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Using maps dot me for El Norte

CaminoJoy123

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2017
I finally got some free wifi here in Spain and I downloaded the maps for Basque Country. But there is no marking for the El Norte camino inside the app!!

I've seen some English speakers use this feature correctly, so I know it can be done.

How are people getting the actual camino path to light up in the maps.me app for El Norte?

There is no one here in the albergue to ask. Thanks!
 
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My response below might seem rather unhelpful, but this is what I have done, and I can't remember the details well enough to write out in a rush...

You now need to apply "kml" files to the maps.me app. Those are available from various sites as people who walk the route record their routes and kindly provide them on the internet.

Try googling for "how to download kml files to maps.me"

You might find that you need to download a number of maps to cover all the stages. To find the kml files, search for "kml files Camino norte". Or maybe someone else will provide a link to a site that has them. (I'm working on my phone and can't do it just now. )

Edited to add: jsalt has just provided that link!
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Hi

http://www.elcaminosantiago.com/Camino-Santiago-Map-Google-Earth-Camino.htm

Then download the kmz file for the Norte. MapsMe should then automatically incorporate it.
Jill

Thank you so much. Yes I downloaded the kmz and it's in maps dot me

Are you guys aware the route in the kmz looks nothing like the route in wise pilgrim nor does it look like the paper map on the wall of this albergue?

Totally different.

What's up with that?

What is the source of the kmz file?
 
My response below might seem rather unhelpful, but this is what I have done, and I can't remember the details well enough to write out in a rush...

You now need to apply "kml" files to the maps.me app. Those are available from various sites as people who walk the route record their routes and kindly provide them on the internet.

Try googling for "how to download kml files to maps.me"

You might find that you need to download a number of maps to cover all the stages. To find the kml files, search for "kml files Camino norte". Or maybe someone else will provide a link to a site that has them. (I'm working on my phone and can't do it just now. )

Edited to add: jsalt has just provided that link!

I know you mean well and I thank you. At the same time, I cannot do much investigating on my own or much googling. That is why I posted here!

Try to imagine my life. I'm on El Norte. It's raining. I'm cold and hungry. I am literally the only American here. I don't speak Spanish past a few words. The wifi is sketchy. My phone battery is always dying. My screen is always dirty. The phone screen is too small. I can't zoom in on text half the time. My eyes are old. The print is small. The ATM is really far. It will be dark soon. I'm supposed to help make cena communidad. My iPhone constantly corrects everything I type, making it wrong and more wrong. My clothes have been damp for theee days. I'm not sleeping well. I'm hungry. Everything hurts.

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't trade this camino Norte for the world!

But I just can't do anymore homework! Lol and thank you for understanding.
 
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Some times it is easier to just follow the yellow arrows/shell signs and not rely on technology. Do you have a paper set of directions (like those from CSJ etc) or are you just relying on your phone and GPS? Even the 'latest' online maps/paper guides can be outdated if there have been serious changes on the route, so following the arrows/shells is IMO a better idea.
Buen Camino
 
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Some times it is easier to just follow the yellow arrows/shell signs and not rely on technology. Do you have a paper set of directions (like those from CSJ etc) or are you just relying on your phone and GPS? Even the 'latest' online maps/paper guides can be outdated if there have been serious changes on the route, so following the arrows/shells is IMO a better idea.
Buen Camino

In general the flechas amarillas are ok. However. Sunrise is 8am? So we are leaving in the dark every day. Many people leave albergues at 6 or 7am for example. You cannot see the arrows for hours.

The Norte is in no way straightforward.

Leaving the albergue is tricky. Prime spot for trouble.

Anything near a city can have confusing arrows in a loop or no arrows for a while.

Furthermore if it rains or if there's a hill or mud, or if you're injured, you don't want to take one wrong step... let along 2 or 3 km in the wrong direction.

Now try to get to the restaurant before their hours change. Or catch a bus. Or visit the ATM. Or the grocery store before they close. Or return before the albergue locks you out. So you need perfect directions. Can't walk in circles and make places on time.

It's all an adventure though. Anyway, now looking for excellent maps.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
If you already have the wise pilgrim app...... you can open up the map when you have wifi and let the data download - and if you remember not to close the app, the map will stay there for you.

This worked for me last October when I walked the Norte.

buen camino
 
I walked the Norte without a mobile phone, a guide, or a map and I don't speak Spanish. A few tips
1) Ask the hospitalero at the alberge each night what your options are for the next day. They are usually very well informed about the next day or so's walking.
2) Just follow the arrows. Its almost impossible to get lost. If you do lose track, just ask any local just by gesturing ahead and asking "Camino?" They will soon put you straight. Carry a small torch (that's a flashlight for you North Americans), to find you way predawn. You soon get a sense of where to look for arrows.
3) Talk to your fellow pilgrims, particularly the Germans who are always well informed and have excellent guides, speak English well and have done their research.
4) Check at the tourist information office in any town, which will be signposted to with the internationally recognised sign. They usually are well informed and have local maps.
5) Don't take it all too seriously. I know full well the traipsing along through mud, in pouring rain with sore shoulders, legs, feet covered in blisters, not knowing how far until the next alberge or cafe can be really hard work, but always found a hot shower, a laugh with fellow pilgrims and a glass (or two) of vino tinto set me up to do it all again the next day.
6) I found the advice that "in the first week you adjust physically, the second week mentally and in the third week you start to enjoy yourself" to be very true. I found myself wishing that the camino could go on for ever. In the meantime, ease the pain with orojo the local fire water...
 
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Hello CaminoJoy123
I've been reading this post and I used Jsalts method when I walked the Norte. It really is very straight forward. But.. and this a sort of big but: you don't have to follow the route as indicated exactly as there are a number of variants which can make the walk a bit more interesting. Like more coastal cliff/shore/beach walking and either more up and down or less of that.
There maybe (or should I say there are) other folks on this forum whose memory is better than mine that the "P" route signs are the local scenic paths which may or may not be actually part of the camino.
My Spanish is pretty basic and once when I kid on a skateboard (I was on a section of tarmac) asked if I was going to Santiago? Yes I replied and he spurted a number of sentences then smiled. I said I hadn't understood a word. Then - worthy of a professional mime - he used his arms and hands to indicate that I turn left up ahead, follow the road under the motorway, at a "Y" junction go right, when I see a church ahead look at the ground to my right for a path - then follow it.
Which I did and about 3 kms. later came out onto the camino and 150 meters in front of two fellows who had walked past me an hour earlier.
And #5 from MKalcolm M is right on. Relax. The rain will end. Maybe
Buen camino
 
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St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Each to their own way of walking. We never set off in the dark, only used a paper guide and followed the arrows/shells with few problems on either the Norte/Primitivo or the Ingles. Our little phone doesn't do maps, just talk and text, so we were never reliant on it and we found our way around without problems. :)
The only Camino we have not seen well signed is the Camino do Mar west of Ribadeo (on Norte), but then we had map sections to help us.
 
I used Jill's source: http://www.elcaminosantiago.com/Camino-Santiago-Map-Google-Earth-Camino.htm - I always checked it against the route shown in my Northern Caminos guidebook. I don't remember the exact location now, but a few days after Ribadeo, there was a major difference, where the kml files showed the old route, and it was quite different than the marked route and in the book route for a day or two.
 
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One of my Camino partners asked how do we find our way “back to” Camino while on El Norte five years ago. I pointed out to him that the ocean is to the north and the mountains are to the south. It’s hard to get “lost”.
The Camino mean “The Way”. On declining to back track to find a Camino sign, I continued on a mostly westbound track and reminded him the there’s something about “make straight the way to the Lord” which is both biblical and efficient.
Hang in there. It’s the journey, not the destination.
 
If you need to follow the arrows but can’t because you are leaving when it is dark, here’s a simple solution: STOP LEAVING IN THE DARK!!!!! Currently in Spain and there is roughly 13 hours of daylight, so plenty of time to walk once the sun is up...
 

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