I Need Your Advice

[LesBrass]

Good people.... as we wave goodbye to 2016 I suspect a great many of us are thinking about the next walk? I know I am. I thought I was decided... I was leaving Lisbon around the 25 September and walking to Santiago.

But... for the exact same reasons that I've always had, I am unsure if this is the route for me. The list below is the conversation that is going through my head... many of you know so much more about all of the routes than I.. so I really would appreciate your feedback.

• I'm walking in Autumn so I am looking for somewhere with reasonable weather
• I am thinking of maybe walking the Levante in 2018 and my husband wants to walk the Norte with me for his 60th so these two are out of the choices
• I want to walk a route that I've not walked before
• Ideally (but not essential) I would like to walk an entire route... this might not be possible
• I'm not worried about a route that ends in Santiago
• I don't want to walk in isolation. I like the social aspect of the camino. I'm not looking for a party but it is nice to get in at the end of the day and see a familiar face or two.

My worry with the Portuguese is the road walking? The blogs I read mention the road sections, some busy and dangerous? I read one which suggests 70% on the road? I don't enjoy walking along roads... I have scoliosis and the drop away (cadence) of the road really causes problems with my back and leg... it's fine if I can move around on a quite road but not on busy roads. I also read about lots of big barky dogs... more than other routes?

The Lisbon route seemed to tick all my boxes... I love Portugal... I'm in Lisbon in February and we were already planning to walk the first 2 days out of town on this trip to ensure I have plenty of time in the Autumn... it was totally right and working perfectly.

So... after this long post... should I stick with my plans? Should I chose another route? Maybe Le Puy or one of the southern French routes? But will I lose the camino feeling? Will there be less pilgrims in October? Will if feel too close to home?

I'd really appreciate a few encouraging shouts for the Portuguese route... tell me I've got it wrong and it's going to be great

By the way... wishing you all a joyous and peaceful 2017

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Good people.... as we wave goodbye to 2016 I suspect a great many of us are thinking about the next walk? I know I am. I thought I was decided... I was leaving Lisbon around the 25 September and walking to Santiago.

But... for the exact same reasons that I've always had, I am unsure if this is the route for me. The list below is the conversation that is going through my head... many of you know so much more about all of the routes than I.. so I really would appreciate your feedback.

• I'm walking in Autumn so I am looking for somewhere with reasonable weather
• I am thinking of maybe walking the Levante in 2018 and my husband wants to walk the Norte with me for his 60th so these two are out of the choices
• I want to walk a route that I've not walked before
• Ideally (but not essential) I would like to walk an entire route... this might not be possible
• I'm not worried about a route that ends in Santiago
• I don't want to walk in isolation. I like the social aspect of the camino. I'm not looking for a party but it is nice to get in at the end of the day and see a familiar face or two.

My worry with the Portuguese is the road walking? The blogs I read mention the road sections, some busy and dangerous? I read one which suggests 70% on the road? I don't enjoy walking along roads... I have scoliosis and the drop away (cadence) of the road really causes problems with my back and leg... it's fine if I can move around on a quite road but not on busy roads. I also read about lots of big barky dogs... more than other routes?

The Lisbon route seemed to tick all my boxes... I love Portugal... I'm in Lisbon in February and we were already planning to walk the first 2 days out of town on this trip to ensure I have plenty of time in the Autumn... it was totally right and working perfectly.

So... after this long post... should I stick with my plans? Should I chose another route? Maybe Le Puy or one of the southern French routes? But will I lose the camino feeling? Will there be less pilgrims in October? Will if feel too close to home?

I'd really appreciate a few encouraging shouts for the Portuguese route... tell me I've got it wrong and it's going to be great

By the way... wishing you all a joyous and peaceful 2017

Hi,

I don't know about the Portuguese route so I shouldn't occupy the space here... Just thinking about the Vía de la Plata, which has the same strech on the map, almost parallell to the portuguese but on the Spanish side so to say. It seems to fit in with the amount of people you would like to meet: yo will bump in to others at the end of the day but it's no party highway like the Camino Francés. Temperatures should be bearable at the end of September. And no excessive walking on asphalt, at least as I remember it. Some stages perhaps, but asphalt is not like the trademark of this route. Did you look it up?

/Bad Pilgrim

 

[LesBrass]

Hi,

I don't know about the Portuguese route so I shouldn't occupy the space here... Just thinking about the Vía de la Plata, which has the same strech on the map, almost parallell to the portuguese but on the Spanish side so to say. It seems to fit in with the amount of people you would like to meet: yo will bump in to others at the end of the day but it's no party highway like the Camino Francés. Temperatures should be bearable at the end of September. And no excessive walking on asphalt, at least as I remember it. Some stages perhaps, but asphalt is not like the trademark of this route. Did you look it up?

/Bad Pilgrim

Ah @Bad Pilgrim ... I'm just shaking the Via dust off my pack. I would love to be back there but I think it's too soon... and I think I'd like to see the spring flowers next time.

p.s. you're always welcome to occupy the space

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Ah @Bad Pilgrim ... I'm just shaking the Via dust off my pack. I would love to be back there but I think it's too soon... and I think I'd like to see the spring flowers next time.

p.s. you're always welcome to occupy the space

Ooh, I should have known, I think you've commented about it somewhere else on the Forum. But there are so many messages here I mix everything up... Sorry...

/BP

 

[LesBrass]

Ooh, I should have known, I think you've commented about it somewhere else on the Forum. But there are so many messages here I mix everything up... Sorry...

/BP

I'm posting all over these last few days... and this post was I think a bit of a panic over the road walking of the CP. I do wonder if part of my concern is reading blogs that are older? I think I've read that the local camino groups have been making huge efforts to get folks off some of the roads? So maybe it's not as bad as I imagine?

Reading over the not-to-miss places from Lisbon on my other thread I'm now thinking that I should push the fears to one side and go and walk? I thought the VdlP was going to be lots of long flat paths and deserted villages... and I couldn't have got that more wrong

 

[Anemone del Camino]

If you are looking for some human contact I don't know that the stretch from Lisbon to Porto will give you that. I keep reading from people who say they've only seen one or two other pilgrims on that stretch. Porto onwards would give you solo walking during the day, full albergue at night. I walked it this May and only got 2 hours of rain, which was lucky sinve it had rained for weeks non stop just before that, but that was was apparently unusual.

I walked 1 day on the coast, on the boardwalk, the rest on the Central. A combination of road and pebble road. I find the Frances to be a pain when one has to keep manoieuvering side to,side on tractor tracks, much happier on the part of the Portuguese I walked. But if you walked the Coastal route, I think it is a lot of boardwalk which I found to,be super comfy of feet. I head read a lot about cobblestones but never found that to be an issue, nor the "dangerous traffic" I had heard about.

As for walking a "whole Camino", haven't you heard from those who suggest Roncesvalles over SJPP as a starting point for the Frances, "there is no whole Camino" .

Have you considered the Primitivo: solo walking during the day, full albergue at night? You could add, in late spring or in the fall, the Salvador. Lonely, but short.

Question, you mention having just returned fromVDLP, how lonely was it?

 

[LesBrass]

@Anemone del Camino ... good point made about 'whole' caminos.

On the VdlP I walked with a friend so not lonely but often we never saw other pilgrims. But a caveat to that is that when we started there were lots (maybe a group of 20). We slowed down over some of the longer stages and we lost the group... but there were pilgrims around. I started at the end of September and finished 5 November. Folks we talked to along the route said that there was a noticeable increase in pilgrim numbers (? I have no facts to back this up but it was a common observation from locals) and I think that there will be more in the future.

Also lots of people were doing it in two halves... to Salamanca and then from Salamanca.

I was just blown away with the beauty of this walk... the history and the towns and cities up to Zamora and then the scenery of the Sanabres. There was really only one section that was too long to walk... we bused from Caceres to Carnaval... the rest was fairly straightforward.

Happy planning... I hope you have a great time!

p.s. the boardwalk sounds perfect!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

@Anemone del Camino ... good point made about 'whole' caminos.

On the VdlP I walked with a friend so not lonely but often we never saw other pilgrims. Folks we talked to along the route said that there was a noticeable increase in pilgrim numbers.

Also lots of people were doing it in two halves... to Salamanca and then from Salamanca.

I was just blown away with the beauty of this walk... the history and the towns and cities up to Zamora and then the scenery of the Sanabres. There was really only one section that was too long to walk... we bused from Caceres to Carnaval... the rest was fairly straightforward.

p.s. the boardwalk sounds perfect!

I think the Coastal with its board walk and maritime scenary might be a nice combination for you.

At the moment, since I am looking to go in the comming weeks, and don't want to walk in winter conditions, I am thinking of Sevilla to Salamanca, which would leave enough of the route for a return in the fall.

Still working on making manageable daily walking distances but except for a few places where bus/taxi will be required for some 10km it is looking good. I am actually surprised by thr number of albergues open all year, and the number of recently opened ones.

 

[Kitsambler]

There's always the Le Puy route: beautiful scenery, many fellow walkers in September, great walking weather.