First Camino Sanabres

[miriame]

Hi everyone,

My two friends and I will be starting our first Camino in Ourense and following the Camino Sanabres over 6 days to Santiago. We are so excited to get started but also slightly nervous! I have a few questions about our route:

1. Where should we get our Pilgrim Credential? We were considering ordering from this site, but the express shipping is a bit expensive. Will there be places to buy our Credential upon arrival in Ourense or would we be safer to order online?

2. Is the easiest way to get from Santiago Airport to Ourense taking the bus transfer from airport to train station and then the train to Ourense?

3. On our first day, we are considering stopping in Cea. However, I have heard wonderful things about the Monastery de Oseira. If we were to walk to the Monastery on the first day, it would make for a fairly long first day (about 30 km). Would it be worth the extra distance to stay in the Monastery?

4. Other than our first night in Ourense and our last night in Santiago, we are not planning on pre-booking any accomodation and staying in the pilgrim albergues. If we were to arrive around 1 PM each day would we be able to get a bed? Or are we able to call the albergue in the morning to ensure there is a bed when we get there?

Thank you everyone for your assistance!

 

[Kanga]

A delightful choice! I've just finished the Sanabrés and, apart from the weather which was cold and dreary, it was fantastic. I was there last month, so it should be much nicer weather for you.

(1) I already had mine, but I imagine they would be available from the Cathedral in Ourense, or the tourist office in Ourense.

(2) Yes, that is what I would do. Bus transfer to Santiago train station, then train to Ourense. I had walked from further south.

(3) I walked from Ourense to a little past Cea (to O Refugio at Piñor) and the next day was taken by the host at O Refugion by car (€6) to the Monastery. But others I was walking with stopped at Cea, then walked to the monastery the following day, visited it, then walked on and stayed the next night at Castro Dozón. It is a steep walk out of Ourense, regardless of whether you take the right or the left route (I took the left) and for your first day I think it a bit ambitious to think you would make it all the way to the monastery. Unless you are very young/or and fit! You don't really want to spend the next week recovering. Tours of the monastery do not take that long (about an hour).

(4) I had no problem with accommodation. There was no need to pre-book anywhere. A couple of times I had to telephone to get a key or get into an albergue because there was no-one on site.

 

[andycohn]

Don’t know when you’re going, but you can get a credential for free from the American Pilgrims on the Camino (www.americanpilgrims.org). Click “Credential Request” on the home page. They’ll mail it to you anywhere in the world, but it can take up to 5 weeks.

 

[miriame]

Thank you Kanga and andycohn for the very helpful insights! I'm looking forward to it!

 

[André Walker]

Hi Miriame,

Kanga is right: in Ourense you can definitely get your credencial at the cathedral.

Enjoy your Camino!!!

 

[NomadBoomer]

I walked here in April. We walked to the monastery I loved staying here, great place for a hostel and nice to get vespers. It didn't seem like a hard walk to me but I had been walking for over a week by then.

I didn't book anywhere and had no problems getting a bed any day. In April even the people finishing after 6pm were fine. The main municipal ones don't take bookings anyhow.

Enjoy

 

[MileHighPair]

Miriame, I believe that the others have given you good advice. I just want to emphasize that a walk all the way from Ourense to the monastery would be a very long day. Unless you are a very experienced long distance walker, please do not attempt this. There is a lot of up hill on both the Ourense - Cea section and the Cea to Oseira. If you had walked from Seville, then by the time you get to Ourense, you would know your limits, but on your first day of Camino, please keep in shorter. My guess is that even the Ourense - Cea section will leave you wanting a couple of cold beers!

We made a very short day from Cea to Oseira, on our spring Camino this year, and by doing so we had plenty of energy to take the tour and relax in a beautiful setting. See our blog for several suggestions for the last few days into Santiago. Buen Camino!

 

[surya8]

We walked the Sanabres in mid-late June, so got the heatwave that came after the rains. We stopped for a drink between Ourence and Cea in Casa Sesar, a quirky place to remember! Very enthusiastic owner with some home-made liquors I remember staying in Cea as one of the most peaceful and fulfilling expiences ever. The village itself may not be extremely picturesque but it looks welthy, organised and the locals are friendly. The people in the village even supply the municipal albergue with free bread, sandwiched and crisps and the local bread is to die for! We got a huge loaf of greshly baked bread from the bakery at 7am next morning before leaving and were heappy with it for the next few days. There are 2 ways that lead from Cea, we took the shortcut, the left road that is supposedly 8km shorter then the road through the monastery. We later met a man who stayed in the monestry overnight, he said that the land/forests around it is badly burned so it doesn't look like in the pics any more and was complaining about the not so clean and humid dormitories there, but I guess that's his point of view. You won't be able to book beds in the municipal albergues but private one would do it. Sanabres could be fine without booking in summer, at least we never had problems even when arriving after 5-7pm. Warning: make sure you take PLENTY of water with you, especially for the last days, especially the last day before Santuago. We walked from Ponte Ulla to Santiago, around 20km or slightly more, water fonts with water not for drinking. Blame it all on the new rail track that demolished the old water system, were told by the locals later.

 

[KinkyOne]

We walked the Sanabres in mid-late June, so got the heatwave that came after the rains. We stopped for a drink between Ourence and Cea in Casa Sesar, a quirky place to remember! Very enthusiastic owner with some home-made liquors I remember staying in Cea as one of the most peaceful and fulfilling expiences ever. The village itself may not be extremely picturesque but it looks welthy, organised and the locals are friendly. The people in the village even supply the municipal albergue with free bread, sandwiched and crisps and the local bread is to die for! We got a huge loaf of greshly baked bread from the bakery at 7am next morning before leaving and were heappy with it for the next few days. There are 2 ways that lead from Cea, we took the shortcut, the left road that is supposedly 8km shorter then the road through the monastery. We later met a man who stayed in the monestry overnight, he said that the land/forests around it is badly burned so it doesn't look like in the pics any more and was complaining about the not so clean and humid dormitories there, but I guess that's his point of view. You won't be able to book beds in the municipal albergues but private one would do it. Sanabres could be fine without booking in summer, at least we never had problems even when arriving after 5-7pm. Warning: make sure you take PLENTY of water with you, especially for the last days, especially the last day before Santuago. We walked from Ponte Ulla to Santiago, around 20km or slightly more, no bars there, and water fonts with water not for drinking. Blame it all on the new rail track that demolished the old water system, were told by the locals later.

Two remarks I have to make.

Albergue in Monastery of Oseira is being reported very humid and dump for years so that's not just this men's personal observation.

And from Puente Ulla (I walked it three times, last this May) to Santiago there are at least 8 bars. If you want their addresses I can dig that out too, I'm an expert on bars
Not only that, there is new albergue between PU and SdC!!!

 

[surya8]

And from Puente Ulla (I walked it three times, last this May) to Santiago there are at least 8 bars. If you want their addresses I can dig that out too, I'm an expert on bars
Not only that, there is new albergue between PU and SdC!!!

I've heard about the new albergue between PU and Santiago but only after I came back. Good to know that there is this option now.
Re bars: this was the mosy mysterious day for us as we didn't really see them Saw a couple but that was close to SdC. Maybe because we were mostly looking for water fonts, and on many of them there was a sign "water not for consumption". And we didn't see any other pilgrims on the way on the last day either, apart from some cyclists, so walked on our own trying to figure out where they'd all gone and if we should be marching in the crowd instead But we did follow the arrows And found an unbelievable amount of wild edible muchrooms that day that we cooked in Santiago. I guess the universe exchanged them for water in our case That was an amazing day for us!
So intrigued to check the bars there that I'd consider to walk this way again Hm, maybe from Invierno next time. Thanks for the update, KinkyOne!