As promised I thought I'd do a reflections on the route. I don't want to do a full trip report, more a look back at things I liked, tips or would maybe do different.
First off... wow! I can't recall such amazing scenery in the space of so few days. It really was incredible, there aren't enough superlatives to describe it. It is absolutely stunning! I think my absolute favourite stretch was the walk up to Ender's cross. Lovely.
The sense of achievement is amazing too. You really feel like you've done something. Part of the reason I was doing it was to raise money for the charity War Child which is very close to my heart (raised £400 or about $600) and I felt like I earned every penny.
So in no real order, thoughts as they come to me...
Physical fitness... don't underestimate it. I trained for a couple of months beforehand and I still felt like I was really pushing myself. This is a tough route. Be comfortable in your boots and pack too. The El Salvador will make you suffer in places.
Mountain safety... These are real mountains, respect them. I know a lot of folk want to escape technology and the daily grind but take a phone. You don't have to use it but it's basic mountain safety to let someone know when you are leaving, route, time of arrival and when you're safe. A couple of text messages is all it takes. On the Frances if you sit down for ten minutes someone will pass, here it might be a day or even a week. Be prepared for weather too, even in August it was cold at night. Even during the day at altitude it could be very cold especially with the wind.
Schedule... I set off intending to do the four day schedule. Think carefully if that is also your plan. Day 1 means a very long walk and if you get behind it becomes very hard to make the time back. I did a steady 5km/h on the Frances regardless of terrain, I was probably doing 3.5km/h here. The terrain is also tough. As an example, Poladura de la Tercia to Pajares is only something like 16km but it took me from 8.30 to 4.30 to do it. It is slow country to move through. The five or even six day schedule is much more realistic.
Phones... as mentioned, good for safety out here. But another reason, a few albergues and some hotels need you to either phone ahead or call on arrival to get them opened up. The one in Pajares is open as it is a community centre too but Marisa, the hospitalera, wants you to call on arrival. Similarly, a good bit of Spanish is probably an idea too.
Electricity... never short of electric sockets or charging points
Solitude... you'll have it in spades. I saw one other pilgrim. The hospitalero in Poladura said the most he had ever seen was four or five at one time.
Food... eat when you get the opportunity. I cannot stress that enough. There aren't many shops, fewer restaurants and the openeing hours vs. position on route often puts them in siesta time. If you see food, buy it. If you see a restaurant open, eat. Lunch is a lot more reliable than dinner too, a lot of the restaurants I saw were shut at night. I ended up eating irregularly on the first couple of days and never recovered, you really do draw deep on your reserves so food becomes very essential. At the last couple of stages I was really exhausted. Carry some emergency rations, like a packet of microwave pasta or something. You will crave carbs like they were a drug!
Water... it's everywhere. It was the thing that concerned me most in my planning but there are fountains in nearly every town. There are also natural springs in the mountains. On the way into Pajares a local showed me a beautiful natural spring just off the track... best water I've tasted. Drink lots of it too!
Albergues... a lot more reliable than hotels. Maybe it was just the wrong time of year but a lot of the hotels in the early stages were shut. The one in La Robla was closed, the Posada del Embrujo was as well, the Posada Real in Pajares too and a few others. The albergues weren't. The one in Poladura de la Tercia was surprisingly welcoming, the guides describe it as scruffy (OK, it is a bit) but it's a donativo and very cosy. The one in Pajares does an excellent pilgrim meal for 9E a person, including wine/beer.
Clothing... I'd recommend long trousers and long sleeves. A lot of the trails are heavily overgrown with gorse and brambles which can be painful going.
First aid kit... carry one. If you get stuck on the mountains then it's a long time before you see anyone else. And if you're like me then a couple of ibuprofen was the only way to get any sleep as I hurt so much.
Route finding... generally very good but there were a couple of spots that I did resort to the bundle of maps I brought. There are places that you need to pay close attention to the guide and the markings.
Maps... see above. I found them quite reassuring in the mountains along with a compass. If the weather closed in and the visibility got bad then I can imagine really resorting to map & compass work. Some sections wouldn't be easy (or downright dangerous) in mist or low cloud.
Guides... I used the CSJ guide which Laurie & Rebekah wrote along with this one: http://caminodelsalvador.net/?wpfb_dl=10
They both complement each other very well. The CSJ guide is better for written descriptions but the other one has pictures of every major feature along the route which is good too. The latter is long (56 pages) but it prints OK if you do it 4 pages per sheet.
I also used the Wise Pilgrim website to compile a spreadsheet showing distances between towns, fountains, shops, etc.
The final stage... I might offend the purists but this is my honest view. Skip it. Finish up in Pola de Lena, walk into Ujo the next day to see the nice pre-romanesque church (definitely worth a visit) then walk back to the station and get the train to Oviedo. The final stage is probably the toughest of them all... however I didn't think it had any of the rewards. It's mostly on asphalt with a few off-road diversions. Pola de Lena to Ujo is on road with some hair-raising bends, Ujo to Mieres is 7km of asphalt track along the river (mind numbing & feet killing), Mieres to Olloniego is just a painful uphill slog for most of it all on roads and Olloniego to Oviedo is just a hell of roads & rough, overgrown tracks. The scenery is nice in places but very heavily industrialised generally. I just found it incredibly hard going at the end, I hit it tired to begin with and it just turned into a real slog, it's all up & down, nearly all asphalt. There was nothing after Ujo that I can't think I'd be sorry to miss. You could break it up with a stay in Mieres but the albergue looks to be in a run down area and besides, the trek from Mieres is the worst part. Good to do it for completeness but if I was doing it again then I'd definitely skip this stage.
Oviedo... don't be tempted into the tours that advertise admission to the Camara Santa. The ones I saw were so heavily subscribed that a lot of the tourists didn't actually get into the actual relic chamber and you only get a couple of minutes there. In between tours you get the place to yourself.
Here's where I join Laurie's tag team... miss the pre-romanesque sites at your peril! Naranco is absolutely stunning, I can't think of many places that I've been that compare. It really is a world class site. And San Julian de los Prados (Santuyanno)... I walked round it with my jaw hanging open for 30 minutes. The murals are one of the most beautiful pieces of art you'll see anywhere. Seriously, if you visit Oviedo and miss any of these places it is a real shame. I would actually forego the cathedral in favour of them. Stunning. Naranco is about a 30 min walk from the station, San Julian not far from the bottom of Cider Street.
El Fontan market... if you are there on a Saturday then it is a great atmosphere. The restaurant above the market hall is really good and really cheap for a menu del dia of that quality. The Pota Asturiana is worth it alone.
The Turin Shroud exhibition... I don't know how much longer it is there for, I believe it leaves this month and moves on elsewhere. If it happens to be still there (or you see it elsewhere in Spain) then it's worth the visit. It was pricey to get in and at first looked a bit rubbish but it is very engaging, very well done, well researched and I learned a lot (not just about The Shroud). A word of warning, it is extremely graphic and gory, from pictures of real crucifixions done with real bodies as experiments to reconstructions of the body shown on the Shroud in every detail. Very bloody, not one to take the kids to.
All in all, a fantastic trip but one for the self-sufficient and self-confident (you need to be happy with your own company in some pretty remote places).
First off... wow! I can't recall such amazing scenery in the space of so few days. It really was incredible, there aren't enough superlatives to describe it. It is absolutely stunning! I think my absolute favourite stretch was the walk up to Ender's cross. Lovely.
The sense of achievement is amazing too. You really feel like you've done something. Part of the reason I was doing it was to raise money for the charity War Child which is very close to my heart (raised £400 or about $600) and I felt like I earned every penny.
So in no real order, thoughts as they come to me...
Physical fitness... don't underestimate it. I trained for a couple of months beforehand and I still felt like I was really pushing myself. This is a tough route. Be comfortable in your boots and pack too. The El Salvador will make you suffer in places.
Mountain safety... These are real mountains, respect them. I know a lot of folk want to escape technology and the daily grind but take a phone. You don't have to use it but it's basic mountain safety to let someone know when you are leaving, route, time of arrival and when you're safe. A couple of text messages is all it takes. On the Frances if you sit down for ten minutes someone will pass, here it might be a day or even a week. Be prepared for weather too, even in August it was cold at night. Even during the day at altitude it could be very cold especially with the wind.
Schedule... I set off intending to do the four day schedule. Think carefully if that is also your plan. Day 1 means a very long walk and if you get behind it becomes very hard to make the time back. I did a steady 5km/h on the Frances regardless of terrain, I was probably doing 3.5km/h here. The terrain is also tough. As an example, Poladura de la Tercia to Pajares is only something like 16km but it took me from 8.30 to 4.30 to do it. It is slow country to move through. The five or even six day schedule is much more realistic.
Phones... as mentioned, good for safety out here. But another reason, a few albergues and some hotels need you to either phone ahead or call on arrival to get them opened up. The one in Pajares is open as it is a community centre too but Marisa, the hospitalera, wants you to call on arrival. Similarly, a good bit of Spanish is probably an idea too.
Electricity... never short of electric sockets or charging points
Solitude... you'll have it in spades. I saw one other pilgrim. The hospitalero in Poladura said the most he had ever seen was four or five at one time.
Food... eat when you get the opportunity. I cannot stress that enough. There aren't many shops, fewer restaurants and the openeing hours vs. position on route often puts them in siesta time. If you see food, buy it. If you see a restaurant open, eat. Lunch is a lot more reliable than dinner too, a lot of the restaurants I saw were shut at night. I ended up eating irregularly on the first couple of days and never recovered, you really do draw deep on your reserves so food becomes very essential. At the last couple of stages I was really exhausted. Carry some emergency rations, like a packet of microwave pasta or something. You will crave carbs like they were a drug!
Water... it's everywhere. It was the thing that concerned me most in my planning but there are fountains in nearly every town. There are also natural springs in the mountains. On the way into Pajares a local showed me a beautiful natural spring just off the track... best water I've tasted. Drink lots of it too!
Albergues... a lot more reliable than hotels. Maybe it was just the wrong time of year but a lot of the hotels in the early stages were shut. The one in La Robla was closed, the Posada del Embrujo was as well, the Posada Real in Pajares too and a few others. The albergues weren't. The one in Poladura de la Tercia was surprisingly welcoming, the guides describe it as scruffy (OK, it is a bit) but it's a donativo and very cosy. The one in Pajares does an excellent pilgrim meal for 9E a person, including wine/beer.
Clothing... I'd recommend long trousers and long sleeves. A lot of the trails are heavily overgrown with gorse and brambles which can be painful going.
First aid kit... carry one. If you get stuck on the mountains then it's a long time before you see anyone else. And if you're like me then a couple of ibuprofen was the only way to get any sleep as I hurt so much.
Route finding... generally very good but there were a couple of spots that I did resort to the bundle of maps I brought. There are places that you need to pay close attention to the guide and the markings.
Maps... see above. I found them quite reassuring in the mountains along with a compass. If the weather closed in and the visibility got bad then I can imagine really resorting to map & compass work. Some sections wouldn't be easy (or downright dangerous) in mist or low cloud.
Guides... I used the CSJ guide which Laurie & Rebekah wrote along with this one: http://caminodelsalvador.net/?wpfb_dl=10
They both complement each other very well. The CSJ guide is better for written descriptions but the other one has pictures of every major feature along the route which is good too. The latter is long (56 pages) but it prints OK if you do it 4 pages per sheet.
I also used the Wise Pilgrim website to compile a spreadsheet showing distances between towns, fountains, shops, etc.
The final stage... I might offend the purists but this is my honest view. Skip it. Finish up in Pola de Lena, walk into Ujo the next day to see the nice pre-romanesque church (definitely worth a visit) then walk back to the station and get the train to Oviedo. The final stage is probably the toughest of them all... however I didn't think it had any of the rewards. It's mostly on asphalt with a few off-road diversions. Pola de Lena to Ujo is on road with some hair-raising bends, Ujo to Mieres is 7km of asphalt track along the river (mind numbing & feet killing), Mieres to Olloniego is just a painful uphill slog for most of it all on roads and Olloniego to Oviedo is just a hell of roads & rough, overgrown tracks. The scenery is nice in places but very heavily industrialised generally. I just found it incredibly hard going at the end, I hit it tired to begin with and it just turned into a real slog, it's all up & down, nearly all asphalt. There was nothing after Ujo that I can't think I'd be sorry to miss. You could break it up with a stay in Mieres but the albergue looks to be in a run down area and besides, the trek from Mieres is the worst part. Good to do it for completeness but if I was doing it again then I'd definitely skip this stage.
Oviedo... don't be tempted into the tours that advertise admission to the Camara Santa. The ones I saw were so heavily subscribed that a lot of the tourists didn't actually get into the actual relic chamber and you only get a couple of minutes there. In between tours you get the place to yourself.
Here's where I join Laurie's tag team... miss the pre-romanesque sites at your peril! Naranco is absolutely stunning, I can't think of many places that I've been that compare. It really is a world class site. And San Julian de los Prados (Santuyanno)... I walked round it with my jaw hanging open for 30 minutes. The murals are one of the most beautiful pieces of art you'll see anywhere. Seriously, if you visit Oviedo and miss any of these places it is a real shame. I would actually forego the cathedral in favour of them. Stunning. Naranco is about a 30 min walk from the station, San Julian not far from the bottom of Cider Street.
El Fontan market... if you are there on a Saturday then it is a great atmosphere. The restaurant above the market hall is really good and really cheap for a menu del dia of that quality. The Pota Asturiana is worth it alone.
The Turin Shroud exhibition... I don't know how much longer it is there for, I believe it leaves this month and moves on elsewhere. If it happens to be still there (or you see it elsewhere in Spain) then it's worth the visit. It was pricey to get in and at first looked a bit rubbish but it is very engaging, very well done, well researched and I learned a lot (not just about The Shroud). A word of warning, it is extremely graphic and gory, from pictures of real crucifixions done with real bodies as experiments to reconstructions of the body shown on the Shroud in every detail. Very bloody, not one to take the kids to.
All in all, a fantastic trip but one for the self-sufficient and self-confident (you need to be happy with your own company in some pretty remote places).
