Guidebook?

philipc67

New Member

• Aug 6, 2009

• #1

Hi all,

This is Philip.

In preparation for the Camino I have read the Rother Walking Guide by Cordula Rabe (2007 edition) and also John Brierley Pilgrim's Guide (2009 edition) for the practical details.

Any opinions from some of you who have done it on which of the two is the more accurate re maps, distances, walking times, refugios, costs, services etc? If I were to choose one of the two to carry with me, which would you recommend? The Walking Guide is smaller and lighter.

Many thanks!

 

Senyor Pirotecnic

Member

Time of past OR future Camino

Camino Frances 2008, half Via del Plata 2011, Camino Fisterra 2011, Camino Aragones 2013.

• Aug 6, 2009

• #2

If you do a search I'm sure you will find lots of opinions about the various camino guidebooks available. I used Brierley and found it accurate and useful and would recommend it. It is eminently possible to walk without a book but I found it nice to be able to have a good idea of what's ahead the following afternoon/day/week etc.

 

H

Hermanita

Active Member

• Aug 6, 2009

• #3

Senyor Pirotecnic said:

If you do a search I'm sure you will find lots of opinions about the various camino guidebooks available. I used Brierley and found it accurate and useful and would recommend it. It is eminently possible to walk without a book but I found it nice to be able to have a good idea of what's ahead the following afternoon/day/week etc.

Click to expand...

Hi Senyor P
I am glad to hear that you recommend Brierley. Of the 2 guidebooks that I have, that is the one I will take along in September.
It seems to be the chose of so many here in the forum. It does have a few extra features that my other does not have....locations for water, cafes, albergues, etc. These should prove quite nice to have at hand.

 

WolverineDG

Veteran Member

Donating Member

• Aug 6, 2009

• #4

I use both Brierley & the CSJ guide. There are things I like about both & the CSJ guide is updated every year with reports from the previous year's pilgrims.

Kelly

 

viajero

Active Member

Time of past OR future Camino

2008

• Aug 6, 2009

• #5

I am not familiar with the Rother Guide so I cannot comment on that. I used the Brierley guide. It was larger than I would have liked but I did like the maps. It was good to know how far the next village/water/cafe/albergue would be. I think the maps/distances were useful and fairly accurate. Before leaving, I tore out pages that I would not need (packing suggestions, etc.) and I tore out pages on the Camino. I found the book useful.

 

Portia1

Active Member

Time of past OR future Camino

Frances 2009, Portuguese 2012
Frances 2016, 2019

• Aug 6, 2009

• #6

I am using the Brierley--also made LOTS of notes in it from other sources, as well as comments from this site regarding bus locations, etc.

 

Sansthing

Active Member

Time of past OR future Camino

French Camino (2009), French Camino (2011), Via de la Plata (2012), Camino Inglês (2014),

• Aug 6, 2009

• #7

You can also get a Brierley which is just the maps, it´s very light and contains all the info regarding water, albergues, distances and profiles.
Sandra :arrow:

 

elzi

Active Member

• Aug 6, 2009

• #8

I would also reccomend taking the brierley map book, it's much lighter still has all the major info without all the other gumph he writes. I managed pretty well with the brierley mapbook and the csj guide.

I think if I went again I would just take the mapbook as there are so many albergues on the Frances and new ones/or simply new beds are popping up all the time so almost all the guides are a bit out of date albergue-wise.

 

ivar

Administrator

Staff member

Donating Member

• Aug 6, 2009

• #9

There is also a lots of good comments/advice on this over at the Camino Books section of the forum as well.

Saludos,
Ivar

 

Theo

Active Member

• Aug 6, 2009

• #10

Hi,

I like the Rother guide book ... I used the French edition.

It's small ( OK in a pants pocket) ; the maps are enough accurate and all information is available.

It's perhaps the only guide book (in Spain / camino francés) with a quality assessment of the albergues through a number of shells.

By clicking HERE you'll get the 'Larassoaña :: Cizur Menor' stage description.

Théo