61% increase in numbers recorded walking the Invierno

[Bradypus]

A Leon website has an article noting that the Santiago pilgrim office has recorded a 61% increase in numbers who have walked the Invierno and received a Compostela over the past year. Of course that is building on a very small base and the Compostela figures are far from comprehensive. Even so that seems a remarkable increase. Even more interesting to me was the observation that the great majority of those who walked the route and received a Compostela were Spanish - an intriguing difference from the overall Compostela statistics for all routes where Spanish pilgrims are just over 40% of those recorded so far this year.

Los peregrinos usaron un 61% más el Camino de Invierno en el último año

Registrados 1.686 viajeros por esta ruta que parte de Ponferrada por Puente de Domingo Flórez

www.diariodeleon.es

 

[Robo]

I walked it last year having heard so many glowing reports.

I'll be honest.
I wanted to walk it before it got popular.

What an amazing route.
The scenery was stunning......

I'm sure in time it will become an alternative for those wanting to walk a short Camino, or wanting to avoid the 'crush' ex Sarria.

 

[Bradypus]

I'm sure in time it will become an alternative for those wanting to walk a short Camino, or wanting to avoid the 'crush' ex Sarria.

Avoiding the crowds on the final stages of the Frances is what the article suggests is driving the increase.

 

[jungleboy]

Even more interesting to me was the observation that the great majority of those who walked the route and received a Compostela were Spanish - an intriguing difference from the overall Compostela statistics for all routes where Spanish pilgrims are just over 40% of those recorded so far this year.

Anecdotally, that was also true for us on the Invierno this June; most of the pilgrims we met were Spanish.

 

[Kathar1na]

Los 1.686 peregrinos desde julio de 2023 a 31 de julio de 2024 suponen un incremento anual del 61% con relación al número de caminantes o de personas que usan otros medios para alcanzar su propósito de peregrinación hasta la ciudad del Apóstol.

Oh dear. It does not really matter much because, indeed, there has been a remarkable increase of the numbers of Compostelas for the Camino de Invierno over the last decade, and that is all that we need to know, but the writer has a poor grasp of the statistical data that he writes about.

• 1.686 is the number of Compostelas for the period 1 January 2024 to 31 July 2024, and not desde julio de 2023 a 31 de julio de 2024.
  
  
• The number of Compostelas for the period July 2023 until 31 July 2024 is actually 2.661 (975 for August to December 2023 plus the 1.686 for January to July 2024. I don't see how one can compare this with the help of a percentage of the unknown and undefined number of walkers who use otros medios. It is certainly not 61%.
  
  
• The 61% that the writer spotted and copied from the statistics website for Invierno Compostelas compares the total number for the first 7 months of 2024 to the first 7 months of 2023.

The writer does not mention the investments and efforts by the Xunta de Galicia to promote the Camino de Invierno. The sign shown below is presumably part of these official promotional efforts. The board was not there when we walked through Ponferrada years ago.



PS: Do check the numbers on www.oficinadelperegrino.com. I am more than happy to make corrections if I erred.

 

[Bradypus]

Thank you @Kathar1na for debunking the headline figure which I did think was surprisingly high! Though sheer laziness and numerical ineptitude prevented me from digging into the published statistics personally.

 

[Kitsambler]

Regardless of the details, it appears the Invierno is getting quite a lot more traffic. Since this was my plan for avoiding the crush from Sarria, I wonder how the infrastructure is handling the increased numbers? Any signs of saturation?

 

[Kathar1na]

the headline figure which I did think was surprisingly high!

Actually, the figure of 61% hides much greater values for increase in total numbers and in annual percentages when you look at the details!

Let me first say that it makes me always a little nervous when I post about this because I fear that I made a mistake and will embarass myself. Secondly, it beats me how in this day and age, where everybody and their dog has a computer with graphic capabilities, writers of news articles produce such a word salad about data taken from a fairly sophisticated website that presents them with ready made graphics and tables and is a great tool for extracting data in several ways for presenting them and making them understood!

I selected the number of Invierno Compostelas for the months of January to July for 2023 and 2024 in the form of two tables and the corresponding two graphs. I roughly scaled one of the two graphs to make it easier for the eye to compare them.

One can easily see increase by month. The most staggering is July 2024. And compared to July 2024, the total numbers for April, May and June are much lower - both this year and last year. And never mind the annual increase by month in %, it does not really tell you much for practical purposes.

This presentation of Invierno Compostela data may actually have some informative value for the planning of future Invierno walkers but the best source of information are pilgrims who walked recently and how they assess the available infrastructure at the time when they walked! Even 567 Invierno Compostelas in a single month is how many pilgrims per day on average in each location of the Invierno?

For the Camino de Invierno:

 

[t2andreo]

Given this development, and the indicators showing that pilgrims are using the Invierno, at least in part, to avoid the Sarria to Santiago crowds; I suggest that additional, more or less parallel routes be investigated, researched and approved. Otherwise, the Invierno will eventually reach saturation point, at least during the peak pilgrimage season.

Perhaps a northern bypass, from Ponferrada, or elsewhere before Sarria, and reaching Lugo, or some similarly closer-in-point, would help. Of course, this is a future thing.

IIRC correctly, this is how the Camino Verde or Green Way was discovered and added to the Primitivo.

Just a thought.

Tom

 

[Kathar1na]

Regardless of the details, it appears the Invierno is getting quite a lot more traffic.

From the article: El último día que se registró estadística, legaron a Santiago de Compostela 9 personas que siguieron la senda del Camino de Invierno.

So that is what the writer saw on the website for 31 July 2024: 9 Invierno Compostelas. Yesterday - 2 August 2024 - it was 11 Compostelas. It may be "a lot more traffic" but is it "a lot of traffic"?

 

[LTfit]

"A lot of traffic" would definitely be an exaggeration. Only anecdotal of course but in July 2023 I only met one group of 4 pilgrims in Monforte de Lemos and never saw them again after Rodeiro. I never crossed paths with any other pilgrim before that. It was not until A Laxe and joining the Sanabrés that I saw larger groups of pilgrims.

I may be wrong but I don't think that anyone has to worry about too much traffic on the Invierno.

 

[Bradypus]

I may be wrong but I don't think that anyone has to worry about too much traffic on the Invierno.

Just over 2,000 listed for the Invierno in the pilgrim office statistics for last year. Doesn't sound much. But there were less than 5,000 recorded for all possible routes in the year of my first Camino. That figure looks set to be over half a million this year. Numbers do change a bit over time. Watch this space...

 

[VeganCamino]

Just over 2,000 listed for the Invierno in the pilgrim office statistics for last year. Doesn't sound much. But there were less than 5,000 recorded for all possible routes in the year of my first Camino. That figure looks set to be over half a million this year. Numbers do change a bit over time. Watch this space...

Wow. It's growing!

 

[GailGwyn]

A Leon website has an article noting that the Santiago pilgrim office has recorded a 61% increase in numbers who have walked the Invierno and received a Compostela over the past year. Of course that is building on a very small base and the Compostela figures are far from comprehensive. Even so that seems a remarkable increase. Even more interesting to me was the observation that the great majority of those who walked the route and received a Compostela were Spanish - an intriguing difference from the overall Compostela statistics for all routes where Spanish pilgrims are just over 40% of those recorded so far this year.

Los peregrinos usaron un 61% más el Camino de Invierno en el último año

Registrados 1.686 viajeros por esta ruta que parte de Ponferrada por Puente de Domingo Flórez

www.diariodeleon.es

We walked the Camino Invierno last year, arriving in Santiago in Holy Week. We only saw a total of 5 other pilgrims until we reached A Laxe, where the Invierno crosses with the Sanabres. All were Spanish speaking, but 2 were from Mexico. In A Laxe, there were about a dozen pilgrims in total, nearly all Spanish. In one albergue we stayed in, the lady in charge said she hoped the Invierno would stay as quiet as it was then and couldn't bear the thought of it becoming like the Frances.

 

[JDM]

Walked in May 2024, busiest day was 5 Australians and one Spanish. For most of the route it was 4 Australians and the one Spaniard. Lots of accommodation options, no need to book ahead. A very pleasant change after the hoards on the Frances.

 

[kiwi-couple]

We walked the Invierno in October last year and saw very few other pilgrims, five at the most, and only one stopped for a chat.

 

[peregrina2000]

I may be wrong but I don't think that anyone has to worry about too much traffic on the Invierno.

Totally agree! I walked in May 2024 and I think I met a total of 4 others walking, plus one big joyous Brazilian group of 20 that was walking but was bussed up and back and off and on with accommodations in some amazing-looking casas rurales (they showed me pictures). They were walking every km, but rarely slept where they stopped walking. I took several off-route alternatives, which of course decreased my odds of meeting others, but even so I don’t think anyone needs to be concerned about over-saturation. This camino is definitely taking a lot lot longer to “take off” than the Primitivo did, and I’m not sure why that is. Any ideas?

The accommodation is way ahead of the pilgrim numbers, so I think it is still the “sweet spot” in terms of plenty of places to stay and not much in the way of a crunch. I know that it’s often a good idea to call ahead, not because of the need to reserve, but because you may otherwise not find anyone there when you arrive.

 

[Simperegrina]

In my case, walking in Mar I met 3 other pilgrims PDF onwards - 1 from Girona, 1 from Madrid, and the 3rd from Piemonte in Italy. 1 had come up from Zamora on the VDLP, 1 from the Mozarabe. This was until A Laxe, when I met a few more, some from the Sanabres, a handful from the CPI.

 

[chinalil]

I walked it last year having heard so many glowing reports.

I'll be honest.
I wanted to walk it before it got popular.

What an amazing route.
The scenery was stunning......

I'm sure in time it will become an alternative for those wanting to walk a short Camino, or wanting to avoid the 'crush' ex Sarria.

Agree wholeheartedly, I walked it in April/May and it just kept getting better! Had a wonderful 2 nights in Las Medulas, jaw droppingly beautiful

 

[André Walker]

Perhaps a northern bypass, from Ponferrada, or elsewhere before Sarria, and reaching Lugo, or some similarly closer-in-point, would help.

There are a couple of "bypasses" north of the Camino Francés:

1
Via Künig: from Villadangos del Páramo to Ponferrada.
Then on the Francés from Ponferrada to Las Herrerías.
Via Künig: from Las Herrerías to Lugo.



2
Camino Verde: from Lugo to Meson (which is on the Camino del Norte, shortly before Sobrado dos Monxes).
Camino del Norte: from Meson to Boimorto.



3
From Boimorto there are 3 ways to join the Camino Francés again:
- Boimorto - Arzúa.
- Boimorto - A Salceda.
- Boimorto - Lavacolla.



By walking one (or more) of these one can avoid a great part of the busy stretch after Sarria.

 

[t2andreo]

Thank you. That might help in future.