Camino Guide

[Ted Kayes]

When we began the Camino near the end of June we took two guides, The
Confraternity of St. James, from England, and Walking the Camino de
Santiago by Bethan Davies and Ben Cole.  I learned of the second one only
shortly before we left and barely got it in time.

The Confraternity's Guide is very factual and very light.  But after the
third day we used Walking the Camino de Santiago almost exclusively.  It
has most of the same information, but a lot more.  Approaching or leaving
difficult towns it tells you where to turn and what you are going to
see.  But its most important features are the sketch maps that make it
really easy to plan your days.  It shows where the albergues are and the
distance between them and typically each sketch map shows about 50km, so
that you can plot your next day and position yourself for the following day.

It also has a lot of extraneous information that is interesting
background.  It also suggest side trips and provides phone numbers.  And it
is not very heavy. Of course, when it says that you will have a
breathtaking view, that means that the climb is probably really
long.  Other peregrinos who read English frequently borrowed it.  It was
really useful.  The back cover states $20 in the US.

There are a number of new albergues being opened.  We saw about eight that
were not listed in either guide that were open when we walked and there are
a number more that will be open next year for the Holy Year.  I imagine
that they will update the guide for 2004.

Hope this is useful.

Ted Kayes