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If you have Brierley, that is all the map you need. Just follow the yellow arrows.
It really depends on when you are walking and how likely you are to miss an arrow. I wonder if those who offer 'just follow the arrows' as advice have ever been in the circumstance where they have missed an arrow and spent time lost. Its not pleasant. Without a decent map, the only real option is re-tracing one's steps and trying to find where the arrow was you missed. I have had to do that and it's not pleasant. Brierley is good while you are on the right path, hopeless if you are not, but at least you will know generally where to look for the turns and when to start being concerned if you haven't seen an arrow for a while.You don´t need any map on the Camino Frances , just follow the yellow arrows.
It really depends on when you are walking and how likely you are to miss an arrow. I wonder if those who offer 'just follow the arrows' as advice have ever been in the circumstance where they have missed an arrow and spent time lost. Its not pleasant. Without a decent map, the only real option is re-tracing one's steps and trying to find where the arrow was you missed. I have had to do that and it's not pleasant. Brierley is good while you are on the right path, hopeless if you are not, but at least you will know generally where to look for the turns and when to start being concerned if you haven't seen an arrow for a while.
I found that many of the other pilgrims who made much of not taking a guidebook would borrow a guidebook in the evening to get a good idea of what the following days walk would be like. Its difficult to plan out a day without some idea about what places the path will pass through, whether there are particularly interesting things to look out for, whether there is a bar/cafe, etc. That is where I found Brierley particularly valuable.
Regards,
It really depends on when you are walking and how likely you are to miss an arrow. I wonder if those who offer 'just follow the arrows' as advice have ever been in the circumstance where they have missed an arrow and spent time lost. Its not pleasant.
I bushwalk regularly too, and long ago learnt the skill of orienting the map to the ground without the aid of a compass. This is more often than not sufficient to work out where I am without having to resort to using a compass and doing a resection.I´m a mountain hiker. I hike every weekend of the year, rain or shine. And I can tell you that without a compass a map is useless.
I´m a mountain hiker. I hike every weekend of the year, rain or shine. And I can tell you that without a compass a map is useless.
I have walked 3 Caminos, without a guide book, without a map. And YES I missed an arrow or two. But I didn't get lost, I investigated and saw more than many who DID see the yellow arrow. You just have to keep your calm and retrace your steps.
I also have followed a fellow peregrino instead of looking for the yellow arrows and I also ended up going the wrong way. I had to retrace my steps as well.But this is part of the Camino.
I have observed on the forum that there are lots of people who are too book/guide dependent ." They don´t see the woods for the trees." They miss out on lots of things as they walk along the Camino. They have their guide book and they think it´s like the Holy Bible - word of God. All that ´s written in it is correct .
No need to ask anyone local or peregrinos as the Almighty Guide Book has all the answers. The Camino is much more than follow a book. But everyone follows their own Camino.
I wish you well on yours.
Un abrazo & Buen Camino!
It beats an iPod and music for using up time; and you often meet very nice people who are curious about the next day.Seeing people studying guides in the evening, making notes
You didI think I annoyed Dougfitz on a previous thread about navigating the Francesbut you're experience is very similar to mine and I stick by my comments.
It beats an iPod and music for using up time; and you often meet very nice people who are curious about the next day.
In France I buy maps because the route often is unnecessarily circuitous and I need maps to find the short cuts. We used Google Maps on an iPhone on the last Chemin du Puy, and ran up a $600 data charge on ATT international service! You can buy a lot of maps for that amount...
You did. I don't think your advice was framed in the context that you are now offering, which makes it difficult for a tyro to assess whether they have similar skills and experience, and can take the same risks as you are prepared to take. But you are no alone in this. In trying to make our posts succinct, it often happens that we don't provide all the details we might.
It is much the same as some multi-camino veterans who give similar advice. It makes me wonder if they would have been so blase about how easy it is on their first camino. I, too, might choose to walk without a guidebook if I had done the CF several times. As it was, I was glad I took a guidebook on my first camino, and intend to do the same next year when I walk a different route for the first time.
Regards,
Where can I get an O.S. map of the walk from Cruceiro to Roncesvalles. Would I need one if mist or clouds closed in?
Not being able to see far can be a limitation in the bush, but neither are completely featureless. Which desert were you planning to walk across in Spain?Interesting Doug,how do you orientate a map to the ground,without a compass,in dense bush,or desert ?..............Vicrev
Not being able to see far can be a limitation in the bush, but neither are completely featureless. Which desert were you planning to walk across in Spain?
Sorry vicrev, I mistook the intent of your earlier question, and thought you must have had a genuine interest in the particular problem you raised because you were intending to face it at some stage on a pilgrimage. So if you aren't planning on a crossing a desert on a pilgrimage walk, what was your purpose in asking the question?Dougf....Doesn't matter where the desert is ..........................You are the one who said you learnt the skill of orientating a map to the ground,just curious how you do it.................what has walking across a desert in Spain got to do with it ? ........ .............Vicrev
I am a little worried that you seem to think you need more than a map to navigate. Unless you are using a compass to walk on a specific bearing when walking completely off track, what does the accuracy you get from using one do for you? If it is that important, get a simple GPS.Doug......I have bushwalked since I was ten years old,back in the day when a compass was brass & weighed a ton, maps came from OZ Army Disposal stores & we used to look at them in awe because they had artillery trajectile formula on them(God I must stop rambling on! )....................Its just that I still have an inquiring mind & am interested to know how you can navigate with a map only........simple as that....................Vicrev
Hi Vicrev, yes IGN has fold up maps. They take up lots of space, aren't negligible in weight, cost a fortune, are a bitch to refold in the wind and don't automatically orient themselves to the land (you need dougfitz's skills to do that yourself). Tap the iPhone screen three times and the map orients itself. Like in the land of OZ
@MendiWalker, I'm taking my iPhone only. It's 140 grams and fits in a pocket on the waist strap of my pack (and never has to leave there if I don't need it). Its charger, which also charges my headlamp, is 27 grams. Brierley is 305 grams and the Dintaman book is 403 grams. The iPhone is a GPS, which I may never need; contains every map available for France and Spain, if I'm interested in looking; has a few thousand songs if I want to hear some music (I can put it on at night and have it automatically turn off, if I'm having trouble falling asleep because of noise); it has a few dozen books on it, if for some reason I want to read; I can communicate with the outside world, or look up places to stay and their phone numbers to call ahead; it has a compass in case I follow someone with a paper map in their hands and we get lost;there is an app on it that shows me where the Sun is on completely overcast days or in the middle of severe weather (regardless of network access) in case I become disoriented; and my family can reach me in an emergency. It's also a camera for both stills and video, and a voice recorder if I want to make notes to myself. I can write, post blog entries... blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, it's a piece of high tech like the packs, sleeping bags, toiletries and clothing that we are all wearing. But having it will remove any concerns that I have of being lost or missing something beautiful, leaving me to enjoy my time, contemplate my life, enjoy all the new friends I will meet, and the people I will interact with, and never once have to use it. I thought about a Camino without technology, but even a rough cloth sack for clothing, walking stick, and leather shoes are technology, and people are already complaining on this forum about old men walking around in their undies, can you imagine if I actually left all technology behind and just walked barefoot in my birthday suit?
To each his own, right?
Don´t forget a juicer for that iPhone . The battery doesn´t last long if you use the GPS on it.
Buen Camino!
Houlet, I agree, but wonder how these extremes are relevant to walking the CF or any of the other camino routes in Spain. If conditions were that bad, I think I might be seeking a nice warm (hopefully) albergue and asking to stay an extra night. I lack the imagination to see walking in such conditions as being anything but an extraordinarily risky undertaking.Re - The map & compass discussion.
I can see both sides, having walked across the Kalahari in Botswana without needing to use my compass but a map is useless in thick fog or blizzard conditions.
For instance on Ben Nevis in Scotland the only safe way of the top in winter is to follow a very specific compass bearing.
In similar conditions in the Spanish mountains it will be the same.
The 'juicer' was listed. It's 27 grams and serves to also recharge my headlamp. Perhaps you didn't see that in the second line of my remarks? Anyway, I'm not going to use the GPS function, unless I get lost. You know us techies, we can't even see the ground in front of us because we are always staring at a screen of some sort. Or something like that... :/
I meant one of these http://store.apple.com/us/product/HC927ZM/A/mophie-juice-pack-air-for-iphone-5?fnode=48
Hope to meet you one day on the Camino meanwhile...........
Buen Camino!
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