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Opinions Please - New CdeS Guide Book

Time of past OR future Camino
First one in 1977 by train. Many since then by foot. Next one ASAP.
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Moon Camino de Santiago: Sacred Sites, Historic Villages, Local Food & Wine (Travel Guide) Paperback/Kindle - April 2, 2019.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/164049328X/?tag=casaivar02-20

Any veterans seen it, used it, have an opinion about it?

(No, I really don't need another guidebook! -- But "It is written, man shall not live by Brierley alone.")
I bought the Kindle version, and used it occasionally. I prefer using the Buen Camino app for most of the practical information, and don't use the Brierly book, because it's only available as a physical book, and I don't need the extra weight! It seems odd to me that his maps only book is available on kindle, but none of his full guidebooks are.
 
"It is written, man shall not live by Brierley alone."
Just as well - I find Brierley very indigestible and not to my taste. With so much Camino information readily and freely available online I no longer feel the need for a printed guidebook on my Camino journeys these days. Guidebooks can certainly fire the imagination or bring past experiences to mind and for that alone they may have their place. But at the simple practical day-to-day level I think they are becoming increasingly redundant.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
I enjoyed the Moon Guide (Kindle), which filled in information about what I was seeing. For logistics, I used the Brierley map book (paper) and the Village to Village guide (Kindle).
 
I bought the Kindle version, and used it occasionally. I prefer using the Buen Camino app for most of the practical information, and don't use the Brierly book, because it's only available as a physical book, and I don't need the extra weight! It seems odd to me that his maps only book is available on kindle, but none of his full guidebooks are.
It takes me only 15 minutes to take screenshots of the Brierley guidebooks. Easy peasy, especially if you do a landscape that captures 2 pages at a time, and have a family member hold the book flat.
 
I think the Moon guide is the best Camino guidebook out there, by quite a bit. The knockoff is that it is heavy. Solve this by getting the Kindle version. I would still use the apps for day to day use, but if I want to read up on a stage, Moon is my choice.
 
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Moon Camino de Santiago: Sacred Sites, Historic Villages, Local Food & Wine (Travel Guide) Paperback/Kindle - April 2, 2019.


Any veterans seen it, used it, have an opinion about it?

(No, I really don't need another guidebook! -- But "It is written, man shall not live by Brierley alone.")

Well, I bought the Kindle version and installed it on my "devices." I've read parts of it, and rather like it. ... I'll save the rest to read on the airplane going back to Spain next month....

It's not a portable "field guide" for "true pilgrims" a la Brierley, and will never inspire the same level of devotion that Brierley does, but it's well-illustrated, easily readable, and informative in ways that Brierley is not. ... I'd never use it in place of Brierley, but as a complement to Brierley it's a winner. ... IMHO it simply can't compete with Brierley in the map department (No apologies there! I will never be untrue to my first love!) but its maps do have their own merits. ...

It's also aimed surprizingly at, well -- me -- as I really am ... 65+ years of age, a fair-Castilian-speaking several-times-over Camino veteran, increasingly appreciative of privacy and good showers, increasingly vulnerable to physical aches and pains ... but also increasingly blessed with financial flexibility (and who's worked hard for many years to be able to say that, btw!)

It seems to me to reflect something of what the Camino is for me now, as opposed to what it was when I first discovered it, many years ago....

I would describe it a good tourist guidebook for the English-speaking middle-class.

Which is to say that it minimizes the whole albergue cult, and offers suggestions in re hotels (some cheap, some not) and in re restaurants where you can eat more than just french fries.... It tones down the whole "stage" thing considerably, and the relentless death-march-mentality that so distorts the experience of Camino newbies. ...

It implicitly encourages a moderate pace, with lots of suggestions in re how to enjoy neat things that you might otherwise overlook, and in re how to "soak up the scenery" generally. ... I'm a pretty conscientious Camino-details-addict, but it taught me some things that I did not know!

It takes great pains to be "inclusive" in its comments -- perhaps even more than Brierley does! Lots of Pagan, Jewish, Islamic and "New Age" references -- some of them pushing the envelope rather doubtfully, IMHO! ... I don't fault it for those references, mind you - in fact I appreciate them! I like to learn new stuff!

But I'm also a very traditionally-minded and conventionally-religious soul, for whom the Camino remains a Catholic pilgrimage... And (ahem!) there simply is no guidebook currently on the market aimed at the traditionally-minded and conventionally-religious -- i.e., Catholic pilgrims -- is there? I wish that there was! ...

Pax.
 
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Hi Rev, I just want to say I fully agree with you that Brierley's maps are the best! I've used the Cicerone Northern Caminos on the Norte and the Lightfoot on the Le Puy. They both offer very good information, but the maps both leave much to be desired...at least in books. Online apps can be a different story.
 
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