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Yes! It is possible. I used the buen camino app which shows both the new and the old route. Old route on forestry tracks. New route on roads. Madness (imho). But using the app with maps and gps it's easy to stay on the old route. Only had 1 spot where the old route was physically gone, but there was another footpath right alongside so not a problem. You do need an app or a map.and some good knowledge though, the old route is now not marked.
“Buen Camino” is a smartphone app that has gps-based maps, route descriptions, and accommodation info for multiple different Camino routes. You pay per route, so it’s very inexpensive if you just need one map. I used it for the Frances and Aragones last year and found it excellent!
Depends which part of the 'old route' you want to walk....
I'll be starting my walk on May 5th so I'll let you know how it goes once I return home.@peb thank you so much for this detail, I'm walking the ingles in June and I think I'd like to walk part of the old route too... will download the app and make notes... and copy your notes!
I'll be interested to hear from anyone else walking before 2nd June... I'm not a huge fan of road/motorway walking
p.s. Do we know why the route has been changed?
You can find the app on the Editorial Buen Camino websiteThe only apps I have available to me through the Apple App Store are "Camino Santiago" or "The Guide of the Way of St. James", nothing that is specifically "Buen Camino".
When it is written that much of the Ingles is now on roads, what you will find is that the majority of the roads which the Ingles walks on are very little used country roads, where you can walk down the middle of the road and you move aside when you see the occasional car / van / tractor coming. Personally, I didn't see walking on country lanes that big an issue.
The exceptions on the new route are the walk from Cos to Presedo on the Betanzos to Hospital de Bruma section, and later on at that section, the 1 to 2km walk past the large electricity substation and Bar Avelina.
The new detour on the motorway embankment outside Sigueiro actually takes you off a country road and onto a grass path on the motorway embankment (there is a wire fence separating you and the hard shoulder of the motorway, and therefore there is no safety issue on this path). However, if I did the Ingles again, there is no way that I would go down this section again and carry on down the tarmacked road and walk on the country road of the old Ingles to Sigueiro. It was simply soul destroying walking for the good part of an hour watching noisy cars achieve in a minute what you will do in an hour ….. and there is also little privacy if you need to relieve yourself on that section!
We had a wonderful Camino Ingles walk in October 2018 mostly on trails and beautiful quiet country roads. You are right though the last 5 k into Sigüeiro beside the motorway were the longest and worst part of our walk. We saw the alternate way but were footsore and very tired so didn’t have the energy to check it out. Our mistake!!! but we do remember it and it was certainly a reminder of our environmental impact on the landscape and how it made us reflect on our use of cars and highways in order for us to get somewhere quickly. Another difficult Camino lessonWhen it is written that much of the Ingles is now on roads, what you will find is that the majority of the roads which the Ingles walks on are very little used country roads, where you can walk down the middle of the road and you move aside when you see the occasional car / van / tractor coming. Personally, I didn't see walking on country lanes that big an issue.
The exceptions on the new route are the walk from Cos to Presedo on the Betanzos to Hospital de Bruma section, and later on at that section, the 1 to 2km walk past the large electricity substation and Bar Avelina.
The new detour on the motorway embankment outside Sigueiro actually takes you off a country road and onto a grass path on the motorway embankment (there is a wire fence separating you and the hard shoulder of the motorway, and therefore there is no safety issue on this path). However, if I did the Ingles again, there is no way that I would go down this section again and carry on down the tarmacked road and walk on the country road of the old Ingles to Sigueiro. It was simply soul destroying walking for the good part of an hour watching noisy cars achieve in a minute what you will do in an hour ….. and there is also little privacy if you need to relieve yourself on that section!
I did the Ingles in 2015. I walked right past Bar Julia in a driving rain storm not know its importance. A few meters later I made a right turn up a short hill. It was only 30 minutes later that it came to me that I was climbing this formidle hill, about half way up the hill to Bruma I had to knock on someone's door and ask for water. I got to the top of the hill after walking in a ankle deep stream of water and some kind farmer picked me up on the road to Bruma and told me I would never make it there on a day like that day.Long live the old route!
Long live Bar Julia!
Get you water filled at Bar Julia.
Eat there
Little girl making pancakes on that old spin around device is cool.
The hill is steep. I am 70+ and made it.
If they got rid of the old route cause of the steep hill, then wrong reason!!
Hopefully people can keep the old route alive.
@peb thank you so much for this detail, I'm walking the ingles in June and I think I'd like to walk part of the old route too... will download the app and make notes... and copy your notes!
I'll be interested to hear from anyone else walking before 2nd June... I'm not a huge fan of road/motorway walking
p.s. Do we know why the route has been changed?
Despite the route changes, I still think the Ingles is a great Camino. It is quiet, the first two days walk by the coast, and if you only have a week, walking the whole of a Camino from start to finish, rather than the last 100km of a longer Camino, gives you a different feeling when you queue up for your compostela at the Pilgrim's office
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