and after the Olvidado?

[MikeJS]

I am planning to walk the Camino Madrid and then go up to the Olvidado to complete the bit of the Olvidado I missed last time when I left the Olvidado to walk the San Salvador/Primitivo. My challenge is that I would really like to walk a different route after the end of the Olvidado as I have walked that part of the Frances many times before and I have walked the Invierno previously so do not really want to repeat that.

Any intrepid hikers have any alternatives?

 

[trecile]

Walk back from Cacabelos on the Francés to Ponferrada and walk the Invierno?

 

[LTfit]

Walk back from Cacabelos on the Francés to Ponferrada and walk the Invierno?

@trecile would like an alternative to the Invierno

@MikeJS I have been wondering the same. I'll be walking the Olvidado from Bilbao in June and prefer not to repeat Villafranca de Bierzo to Santiago again but I don't have the time to walk the Invierno.

 

[trecile]

@trecile would like an alternative to the Invierno

Oops! Bad reading comprehension on my part!

 

[peregrina2000]

Pulling out my handy dandy IGN map (best Camino map EVER — looks like Ivar is almost out of them again!), I’m sure @LT and @Mike know there’s nothing contiguous. So transport is going to be necessary.

Looking at the caminos up in that neck of the woods, though, I think there are a few to entice you. I walked the Torres/Geira last year and (Salamanca - Braga - Santiago) and either half would be a wonderful walk. But very few albergues. How about the ZAmorano-Portugués from Zamora through Bragança and then back to Spain in Verín? The Castellano-Lebañiego isn’t on the map (though the Blendios looks like it might be a close cousin), but here is some info. It goes from Palencia-Fromista-up through Monasterio de Liébano (and it’s a holy year for them, so that might be very nice).

And one last thought — the Allerano, from León/La Robla to Oviedo, so this might be the easiest to get to. Ender and Co. are in the process of marking it, accommodation may be shaky, but if anyone wants to walk this route, I can contact him and see what the status is as of today.

What a lovely dilemma to have! Would love to hear what you decide.

 

[MikeJS]

Pulling out my handy dandy IGN map (best Camino map EVER — looks like Ivar is almost out of them again!), I’m sure @LT and @Mike know there’s nothing contiguous. So transport is going to be necessary.

Looking at the caminos up in that neck of the woods, though, I think there are a few to entice you. I walked the Torres/Geira last year and (Salamanca - Braga - Santiago) and either half would be a wonderful walk. But very few albergues. How about the ZAmorano-Portugués from Zamora through Bragança and then back to Spain in Verín? The Castellano-Lebañiego isn’t on the map (though the Blendios looks like it might be a close cousin), but here is some info. It goes from Palencia-Fromista-up through Monasterio de Liébano (and it’s a holy year for them, so that might be very nice).

And one last thought — the Allerano, from León/La Robla to Oviedo, so this might be the easiest to get to. Ender and Co. are in the process of marking it, accommodation may be shaky, but if anyone wants to walk this route, I can contact him and see what the status is as of today.

What a lovely dilemma to have! Would love to hear what you decide.

Hi peregrina2000, lovely to hear from you again. Lots of great suggestions but I should have made my wishes clearer! I want to continue onto SdC but just walk on from the end of the Olvidado. I did not expect there to be a readymade and established camino. Thinking of trying to find a route from Villafranca de Bierzo to Lugo. Then use the Camino Verde. I have been hunting on wikiloc but nothing jumps out at the moment. It is just a wish at the moment to avoid the crowds!

 

[peregrina2000]

Thinking of trying to find a route from Villafranca de Bierzo to Lugo.

I don’t know if you have the premium version of Wikiloc and use their map feature, but it’s great. You put a circle around Villafranca and one around Lugo and see what pops up to connect them.

Here are the tracks of someone who walked from Médulas to Lugo, so you could intersect with that easily.

Las Médulas - Lugo

Las Médulas - Lugo Hiking trail in Las Médulas, Castilla y León (España). Download its GPS track and follow the route on a map. Record your own itinerary from the Wikiloc app, upload the trail and share it with the community.

www.wikiloc.com

The total time is listed as several hours, for 122 kms, so there may be something off here. These may actually not be walking tracks.

One from Ponferrada to Lugo

Ponferrada - Santiago de Compostela

Ponferrada - Santiago de Compostela Hiking trail in Ponferrada, Castilla y León (España). Download its GPS track and follow the route on a map. Record your own itinerary from the Wikiloc app, upload the trail and share it with the community.

www.wikiloc.com

This second one doesn’t look like a walking track, but the first one does, even though they are both listed as ”hiking.”

I have always found that writing questions to the authors of tracks on wikiloc (there’s a comment section below the actual tracks) produces very quick responses, so you could get a bit more info if these look interesting.

 

[MikeJS]

I don’t know if you have the premium version of Wikiloc and use their map feature, but it’s great. You put a circle around Villafranca and one around Lugo and see what pops up to connect them.

Here are the tracks of someone who walked from Médulas to Lugo, so you could intersect with that easily.

Las Médulas - Lugo

Las Médulas - Lugo Hiking trail in Las Médulas, Castilla y León (España). Download its GPS track and follow the route on a map. Record your own itinerary from the Wikiloc app, upload the trail and share it with the community.

www.wikiloc.com

The total time is listed as several hours, for 122 kms, so there may be something off here. These may actually not be walking tracks.

One from Ponferrada to Lugo

Ponferrada - Santiago de Compostela

Ponferrada - Santiago de Compostela Hiking trail in Ponferrada, Castilla y León (España). Download its GPS track and follow the route on a map. Record your own itinerary from the Wikiloc app, upload the trail and share it with the community.

www.wikiloc.com

This second one doesn’t look like a walking track, but the first one does, even though they are both listed as ”hiking.”

I have always found that writing questions to the authors of tracks on wikiloc (there’s a comment section below the actual tracks) produces very quick responses, so you could get a bit more info if these look interesting.

Thank you very much for the info. I have used those features before and will renew my membership to wikiloc when it is nearer my intended departure time and I want to do some detailed planning. The ones you posted look like bike tracks as the bits I looked at seem to follow the road, and the second one has some very suspicious straight lines!

Ultimately, I know I could find my way just using google maps but of course it makes the stops (and places to stay) a bit of guess work……. In the end it all depends on what I find before I travel and how I feel as I reach the end of the Olvidado.

 

[VNwalking]

I like the idea of heading to Lugo on that track Laurie posted thet starts in Las Medulas.
A bespoke route sounds just the thing.

 

[MikeJS]

I like the idea of heading to Lugo on that track Laurie posted thet starts in Las Medulas.
A bespoke route sounds just the thing.

I like the idea as well but that track seems to just follow a main road and has a few suspicious overly straight bits - where they probably forgot to switch their GPS back on.

 

[VNwalking]

Mike I was just looking at my OSMand map, which has the Dutch cofraternity camino tracks as an overlay. There is a zig-zaggy track from O Cebreiro to Lugo. Yes, it more or less follows the general route of the main road, but clearly is not on it the whole way.

Here is their link to download the track:
https://www.santiago.nl/downloads
It is also on Wikiloc.

Here is the website for the route:

Vía Künig - Camino de Santiago

Información sobre la Vía Künig en el Camino de Santiago.

viakunig.eu

Edit. Here is what @Thomas1962 has to say here on the Forum:

There is a new camino going from O Cebreiro to Lugo called Via Kunig. With a track you can also walk it backwards.

Another possibility to avoid the Melide-SdC stretch is to go from the Primitivo indeed to the Norte. You don't need to end up in Arzua, but there are now also alternatives which joines the Frances only at SdC airport, 15kms before SdC.

You can see the VIa Kunig and the alternatives untill the airport at the interactive map at the bottom of this page. You can also download al these tracks you see from this page. Both pages are in Dutch, but with some google translate you will understand. If not, let me know

 

[peregrina2000]

Now that we’ve got VN on this, success seems more likely.

But here’s something weird — I just put Villafranca to Lugo in my googlemaps, and it identified a walking trail that doesn’t seem to go on the road. VN, if you look at this screen shot, can you find a similar route on your OSM map?

 

[peregrina2000]

OMG, VN, you are a marvel. You not only found a walking route, you found a CAMINO walking route. I never heard of the Via Kunig, but there it is! Stay on the Francés till Las Herrerías. Then when the Francés goes up to O Cebreiro, Mike can go on the Via Kunig!

https://rurallure.eu/via-kunig-cultural-association-joins-rurallure-2/

The Exciting Way of the Künig Way - Viajes Camino de Santiago

"I, Hemann Künig von Vach, want, with God's help, to make a little book to be called The Way of St. James[...]".

viajecaminodesantiago.com

Lots of info on this route on the web,looks like another route intended to bypass O Cebreiro in wintertime.

VN gets the Forum Gold Star for the day.

 

[VNwalking]

You not only found a walking route, you found a CAMINO walking route. I never heard of the Via Kunig, but there it is!

Thank you for the kudos, Laurie. ❤
And. @Thomas1962 and the good people at the Dutch cofraternity should get the credit. AllI did was download 'all Spanish caminos.' Honestly, I never noticed this particilar track until this morning.
Those tracks are an incredible offering to us all!

 

[VNwalking]

VN, if you look at this screen shot, can you find a similar route on your OSM map?

No, it's not one of the Dutch cofraternity tracks. But I easily constructed something that looks similar. That said, the Via Künig is a more direct route.

 

[MikeJS]

Looking good. Amazing what is out there.

 

[Sara_Dhooma]

Late to reply, but last summer I walked the Olvidado and connected on the Frances to the Via Kunig.

I did not meet any pilgrims on the Via Kunig so it was a nice quiet route up to Lugo.

I will have videos of the Via Kunig up on my YouTube channel eventually - but I need to finish the Olvidado ones first. hahaha... They are coming, I'll post one up today.