IMHO, Mr.
Brierley missed the proverbial boat regarding going to the electronic guide app format some years ago. In this business even one-year can be too late.
I walked my first three Caminos using
Brierley. I remain a great fan. Although I always found his material regarding philosophy, meditation and the spiritual to be extraneous to a tactical guide book. It is useful information, but best presented in a physically separate ancillary booklet that can be left at home.
Also, I know that some people, including my fellow veterans here in the Forum, actually tear the
Brierley apart to reduce the size and weight as they progress. IMHO, that is NOT the way to reduce your load.
Sorry folks, but destroying any book just riles me. I was raised to revere the printed word...any word. Printed books are literally the foundation, upon which Western Civilization was built after the Dark Ages. It was in part the basis for the Renaissance and directly helped to build our society and culture.
Anyway, in 2016, I switched to the
Wise Pilgrim Guides. I presently use the
Wise Guides on my iPhone, along with Maps.me (for in between town positional navigation - "how far to the next place...") and then revert to Google Maps when in town.
To be fully truthful, I still buy
Brierley guides as needed so I can have a fuller set of research material when planning my Camino each year. And I DO plan, a lot.
In any event, I think you will find the
Wise Pilgrim Guide apps to be the best available for iOS. I believe Michael now has them adapted for Android as well.
Michael has also recently published these guides for the
Camino Frances (red) and Camino Portuguese (Green). All variants from Porto to Santiago are covered in this green book. He recently informed me that his next printed guides would be for the Camino del Norte, the Primitivo, Salvador, and Invierno. All will have distinct different color covers. Michael also told me he was seriously thinking of bundling related Camino routes together to provide greater value.
These are all printed versions of the identical smart phone apps. So, even though Michael reduced the size of his guide books so they conveniently fit in most cargo pant pockets, it weighs LESS than
Brierley but MORE than the smart phone app.
You can pick your format and weight. This is something Mr.
Brierley failed to factor. The recent appearance of the
Brierley maps books as apps is clearly a step in the right direction. However, unless it changed more recently, he neglected to include the single page or so that accompanied each in-town map that explained the various points of interest and accommodation options at each of his stages.
Also, real benefit of the
Wise Pilgrim Guide is that
they do not prescribe daily stages. The
Wise Pilgrim Guides are formatted so as to allow YOU to decide when and here to stop. Accurate GPS distances are provided from spot to spot. When not at home in Santiago. Michael is usually on his bicycle or walking to confirm his distances. His distances are NOT adjusted for elevation gain or loss, as
Brierley does. The
Wise Pilgrim Guides contain straight GPS distances, as the crow flies, so to speak.
I hope this helps.
