Is a guide book necessary?

[Frank Carroll]

Hi everyone, I am four weeks out and getting anxious! I am walking from Sarria to SDC. I know which town I am going to stay in each night, I will have booked all my accommodation in advance (because I have very bad knees and I need to know there is a room waiting for me). Do I need a guide book (John Brierly) to help me find my way or for any other reason? Thanks in advance for your help! Buen Camino

 

[Deleted member 3000]

For the last 100km, you probably won't get much from a guidebook.

 

[mralisn]

Hi Frank,

It seems you have done all you need. I would forgo the guidebook. Ask for any important information at each night's lodging. Follow the masses. Trust the arrows.

Throw out the anxiousness and enjoy your Way.

Cheers,
Simeon

 

[dougfitz]

The other way of looking at this is that a guidebook will provide you with information about the places you will pass through, distances to go, etc. You might find a few pages printed out from one of the many resource pages useful. There is a list here.

 

[whariwharangi]

Hi everyone, I am four weeks out and getting anxious! I am walking from Sarria to SDC. I know which town I am going to stay in each night, I will have booked all my accommodation in advance (because I have very bad knees and I need to know there is a room waiting for me). Do I need a guide book (John Brierly) to help me find my way or for any other reason? Thanks in advance for your help! Buen Camino

The pages are not quite as slick as the Sears catalogue so it would be a good source of emergency 'fiber'.

 

[Felipe]

Actually...the entire Camino Frances is so well organised and signposted, there are so many albergues and restaurantes, and so many people walking in summer, that you almost can walk from beginning to end without a guide. Only exception is the stage SJPP-Roncesvalles, which is a mountain pass and requires some careful plannning.
The first time I walked the CF, I had only a sketchy map with distances, and a little notebook with a list of possible albergues -but I basically improvised my way on the spot. When I landed in a good albergue, I asked the hospitalero for a recommendation for the next one, and it worked fine. Ah, I met with some "gourmet pilgrims" and sometimes I followed them to a good restaurant.
On the other side, I agree with dougfitz -some previous readings about history, legends, places and monuments provides a better experience.
Buen camino! Next time plan for some extra days, you are going to enjoy it.

 

[tominrm]

The reason you need a guide is that just in case you arrive at your planned destination for the day and found you need/decided to walk on more. In that case you need to know what is available and how far you need to walk more. There are cases in the middle part of Camino France that you don't see any albergue or even drinking water for 17 km. Personally, I would carry a guide to see what is ahead. Yes, you can do the whole camino without a guide by just following the people, but having a guide will help you plan ahead.

 

[happymarkos]

Hi everyone, I am four weeks out and getting anxious! I am walking from Sarria to SDC. I know which town I am going to stay in each night, I will have booked all my accommodation in advance (because I have very bad knees and I need to know there is a room waiting for me). Do I need a guide book (John Brierly) to help me find my way or for any other reason? Thanks in advance for your help! Buen Camino

Having walked the whole route I found Brierley's book very useful. I agree with Frank, just take a few pages with historical information as it provides a context and increases the Camino experience. HappyMark

 

[tominrm]

In defense of John Brierley:

I have been told more than once on the camino, "I don't like to follow John Brierley's Guide." It was by people who have walked more than once. The reason they said was basically by following his guide, you are in a competition to look for a bed every night with those who follow his guide, not because his suggestion is bad or wrong. Another reason for not following his guide would be desire to walk just about the same distance everyday.

But I think John has to suggest the way it is in his guide even though the distance for each stage is not evenly distributed because there always are more first time pilgrims in each day than experienced pilgrims. These first timers usually heed to John's suggestion at least first few days. If John spread out the distance each day more evenly and suggest stay in a small town with only one or two albergues, there will be a problem for those who arrive late in the day with finding a bed. I think that's why John suggests fairly large size villages.

 

[Mark Lee]

I found a guidebook to be extremely useful, especially for doing the Camino the first time. If you got one, bring it. It doesn't add that much weight.

 

[jirit]

I agree that for the last 100 km you won't need a guidebook especially given that you have booked a place for each night.

Instead of carrying a guidebook, find a great book on the culture/history, etc of the Camino and use this to enhance your experience.

 

[Thengel1]

This is approaching the point of piling on, but for the record:

1. I found Brierley's guidebook very helpful at times. Having said that:

2. For someone walking from Sarria, it is completely and utterly unnecessary.

 

[StuartM]

The other way of looking at this is that a guidebook will provide you with information about the places you will pass through, distances to go, etc. You might find a few pages printed out from one of the many resource pages useful. There is a list here.

I made myself a list of towns, distances and facilities from Godesalco. That was all I took.

I never took a guide. Sometimes in the evening I would read the Galicia Guide website for the towns coming up next day (covers the whole Frances), sometimes I wouldnt. I probably missed a lot of "culture" but for me the trip was about wandering, people and dealing with personal issues. It made each day much more of a discovery. If it had been more of a "holiday" then I might've wanted to know more so I guess it depends on the context of the individual walk (I hate how "pilgrimage" is forced on every walker).

I walked Astorga to SDC. In practical terms route finding was fine for that part.

 

[PANO]

.....I hate how "pilgrimage" is forced on every walker.

I concur absolutely. I think that the Camino has gained in popularity because of the increased secularity. I really wonder how many walk it simply because
- it is a historic trail in a remote region we would otherwise hardly consider to visit, but which offers to long-distance hikers a unique and low-cost infrastructure, hospitality and a mostly moderate climate.
- it is a long journey with moderate difficulty suitable to all ages and a determined destination.
- it is helps focusing on one's innermost self with distance and physical exercise and by removing distraction.
The CF is a perfect combination of being segregate from our everyday life without being desolate; frugal, yet with every amenity and security; exotic by people, language, custom and foods, yet familiar by culture.
While this culture has pre-Christian roots, it is undeniably and deeply interwoven with religion and faith. For many, the Camino is a truly religious exercise in its most traditional way but I felt myself in good and plentiful company with those who choose to walk it "only" for a strictly personal, secular or even a mere physical purpose of enrichment.
Neither do I see a contradiction for a mundane "non-believer" to attend a pilgrim mass at the cathedral in SdC as a culmination of achieving his goal, gratefully accepting the hospitality of church without being part of it.
I perceived the Camino as an exercise of "truly Christian" tolerance awarded to all and every participant regardless of his/her motivation and believes, a truly earthly experience. So, finally I do not feel the description "Pilgrim" being forced on me but rather accept it as a universal badge of honour.

 

[wayfarer]

Well said PANO.

 

[Frank Carroll]

Thanks everyone for your comments and advice, much appreciated

 

[koilife]

. . . I hate how "pilgrimage" is forced on every walker.

"Forced on every walker" seems a bit strong. One could just as easily assert secularism or ultralight backpacking is being forced on every walker.

Most of the time this forum tends to be very strong on "walk your own walk" and threads that go too strongly off in any direction or lose basic respect for very long get (rightly) stopped by the moderators. That pilgrimage is part of the mindset and language for a network of trails originally oriented around a religious pilgrimage shouldn't be surprising.

 

[Andrew James Doyle]

Hi everyone, I am four weeks out and getting anxious! I am walking from Sarria to SDC. I know which town I am going to stay in each night, I will have booked all my accommodation in advance (because I have very bad knees and I need to know there is a room waiting for me). Do I need a guide book (John Brierly). As per tominrm, you won't 'need' a guide book from Saria, but might want one for the extra rescouces it will offer! We had Brierly's slim guide to Shahagun ( a day per page) but lost it there! Got to Leon easy without it but replaces with the standard book that offered a better breakdown of the gaps between towns or churches or points of interest! Plus you will know how far to the next Albergue if your day doesn't fit his! We stopped before or after larger towns to miss the Hub. Effect that the book forms! Got to walk though the towns and cities early, empty and quitet that way! Suited us! Buen Camino.

 

[Dutch]

In defense of John Brierley:

I have been told more than once on the camino, "I don't like to follow John Brierley's Guide." It was by people who have walked more than once. The reason they said was basically by following his guide, you are in a competition to look for a bed every night with those who follow his guide, not because his suggestion is bad or wrong. Another reason for not following his guide would be desire to walk just about the same distance everyday.

But I think John has to suggest the way it is in his guide even though the distance for each stage is not evenly distributed because there always are more first time pilgrims in each day than experienced pilgrims. These first timers usually heed to John's suggestion at least first few days. If John spread out the distance each day more evenly and suggest stay in a small town with only one or two albergues, there will be a problem for those who arrive late in the day with finding a bed. I think that's why John suggests fairly large size villages.

A lot of guidebooks keep to the exact same stages as the brierley guidebook does. It isn't exclusive to brierley and i doubt if he is the "inventor" or the stages.

Nobody is saying you have to stick to these stages. Alot of people do, but also alot don't 'cause they find the stage of a certain day to long or to short, because they don't have that much time in total or maybe bacause they have more time or simply because they found "a family" they like to walk with and just sort of stick together and end up where they end up.

I think the whole talk about bed competitions is nonsens. At least nonsens enough to not worry about it. I walked beginning of sept last year and this was, i believe, a busy month, but i was never bed-less and honoustly, if you are, the next albergue is never that far away.

Oh but to come back to the topic, a guidebook can be handy, i agree, but do you need one? No. Certaily not for the last 100km.

 

[christer1]

A full guide book is not necessary as such but is useful when wanting to AVOID places where the masses will stop. Most people on the camino like to plan and walk it within a framework that reminds them of home. I recommend a map with accommodation shown in case of emergency but other than that do not plan. Every day is different - some days 20k seems more than enough and on another 35k is a breeze. Not planning will allow you to free yourself from the shackles of normal life and truly take thing as they come. You do of course need to give yourself sufficient time doing this so that you don't run with the rest who need to do 32k per day to stay on their tight schedule. Not to say that the non-planned method is necessarily slower but having walked last year to Fisterra found it much more rewarding to be free of schedule related limitations.
Buen Camino!

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

no it isn't; but you may find 'a survival guide to the camino in galicia' useful as it specifically covers the section you are walking - buen camino!

 

[dougfitz]

@jefferyonthecamino you do realise that self promotion is never a good recommendation?

 

[fortview]

Hi Frank,
Last October there was so much more accommodation than the year before. Any guide book would struggle to keep up with all the new places opening! So, if you need to stop earlier , or later than you'd planned you would have no problem. And you can always read up about the places before you travel!
Buen camino,
Helen

 

[november_moon]

I liked having a guide book and found Bierley to be pretty good. I liked his maps, especially the elevation profile maps. It helped to get an idea of what was coming. I also liked reading the context about the different areas that he included. We didn't really follow the stages in the book, but it was nice to see what those stages were.