[Gocamino] Staggering crowds

[Pat Rush]

An additional thought--even though it was cold and wet when we were in Extremadura in April, I understand that the VdlP's southern section, from Sevilla to Salamanca, can get very hot beginning around now and continuing through the summer.  Don't know this from personal experience but from reading accounts of the heat.  In the white villages one can almost see the heat, even though it's in the 50's and raining!  Pat

Pat Rush <patrush1 at verizon.net> wrote:  I returned from Spain on May 5, having started on the Via de la Plata in Merida in early April. The walk from Merida to Caceres was delightful, notwithstanding a lot of rain and wind. We found that the refugios were reasonably full. Because both my companion and I contracted terrible colds and bronchitis, we decided to go north from Salamanca and turn west in Astorga, on the Camino Frances, rather than tackle the mountains on the Camino Sanabrese.. That is where we encountered the crowds. It was, to be honest, the May 1 weekend, when many Spanish people walk part of the Camino, especially up the mountain into Galicia and O Cebreiro. The crowding was horrendous, with great anxiety generated by the fact that refugios were full in late morning, early afternoon. I can honestly say that our decision to turn west onto the Camino Frances was a mistake, that I wished we had continued on the Via de la Plata, and taken our chances on the
 mountains. If we had not been so
sick, that is what we would have done. We had taken extra rest days in hostales to try to recover from the cold/bronchitis, which added to our anxiety, because of course we could only stay in the pilgrim refugios one night. I also must say that the walk north of Salamanca was a nightmare; it was on the road, the N630, with road construction going on around us, and the truck traffic whizzing by us. That stretch was not only unpleasant, it was dangerous. I think that if you decide to walk the Camino Frances you should be prepared to stay in places other than the pilgrim refugios, and be prepared to spend more money because of that. The hostales were anywhere from 18 to 24 euro, compared to the refugios, which ranged from donativo to 9 euro. There is no easy answer to the question of crowds, but I would walk the VdlP again, and continue to Ourense rather than go north to Astorga and the Camino Frances. Hope this helps. Patricia from upstate NY

jmayor wrote: 
Dear fellow pilgrims,

My wife and I leave for Spain mid June for 5 weeks. We plan to train or bus
to Jaca or Canfranc to begin our pilgrimage. We did this part of the Camino
5 years ago and wanted to see it again hoping it was still maybe not so
crowded. After reading a recent posting about crowds in May and hearing from
a friend about a recent book published in Germany that is a best seller
about the Camino, I'm concerned with the amount of people on the "Camino
Frances" once we connect with it and I was considering busing or training
(if that is a word) down to the Via de la Plata route at some point if the
Camino and/or the Albergies on the Frances route were too crowded. Has
anyone done this? If so what is a good place to make the connection and to
where on the Via Plata would it be a reasonable place to start from? Looking
at a map I see that perhaps Burgos to Zamora via Valladolid might work, or
walking to Leon and dropping down from there? If over crowding on the
Frances route is impossible to avoid all together, maybe we should consider
going on the Via de la Plata route directly from Madrid where we fly into
from the U.S. It's not that we are anti social at all, we love the fellow
pilgrims who we have met on past Caminos, it is just that we do not take
cell phones with us, we avoid e-mail,try and stay in the moment as much as
possible and we spend most of our time (like many people) in silence for the
four weeks that we walk. I hope to avoid all but the necessary reservation
while away. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff Mayor
P.s. If anyone has taken the "Renfe" to Jaca from Madrid, which station did
it leave from and where is it in relation to the Plaza del Sol??

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