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Just wondering where in Gronze can you find the breakdown of trail surfaces? To be honest I always keep thinking that I need to explore the site more. When I am doing a Camino I always check for Albergue reviews, distances and elevation. Thanks in advance.I guess you are asking about the Camino Frances in which case both Brierley and www.gronze.com are fairly reliable resources on the percentage of asphalt to mud for any given stretch. The Camino follows roads because the roads follow the camino... Medieval pilgrims chose the easiest route to Santiago in much the same way as modern road builders choose their routes through any given landscape. Much effort has been made over many years to reduce the interaction of pilgrims and hard core traffic. Sometimes you will walk within sight or hearing of a motorway, sometimes you will be sent on a totally preposterous round-about route just to avoid a few hundred metres of highway. It is all just Camino and nothing to be concerned by.
As for your friend with limited walking time their question is are they making pilgrimage to the tomb of Santiago or looking for a scenic hike? Scenic hikes are available in many places; Santiago remains and waits. Two to three weeks - start in Leon. The hike over the Pyrenean foothills from St Jean pied de Porte to Roncesvalles is very pretty when it isn't raining.
Hi all...first post..... two questions, though they are linked.
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has ever posted on these forums. There is a wealth of information here, which i have found infinitely useful
We are planning our Camino for August/September and I have read elsewhere that much of the Camino is actually along the roadside rather than the "romanticised" paths through the hills, fields and forests. Is this true? If so, can someone give me a guesstimate or approximate % for each eg 50% along roads 50% along paths. By roads I am referring to roads with a reasonable amount of traffic rather than country roads/trails where there may be a car once an hour! It won't affect our plans but I like to know what I am in for!
Secondly, for a variety of reasons one of our party may only be able to travel for 2-3 weeks. In terms of scenic beauty where do you consider the best area to be? The start through the Pyrenees? or elsewhere?
Thanks for your help!
Davybhoy
Following.Just wondering where in Gronze can you find the breakdown of trail surfaces? To be honest I always keep thinking that I need to explore the site more. When I am doing a Camino I always check for Albergue reviews, distances and elevation. Thanks in advance.
Not a metre by metre breakdown but in the header row for each stage there is a star-rating for "Paisaje/Naturaleza: "Just wondering where in Gronze can you find the breakdown of trail surfaces? To be honest I always keep thinking that I need to explore the site more. When I am doing a Camino I always check for Albergue reviews, distances and elevation. Thanks in advance.
Where you start and finish is often determined by how easy it is to to get to and from. For this reason many people start in the larger cities, Pamplona, Burgos, Leon where it is easy to travel to from Madrid.Hi all...first post..... two questions, though they are linked.
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has ever posted on these forums. There is a wealth of information here, which i have found infinitely useful
We are planning our Camino for August/September and I have read elsewhere that much of the Camino is actually along the roadside rather than the "romanticised" paths through the hills, fields and forests. Is this true? If so, can someone give me a guesstimate or approximate % for each eg 50% along roads 50% along paths. By roads I am referring to roads with a reasonable amount of traffic rather than country roads/trails where there may be a car once an hour! It won't affect our plans but I like to know what I am in for!
Secondly, for a variety of reasons one of our party may only be able to travel for 2-3 weeks. In terms of scenic beauty where do you consider the best area to be? The start through the Pyrenees? or elsewhere?
Thanks for your help!
Davybhoy
Got it. Thanks. But there isn't a breakdown similar to Brierley with the road surfaces.Not a metre by metre breakdown but in the header row for each stage there is a star-rating for "Paisaje/Naturaleza: "
In theory the roads were built over the old Roman Roads that St. James would have walked. I do not care for walking on the roads during the summer months because they radiate heat, especially through your footwear.Hi all...first post..... two questions, though they are linked.
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has ever posted on these forums. There is a wealth of information here, which i have found infinitely useful
We are planning our Camino for August/September and I have read elsewhere that much of the Camino is actually along the roadside rather than the "romanticised" paths through the hills, fields and forests. Is this true? If so, can someone give me a guesstimate or approximate % for each eg 50% along roads 50% along paths. By roads I am referring to roads with a reasonable amount of traffic rather than country roads/trails where there may be a car once an hour! It won't affect our plans but I like to know what I am in for!
Secondly, for a variety of reasons one of our party may only be able to travel for 2-3 weeks. In terms of scenic beauty where do you consider the best area to be? The start through the Pyrenees? or elsewhere?
Thanks for your help!
Davybhoy
The actual start of the pilgrimage routes was the far eastern edge of Catholic Europe, that is, Warsaw, Bratislava, etc. People started from their own front doors or their parish church. So the "Starting point is SJPP" is a misnomer; there are marked routes stretching all over Europe. That being said, there is a very scenic 3-week stretch from Le Puy in France to Cahors, with zero highway walking. This section has good transit connections and traverses many of the most beautiful villages in France. The good people in this forum recommended that I start there, and they had good reason!one of our party may only be able to travel for 2-3 weeks. In terms of scenic beauty where do you consider the best area to be? The start through the Pyrenees? or elsewhere?
I think medieval pilgrims are likely to have walked the Roman Roads. I'm not so sure about St. James. I believe he arrived in Galicia by boat when he started preaching there (you can see a hilltop where he is supposed to have preached in Padron, on the Camino Portugues). Did he make it to other parts of Iberia outside of Galicia while he was alive? After he was martyred, legend has it that he came back to Galicia by "stone boat", which I always pictured as a boat made out of stone, which would be pretty miraculous. An alternate explanation of a boat carrying stone for building makes a little more sense. From then on, he has appeared in various parts of Spain, at battles, performing miracles for pilgrims, etc. I don't think he is walking on roads for these appearances, though.In theory the roads were built over the old Roman Roads that St. James would have walked.
I think your first sentence is contradicted by your second. Warsaw, Bratislava, etc. were only starting points for citizens of those cities. Nobody was travelling from London or Paris to Warsaw to start their pilgrimage.The actual start of the pilgrimage routes was the far eastern edge of Catholic Europe, that is, Warsaw, Bratislava, etc. People started from their own front doors or their parish church. So the "Starting point is SJPP" is a misnomer; there are marked routes stretching all over Europe. That being said, there is a very scenic 3-week stretch from Le Puy in France to Cahors, with zero highway walking. This section has good transit connections and traverses many of the most beautiful villages in France. The good people in this forum recommended that I start there, and they had good reason!
Brierley's book with maps tells you the surface percentage for each stage.Hi all...first post..... two questions, though they are linked.
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has ever posted on these forums. There is a wealth of information here, which i have found infinitely useful
We are planning our Camino for August/September and I have read elsewhere that much of the Camino is actually along the roadside rather than the "romanticised" paths through the hills, fields and forests. Is this true? If so, can someone give me a guesstimate or approximate % for each eg 50% along roads 50% along paths. By roads I am referring to roads with a reasonable amount of traffic rather than country roads/trails where there may be a car once an hour! It won't affect our plans but I like to know what I am in for!
Secondly, for a variety of reasons one of our party may only be able to travel for 2-3 weeks. In terms of scenic beauty where do you consider the best area to be? The start through the Pyrenees? or elsewhere?
Thanks for your help!
Davybhoy
My observation, based on experience on the Frances is that, overall, from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago, I would estimate 30 percent on some hard road surface, vs, 70 percent on a dedicated senda or trail that was not intended as a road. Of that 30 percent, perhaps a third (10 % overall) would be road walking on the shoulder / verge of a provincial highway, having trucks and bus traffic oncoming.
The remaining two thirds of the 30 percent, or perhaps about 20 percent overall, would be road walking on very quiet and non-trafficked country roads. On these tertiary routes, you might see a handful of cars or agricultural machinery per hour.
On the Frances, the incidence of having to walk against traffic on a busy stretch of highway is rather small, when compared to the first third or so of the Camino Portuguese coming out of Lisbon. In my experience, there is far more busy road walking involved there. The Brierely Guide usually presents an alternative route to avoid busy road walking.
Hope this helps.
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