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Day2 TdB to Campo de Geres 16km, 600m up.Hola
The Geira y Arrieiros from Braça to Santiago.
We had heard great things about this remote mountainous walk and were looking forward to it. We are not disappointed!
The information is direct, accomodation may be complex and book a few days ahead, its not busy, and you must bring a GPS/App and a powerbank.
I will collect the info sources I came across and put them here.
First is an updated doco on accomodation, services, where to find the epath/kml, the pros snd cons of going to Torres de Bouro etc. I believe it is authored by Henrique Malheiro and obtained by Garis.
We started on Tuesday 23rd May just after finishing the Torres from Salamanca- which was just after the Mozarabie from Almeria!
Day 1 Caldelas to Terras de Bouro 13km, 405m up
After the last 3 days of 'Urban' walking on the Torres into Braça we decided to avoid another day's urban trials and caught an 8:15 bus to Caldelas and walked from there.
Beautiful scenery and walking. Great to be up in the hills.
Signage was fantastic up to the point where we took the left fork on the shorter path so we could stay at Torres de Bouro. As well the signs and the epath aligned. Then nothing!
At first a very steep rutted overgrown rocky path down. After that we compared the paths to a longer road each time.
Stayed at Pension Rio Romem, (€52 booked via Booking.com) has a bar and good a Restraunt
Day 3 CdG to Lobios and Spain, 24km, 660mDay2 TdB to Campo de Geres 16km, 600m up.
From Terras de Bouro to rejoin the track is 2.5km with a 250m steep climb, again with no signs at any of the junctions. But at least this way the track is good.
Once back on the main track the signs are great, beautiful track, some water streams to dodge along the way, flowers, great views, lots of Roman Mileposts, cafes, etc.
We have since learned that the lower path is not recommended as not maintained, we didn't find it that difficult but it was not easy.
We had an extra 2km of the EN307 as one of the path bookmarks says there has been a landslide on a section and its best to take the road. No long horn steers around which was a relief.
First cafe at Covide. After this the path wanders pleasantly through the settlement until it joins the EN again at a corner.
The epath says go left but the great Geira signs say right, checked my App and could see a maze of possible tracks along the road, so we followed the signs. The right decision as great signage continued, more Roman Mileposts, flock of roaming goats, etc
Our accommodation was Albergaria STOP (booked by sending a message via their website) on the highway so we went direct rather than going to into Campo de Geres first. We wandered back there later without packs and found a pleasant small bar. Another great days walking on the Geira.
No other walkers so far.View attachment 147926View attachment 147927View attachment 147928View attachment 147929View attachment 147930
Day 4 Lobios to Castro Laboreiro, 21.5km, 920m upDay 3 CdG to Lobios and Spain, 24km, 660m
A fantastic days walking, first up above the Reservoir of Valarinho das Furnas, then through the National Park to the Spanish border. Lovely walking paths and tracks, mountain streams, amazing old and more recent bridges, Pines rule, great wildflowers, etc.
Met 2 locals out for a day walk, but still no pilgrims
Thanks for the info. I’m slowly making my way from Tavira to SdC following @jungleboy’s route. Over 2 trips I’ve made it to Trancoso so far and would love to complete the Torres and Geira sections in my final tranche. Maybe next year if the stars (and Q) alignI have decided to add to my last post to attach information on how I navigated this walk, what APPS I used and my overall impressions of this fantastic short Camino.
1. Navigation and Applications
These days you should ensure you have an App with the path for your Camino.
Even on the popular Caminos where you usually just have to "follow the crowd" it makes finding your accommodation easier, and if there is a problem you can find the shortest way to a village, road, pharmacy, etc.
You may not be where you want to be but you should never be lost!
For the Torres and Geira y Arrieiros an App is essential as you cannot rely on the signs.
At least the Geira information is honest, they tell you to take an App. Both walks provide official kml and gpx paths for your favourite apps, and if you search you can find others.
I use a combination of:
- Organic Maps as my main App to ensure I stay on path
- Google Maps in a town if I want to find extra services, opening times etc
- AllTrails to track my distance walked and elevation data e.g.how far I have climbed up
Organic Maps is free, has no adverts, once maps are downloaded it works fully in Flight Mode, and it works for Apple and Android phones. It was released by the original developers of Maps.Me. I previously used Maps.Me.
It will find you a walking, cycling or driving path between any 2 points, and for the walking and cycling paths it will show you an reasonably good profile and distance up and down. If you don't like it's path or want to follow a Camino path you have loaded you can add numerous mandatory 'stops' to align its path as you want.
Very handy for finding shortcuts and comparing them. Great if you are tired, the path is too muddy/wet etc.
You can add 'bookmarks' on bars, places of interest etc and share them if you wish.
It also has many service categories you can search for, e.g.food, accommodation, ATM etc - but not as many as Google Maps.
It accepts kml and kmz path files and can load them automatically when you open the file in your Android smartphone ... only an extra step required for Apple phones. Files in gpx format can easily be converted to kml.
Google Maps has comprehensive information on services you may want, will try and tell you opening hours provide contact details, link to websites etc. It will give you a driving but not a walking path and really needs internet data access to work.in map mode.
On a Camino I only use it in towns if I need something Organic Maps does not have. I have found it useful even in the small villages the Torres and Geira venture into.
AllTrails is a commercial App with lots of already loaded tracks and the ability to record your walk if you like, share it etc.
It has the full Torres and Geira y Arrieiros paths available, and can alert you if you wonder too far from the track. I only used it to record my distance walked, height climbed, and my track.
So always take an App you are familiar with and load it with your Camino path, you won't regret it!!
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