making your choice.

If I walk again , my next camino again starts in Portugal

Bom caminho
Albertinho

 

[dcorrea951]

I completed my Camino Frances from St Jean to Santiago in 2013. Why not walk from Santiago to Finisterre and then on to Muxia since you only have 12 days ? It will probably be cooler, as you will be closer to the ocean. You will be working forward, starting from Santiago and then west, but you will receive the two compestellas, one each from Finisterre and Muxia, which I still don't have ! I will be walking the Portuguese Camino next summer, and the Camino Frances again in 2017. I am volunteering in the Pilgrim Office in Santiago, the first two weeks of October ( yes, you get Camino withdrawal). I wish you a Buen Camino !

 

[Tia Valeria]

The Camino Ingles is fairly tough walking if you have not had time to prepare, but so is any similar walking. However you can make some of those long stages shorter and take a little longer to reach Santiago (7 or 8 days rather than the 5 suggested). There are many hills and lovely scenery with views of the rías as well as woods and the eucalyptus plantations. We have walked recently and found some new stopping places have opened - for food and drink, and we actually took 9 walking days with an extra night in Betanzos to visit the churches there and the Pasatiempo park. Some planning might be needed for accomodation in August if you want to break your stages, and never having walked that late in the year I don't know how hot it might be in August. We carry re-hydration sachets and were glad of them one day in late May! You could walk on to Finisterre etc if you had time.
Enjoy your planning and Buen Camino

 

[Dennis M]

HI Mira,

i walked the Ingles May 4-10. As Tia mentioned, there are some tough walks, hills and hills to climb, but if break it into shorter route, i'm sure you'll make it. I did it in 7-days since it was my first camino and wanted to make sure I survive . The route is very scenic and nice towns along the route.

Not sure about the weather.

Good luck on your planning and buen camino.

 

[Dennis M]

 

[Camembert]

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Nice pictures Dennis. Very recognisable.

 

[rlr9200]

We are currently on the route. Today Pontedeume to Betanzos. Wow. What a climb out of Pontedeume! I read all the comments, but feeling it in real life...we trained on hills, but not like that climb. A long, beautiful walk in the end. I will include a trip report after we are done. Thank you to everyone for the help in preparing for this amazing journey.

Buen Camino!

 

[Castilian]

he last bit of Via de la Plata (starting before Ourense)

From Granja de Moreruela to Santiago, if you go through Ourense, it isn't the Vía de la Plata anymore but the Camino Sanabrés.

the VdlP will only be v hot in the South. From Ourense I'm sure you'll be fine.

The South is more likely to be very hot but Ourense can occasionally be very hot too. I remember reports of temperatures over 40ºC in Ourense a few years ago (and it wasn't the first time they saw them)...

What is the best way to get to Pontevedra?

It depends on your starting point but it isn't more difficult than to get to Ourense. From Madrid, there's an overnight train as well as daytime trains. For info about trains: www.renfe.com By bus, www.avanzabus.com has several daily direct buses from Madrid to Pontevedra. By plane, Vigo airport is close to Pontevedra...

 

[Dennis M]

hi rlr,

Buen Camino! Very nice to hear that enjoying it. I'm sure you'll enjoy the next climb Take it easy

 

[mira17]

Thanks once again for your helpful answers and comments! Very appreciated!

Dennis - great photos of the Camino Inglés! Thanks for sharing!

So as Tia suggested, my partner and I have decided on the Inglés over 7 days - potentially 8 if we take an extra night along the way.

For those of you who have done this walk, I'm wondering if there's any particularly scenic town you'd suggest spending an extra night in?

Also, I'm curious how many nights you have stayed in Santiago? (weary of how hectic it will be in August).

Cheers!

 

[Camembert]

Thanks once again for your helpful answers and comments! Very appreciated!

Dennis - great photos of the Camino Inglés! Thanks for sharing!

So as Tia suggested, my partner and I have decided on the Inglés over 7 days - potentially 8 if we take an extra night along the way.

For those of you who have done this walk, I'm wondering if there's any particularly scenic town you'd suggest spending an extra night in?

Also, I'm curious how many nights you have stayed in Santiago? (weary of how hectic it will be in August).

Cheers!

Betanzos is a nice little town just for a day extra to relax.
I walked the camino 3 times . The camino is one of the best experiences in life but the arrival and stay in Santiago is the anticlimax.
Too touristic.. You walked all the way from where ever does not matter. Busloads full of tourists come and find the best places in the cathedral. You with or without backpack and footsoles of blisters have to find a place at the back or even no place as overcome to us. Souvenirsshops. okay it is a way to generate income for the inhabitants. For me a half a day is enough and than leave asap. Just to collect your Compostela and then off you go.
Sorry to say. It is one big fair. Not my cup of tea.

 

[Tia Valeria]

@mira17 :- we stayed 2 nights in Betanzos and it is probably the best place for a sightseeing day. Several lovely old churches and the Pasatiempo park (which is not that easy to find). The church in the square, opposite the tourist office, now has the sello of Santiago on his horse. We also broke the Betanzos-Bruma stage by booking into Meson Novo and being collected from, then returned to, Casa Julia. We stayed 2 nights there as it meant we could 'walk light' next day but others have carried their full packs so as to stay the second night in the albergue at Bruma.

@Albertinho:- We find Santiago busy after the solitude of the Camino but were pleased to see that in the Cathedral all the front seats are now reserved for pilgrims with credencial, so hopefully pilgrims are not pushed out by tourists etc. We attended the English Mass this time and the English evening prayer so chose not to attend the Pilgrim Mass and maybe spoil memories of the past.
Buen Camino