[Gocamino] 2000/2002 - 2008 changes

[Robert Spenger]

In 2000, I started from Arles, joined the camino francés at Pamplona,  
and  continued on to SdeC and Fisterra.
In 2002, I started from Saint Palais, took the route Napoleón from  
SJPdeP  to Roncevaux, and continued on to SdeC, with bus jumps from  
Burgos to Sahagún and from Astorga to Ponferrada.
This year, 2008, I started from Condom, France, where I had stopped  
last year after a start from LePuy, and continued on to Sarria, where  
I had to give it up when my right knee got too bad to continue. On  
that trip, I took the Valcarlos route from SJPdeP to Roncevaux, and  
used bus jumps from Belorado to Burgos and from Sahagún to León. I  
also did the regular 20km  (i.e. dirt) trail from Hornillos to  
Castrojeriz, whereas I used the 30 km highway route for that section  
on the 2000 trip. One other change was that I made the side trip to  
the Eunate this year. In 2000, I bypassed it by going from Monreal to  
Puente la Reina by way of Pamplona instead of directly. In 2002, I did  
not want to take the time to do the side trip.

As of now, I have completed all of the route on foot from a bit north  
of Ostabat to SdeC at least twice (except for the two route variations  
over the Pyrenees and across the meseta mentioned above).
A lot of it was familiar, of course, but I was continually amazed —  
and often confused by the many changes that have taken placed in the 6  
and 8 years since the earlier trips.

There has been a great deal of trail improvement. One case in point is  
that meseta variation. In 2000, I did the stretch from Villefria to  
Hornillos on a day that started out O.K. but got very wet by the time  
I was crossing the notorious hills before Hornillos. Notorious for the  
gooey, grey mud that piled up on your shoes until you felt like you  
had bowling ball halves glued to the soles — then suddenly flying off  
so that your next step wqas a few inches lower than you expected. It  
was for that reason that I opted to take 30km of pavement to  
Castrojeriz the next  day instead of the 20km of mud. This year I  
could see the grey soil on either side of the path, but the path  
itself has been covered with a layer of a reddish-brown mix of dirt  
and gravel. I can't really be sure what it is like in wet weather,  
since I was really blessed with great weather for most of this year's  
trip. but it didn't look like stuff that would ball up on your shoe  
soles. The grey is still there, underneath. I took a picture of an  
insect hole in the middle of the path. The hole was at the center of a  
little circular mound of grey dirt brought up from under the new brown  
layer.

Leaving Torres del Rio in 2000, the trail was a narrow, very rough,  
steep, rocky drop down to the bottom of a small valley and an equally  
difficult climb up the other side. This year it was like a boulevard,  
broad and pave in part with flat, fitted stones and in part with  
concrete. For comparison, there is one very short drop in the 1km  
between Sansol and TdeR that is still like the old trail after TdeR.  
There were a lot of other places that I even had trouble recognizing  
because the trails were so different. On the early trips I remember  
seeing a lot of newly planted saplings (even some on the south side  
where they belonged) and I wondered if any of them would make it to  
become shade trees. This year, I was very pleasantly surprised to see  
that many of them, including a lot of new ones had indeed survived and  
were serving their function.

The first 5km or so out of Logroño were well paved and shaded even  
back in 2000, but I was amused by one section of that that had very  
skinny trees (poplars?) on the south side that provided only slivers  
of shade with long sunny gaps in between. The north side was well  
covered with short, bushy pines of some sort. I could plainly see that  
there was a winding trail developed off to the side of the paved path.  
This impromptu alternative had been worn by walkers seeking the shade  
of those pines.

The number of pilgrims is definitely way up. Both the 2002 trip and  
this one were at the same time of year, so the comparison should be  
valid. I did not have trouble getting a bed, because I was doing only  
about 16km a day (in contrast to the 16 miles a day that I averaged in  
2000) and usually getting in between 12:00 and 14:00, but, in the  
early stages in Spain, the albergues were filling up by mid-afternoon.  
There are also far more albergues available, especially private ones.  
An additional change was that the term "refugio" doesn't seem to be  
used anymore. They were all referred to as albergues. The food hadn't  
changed much in the bars, restaurants, and tiendas, but there seemed  
to be a much greater percentage of the pilgrims doing their own  
cooking this time around. The albergues themselves seemed to have made  
this easier, with plenty of equipment, including refrigerators and  
microwave ovens. It seemed like over half of them now have internet  
facilities, usually coin-op type, ranging from 15 to 35 minutes per  
euro, but occasionally gratis or donativo.

One very disappointing feature is the accumulation of trash and sewage  
alongside the trails. No doubt the numbers have a lot to do with this.  
With a hundred thousand or more coming through, if just one percent of  
them are oafish clods, they can produce a lot of litter. I just  don't  
remember seeing any where near as much on those earlier trips.

There is a lot more luggage transport available and in use now.  
Transbagage and other companies that had been operating for quite some  
time along the LePuy route in France, now extend their services all  
the way to SdeC and probably to Fisterra. I noticed it mostly from the  
ads posted in various places, including the albergues.

The really major change that  stuck me was the enormous amount of new  
construction. I didn't recognize anything on the way into Villadangos  
del Páramo. There was a couple of kilometers of industrial buildings,  
all new. On the way into Ponferrada, my memory was of open country all  
the way to the river. Now there seems to be a whole city of expensive,  
new residences. I think that half of my  photos were takedn of seems  
that show the contrast between the old and the new, especially the  
ubiquitous large cranes used for new construction.

Running out of time and motivation. Time to shut this thing dowen and  
send it off.

Bob S,