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Ways to do both Hospitales and Pola de Allande on Trip

Louis Lima

Luisito Caminante
Time of past OR future Camino
I plan to do el Camino Primitivo in May 2021 if the pandemic permits it.
Hello fellow pilgrims! I am an avid walker and would like to do both Hospitales and Pola de Allande on El Camino Primitivo in 2021. I thought perhaps I can hike from Borres to Pola de Allende and then take a taxi back to Borres. However, if I do that I would miss the Pola to Puerto de Palo experience. Another thought was to go from Borres to Lago either via Hospitales or Pola, and then take a train back to Borres... Any thoughts? I'll be trying to take May 1-17 or May 15-June 1 off work for the whole Camino Primitivo. Any thoughts highly appreciated! I heard both routes are some of the most beautiful so would like to do both. Thank you so much!
 
Lightfoot Guide to via Francigena
The 9th edition the Lightfoot Guide will let you complete the journey your way.
You can do the first day Borres - Hospitales- Puerto del Palo - Pola de Allande. The second day Pola de Allande - Borres in reverse and there call a taxi from Pola to take you to Puerto del Palo to continue to Berducedo.
 
Hospitales is spectacular, on a clear day and safe in fair weather; otherwise Borres to Pola is recommended. Borres to Pola is mostly tarmac unless you like steep descents, muddy bits and steep ascents back to the road you left an hour previously . If you are not bothered with continuity I would walk Borres - Puerto del Palo via Hospitales, (if the weather permits), get the bus down to Pola and walk back up. The walk up from Pola is a bosky delight of greenery, flowers and tumbling water.
 
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Hi, @Louis Lima , and welcome to the forum.

I had a similar plan a couple of years ago, but then I got to know a fabulous bunch of priimitivo peregrinos and couldn’t bear to separate myself from them. But I had found the perfect way to see both without a cab which is always my mild preference. It omits the stage from Borres to Pola (I agree with @Tincatinker ’s assessment of that stage) but takes in the two different ways to get up to Hospitales.


Good luck with this great idea! Buen camino, Laurie
 
Thanks for the kind reply. So I can take a bus in or near Puerto del Palo back to Borres? That would work then!
 
Louis Lima said:
Thanks for the kind reply. So I can take a bus in or near Puerto del Palo back to Borres? That would work then!
Click to expand...
Tincatinker said:
(if the weather permits), get the bus down to Pola and walk back up
Click to expand...

I don’t think there is a bus that connects Puerto del Palo to either Borres or Pola de Allande, but @Tincatinker you may be right.

I think it’s only about 12 km from Borres up to Puerto de Palo, so walking back to Borres or down to Pola would be very do-able. The ascent is not steep at all (not like parts of the ascent from Pola up to Puerto de Palo).

Day 1 — Borres - Puerto-Borres (24);

Day 2 — Borres to Pola (a very short day, only about 13 km)

Day 3 - Pola to La Mesa (20).
 
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There’s definitely a bus from Pola to somewhere, probably Grandas but perhaps just Berducedo, that climbs that amazing zigzag road and stops at the bar at Lago. I’ve caught it in the past. A decade ago probably. Presumably the route is reversible or there would be a great big pile of buses at the end of the road
 
Tincatinker said:
There’s definitely a bus from Pola to somewhere, probably Grandas but perhaps just Berducedo, that climbs that amazing zigzag road and stops at the bar at Lago
Click to expand...
Wow, you are right! I remember taking a bus from Oviedo to Pola, and my erroneous impression was that that was the only place you could get to from Pola. Here’s the schedule I found, looks like one bus a day in each direction.

Thanks, Tinca.

I wonder if it will stop if you flag it down at the Puerto de Palo. Has anyone tried that?







 
Thanks so much for all the suggestions! I’ll definitely aim for both weather permitting. I’ll let you know how it went next year.
 
Lightfoot Guide to via Francigena
The 9th edition the Lightfoot Guide will let you complete the journey your way.
Unfortunately there is no bar in Lago anymore ...
 
I love the idea of doing Borres to Palo and walk back in reverse, and then continue via Pola the next day. Hopefully the weather will cooperate once there in early May
 
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Louis Lima said:
I love the idea of doing Borres to Palo and walk back in reverse, and then continue via Pola the next day. Hopefully the weather will cooperate once there in early May
Click to expand...
That sounds like a pre-Covid sentiment! It would seem easier to control the weather than Covid.
 
Indeed, will need to see what the situation is in May 2021 with respect to the pandemic...
 
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