Review of Wise Pilgrim Guide to the Camino Portugues

[William Marques]

I was given a copy of the Wise Pilgrim Guide to the Camino Portugues first published in printed form in April 2017.

I am reviewing this from a desk not the on Camino so cannot tell if there are any mapping mistakes etc.

In size and style etc it is similar to their CF guide so most of my comments are similar to my review of that guide.

It is the right size small and compact and will easily fit in a pocket or pack outer compartment.

It is light not too many pages.

It is just a guide with route maps and elevations at the front and local maps and accommodation following. The local maps seem better than the CF guide but that may only be because I did not study the CF ones closely as I knew the route in and out of towns.

There is none of the general advice that takes up so much space on normal guide books and which you come to this forum for anyway.

The accommodation information seems detailed and accurate, as far as I can tell, and up to date.

The mapping is more complicated than their CF guide for the following reasons:

As the Camino Portugues is a South-North route rather than an East-West route like the CF the maps are more like strip maps with 2 maps to a double page spread and the elevation to both pages on the side of the right hand page so there is no relation between the two. It may have been more intuitive to have an elevation to the right of every page to tie up with the plan.

From Porto to Pontevedra the maps are double page to cover both the main routes on a single spread.

On the maps there seem to be routes marked with red/orange or magenta dots (Costal are blue and Central green) but I could not find a legend to confirm what these were.

I found the blue dots of the Costal Way a little difficult to read especially close the the blue sea perhaps they could be bolder?

Were I going to tackle the Camino Portugues this year I would take this and also make sure I had access to a different sort of guide which covered the history and architecture/art along the way in more detail, others may care more about the wildlife or botany etc.

 

[William Marques]

I have been informed that there is a description of the route colours on page 82 and the red/orange dots show short deviations from the standard routes and the magenta ones show the two connecting routes between the Costal and Central routes for reference but services for these connecting routes are not included in the guide.

 

[t2andreo]

I met Michael Matynka last year and discussed these quides with him. I have used his Wise Pilgrim digital guides and found them superior to any other smart phone apps I have tried.

One of the biggest advantages to Michael's approach is the absence of fixed daily stages, like Brierley. This is good for folks who desire to plan a more fluid Camino, not being compelled to adhere to the same segments as too many other guide books and pilgrims.

The size of the book was partially based on a conversation we had last November. When we met this May in Santiago, I praised the first printing of the Camino Frances guide. Michael got it spot on.

In fact, my sole suggestion for the next printing and for other guide books, was to round off the outer corners to facilitate getting it into and out of a cargo pocket. He liked that suggestion and plans to incorporate it in future printings.