New on the Forum - Here to say thanks!

[Bad Pilgrim]

Hola,

I just recently registered on the Forum. I've been around here since several years without registering. Because I was just too lazy and all that... (after all, I am the Bad Pilgrim...) Enough already! First of all I have to thank Laurie who inspired me to do the Levante in 2014 after reading her blog of 2013. I printed it out and used it together with the guide of the Asociación de los Amigos del Levante. And I want to thank Kinky One whose footsteps I followed this summer on the Camino de Invierno, reading his posts on this Forum. By the way, I did the Sureste this summer and you, Kinky, preceded me on the Levante. At one point, where the two Caminos merge, we were only one "etapa" apart! I'll tell you all about it! :O) (You were 1 night before me in Almonacid de Toledo!) The posts that Luka made on the Invierno were equally informative (I completely understand her decision to change her route - never have I seen more unchained dogs on a Camino...)

I feel I would never have done these Caminos without the help from Laurie, Kinky One, Luka and others on this Forum (LTfit, Sulu, Aquabilly...) That's also why I have registered. I feel I have to give something back. Perhaps I could look through Laurie's updated guide of the Invierno because you, Laurie, want some comments on that one if I am not mistaken? I haven't been able to open it as I wasn't registered before.

I also plan to make an account of my Camino this summer, the Sureste, as I kept my guidebook and made some observations and comments as I walked. The guide of the Sureste is from 2010, I think, so I will post the differencies I noted so they might serve someone walking after me with the same guide. Hopefully I can do for others what people in this Forum have done for me...

At your service
Bad Pilgrim

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Bad Pilgrim,
All you have to do is send me a PM with your email address (don't put your email address in the public forum) and I will send you the current version of the guide. There is still time to get your comments in, I will not release the final version till January 2016! Buen camino, Laurie

(and thanks for the kind words, but I have to tell you, I at least do this in a totally selfish way -- I love talking about the Caminos and sharing opinions on it!)

 

[Kanga]

Welcome to the forum and I'm so glad you decided to join - your experience will be very helpful, not just for the less travelled paths but also in general. We seem to have a steadily increasing number of people walking for the first time and the more people who can answer their questions the better.

Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

 

[KinkyOne]

...And I want to thank Kinky One whose footsteps I followed this summer on the Camino de Invierno, reading his posts on this Forum. By the way, I did the Sureste this summer and you, Kinky, preceded me on the Levante. At one point, where the two Caminos merge, we were only one "etapa" apart! I'll tell you all about it! :O) (You were 1 night before me in Almonacid de Toledo!)...

Huh, thanks a lot (for Invierno)!

I was just 1 day ahead of you in Almonacid del Toledo??? I was there on June 30th. And stayed next 2 nights in Toledo at Albergue Los Pascuales very close to Alcazar. Pity we didn't meet.

EDIT: And I came to Muxia on August 8th. Where were you at that day?

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Welcome to the forum and I'm so glad you decided to join - your experience will be very helpful, not just for the less travelled paths but also in general. We seem to have a steadily increasing number of people walking for the first time and the more people who can answer their questions the better.

Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

Thank you Kanga,

I'll do my best. As there are so many accounts of the Levante there might be little interest in the Sureste, as the two Caminos follow the same path at several occasions. On the other hand, as I have made both of them (separately), my experience could help future pilgrims to compare the two. Actually I am still wondering if one of them is superior to the other or if they are just two versions of the same route...

When I talked to the hospitaleros on the Sureste, several of them told me they had the impression that the Levante was the more popular one, and they expressed some concern about this, as the Sureste is the "traditional" Camino and the Levante is a recent invention (according to them...). No one said this with scorn or resentment or anything, but I couldn't help but notice that they were a bit sad about it.

For those who are interested in how "crowded" these Caminos are: I was completely alone for the first 19 days on the Levante, and perhaps for the first 21 days on the Sureste, if I'm not mistaken. Bicigrinos passed me, of course, but not a single walker during the first three weeks. (I noticed LTfit and Philly had almost the same experience on the Levante last years.) But both times I walked in June and July, so there may be more people doing it in spring or autumn.

Both of them still were AMAZING and that's why I'll tell you all about it. I just have to look through my guide and my notes and then make something readable out of it! :O)

Ciao

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Hi, Bad Pilgrim,
All you have to do is send me a PM with your email address (don't put your email address in the public forum) and I will send you the current version of the guide. There is still time to get your comments in, I will not release the final version till January 2016! Buen camino, Laurie

(and thanks for the kind words, but I have to tell you, I at least do this in a totally selfish way -- I love talking about the Caminos and sharing opinions on it!)

Hi again,

A PM... Personal... Message? I have to find that function - I don't know how to do it here... Sorry, I'm new to this. :O(

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Huh, thanks a lot (for Invierno)!

I was just 1 day ahead of you in Almonacid del Toledo??? I was there on June 30th. And stayed next 2 nights in Toledo at Albergue Los Pascuales very close to Alcazar. Pity we didn't meet.

EDIT: And I came to Muxia on August 8th. Where were you at that day?

Oh,

As for Muxia I have to go back to my credential to check the days, I'm not sure. But I believe it was before the 8th of august and that I was back home by then. As for Toledo... I stayed at the Pascuales as well. So if you stayed for two days, we must have been there at the same time, at your second day there! I didn't know that. :O0

 

[Kanga]

@Bad Pilgrim to find the PM function select the "inbox" next to your username at the top right of the webpage, under the masthead. A dropdown box will appear with one option, in small blue letters, being "start a conversation". Select that. Or just go to your "inbox" and you should see a big blue button "start a conversation". Follow the prompts.

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

@Bad Pilgrim to find the PM function select the "inbox" next to your username at the top right of the webpage, under the masthead. A dropdown box will appear with one option, in small blue letters, being "start a conversation". Select that. Or just go to your "inbox" and you should see a big blue button "start a conversation". Follow the prompts.

Okaaay,

I think I made it. Wow, can't wait to see what I can do for the Invierno. But we've been quite a few walking it recently so I don't know if there's anting more to say. Let's see.

Thanks!

 

[VNwalking]

after all, I am the Bad Pilgrim

Yeah, you're bad all right. As in 'Baaaaaad'
Which of course means the opposite. Sorry, BP.

Wow, can't wait to see what I can do for the Invierno.

Oh, boy, me neither...it's looking more and more as if I will be headed in that direction next spring.

Thanks for coming out of the shadows, Bad Pilgrim...the more 'old hands' around here the better!

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Oh,

I looked at the Invierno guide rapidly but Laurie and the bunch have done such a detailed work I don't think I can add anything. I'll look it through once again just to be sure.

The thing is I didn't use any printed guide myself for the Invierno and I didn't take any notes. Because... I had forgotten to print one out!! I was so nervous about going on the Sureste that I completely forgot I had decided to continue on the Invierno. When it dawned upon me I was between Cebreiro and San Bartolomé and Internet was far away. I didn't feel like go hunting for a cybercafé in Ávila or Ponferrada where I could print one out so I departed without one (no, my cellphone doesn't have Internet either.) Bad pilgrim...