Alternate route to Porriño; waymarkers

[Señor Steve]

I am preparing for my first Camino this year and planning to do the camino portugues.

—Can anyone who has actually walked it in the past few months comment on the alternative route from Ribadelouro to Porriño that was posted (I believe in fall 2013) at http://www.amigosdelcamino.com/images/pub/ruteroorbenlle.jpg ?
Is it difficult to follow? It certainly looks more appealing than the long stretch through the industrial park (Poligono Industrial). And why might the waymarkers on it be covered over? Vandalism? Do some locals want you to avoid that route?

—How good (or bad) are the waymarkers from Tui north? In her e-book “Camino Portugues: A Pilgrim’s Journey”, Alda Pettiti portrays them as being few and far between — and difficult to locate for the average walker.

Thanks for your advice.

Señor Steve

 

[Whalleyranger]

Welcome to the forum.

I walked north from Tui in September 2010 and on the whole found it well signposted. I think I had trouble on the entry to Pontevedra but knew I needed to head for the city centre so followed road signs for that instead of relying on the yellow arrows. I also bizarrely lost the yellow arrows about 2km out of SdC but again just followed the road signs.

Regarding the detour around the industrial estate; I can't speak for that but remember that the "original" route was a very long, very boring, very ugly stretch of road with new cars parked up as far as the eye could see, but looking on the bright side; it was really satisfying to reach the end of that road and look back at where I'd been walking for the past hour or so; and it made me appreciate the beautiful countryside even more.

 

[Donovan]

Señor Steve,
I had planned to use this bypass when I walked the route in October, but river flooding shortly after Tui caused us to make an enormous diversion to get to O Porriño. I have a some information on the bypass published by the Asociación Galega - Amigos do Camiño de Santiago. It’s titled Itinerario Para Peregrinos Orbenille - O Porrino Por El Entorno Natural De As Gandaras y Rio Louro. It's a comprehensive 35 page document, in Spanish, with sections on historical justification of the revised route, route description and several pages of maps. I can’t remember where I found it. If you like, PM me your email address I’ll send it to you.

We had no problems with waymarking north of Tui
Donovan

 

[Former member 22438]

Señor Steve,
I had planned to use this bypass when I walked the route in October, but river flooding shortly after Tui caused us to make an enormous diversion to get to O Porriño. I have a some information on the bypass published by the Asociación Galega - Amigos do Camiño de Santiago. It’s titled Itinerario Para Peregrinos Orbenille - O Porrino Por El Entorno Natural De As Gandaras y Rio Louro. It's a comprehensive 35 page document, in Spanish, with sections on historical justification of the revised route, route description and several pages of maps. I can’t remember where I found it. If you like, PM me your email address I’ll send it to you.

We had no problems with waymarking north of Tui
Donovan

http://www.amigosdelcamino.com/attachments/article/541/orb_porr_eng.pdf

 

[Whalleyranger]

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/notici...rinos-eluden-fabricas/0003_201401V16C9991.htm

Google:

The new layout in O Porrino now allows pilgrims to evade Gándaras an industrial estate. The historical path Orbenlle O Porrino had been occupied by the largest industrial estate in Galicia and the N-550.
The trail construction enabled by the Louro river now allows pilgrims to enjoy better scenery. The new road runs incorporating a unique natural area, in places, the old Camino Real between Tui and Vigo.
Its design involves just a few hundred meters more than the current itinerary than Gándaras Industrial Estate and the N-550. The route runs now and Mosende Pontellas and joins the center of town so it is now easier to find the hostel, located near the slaughterhouse Frigolouro.
The Association of Friends of the Way made the new route with the help of neighbors and technicians Heritage and the Jacobean of the Xunta.
Tourism Councillor O Porrino, Ana Martínez says that "the new layout is great. Initially there were some concerns by some pilgrims because some websites still displayed the old route but that has been remedied. " Martínez explains that "the new layout is much nicer and the pilgrims are happy because the views are better. People coming cycling and riding are fascinated by nature and the streams you can now see. Before I had to go through the industrial estate and the road and now no longer. "
Councillor hopes that the new route will contribute to enhancement of the tourist village. Last year 3,000 pilgrims spent the night at the lodge and pavilion O Porrino. This represents almost a third of the 9,394 who left Tui. The number of walkers who left the cathedral last year increased by 12% compared to 2012.

 

[steinhoj]

Thanks all for the info. I'm going to try this alternate route this April.

 

[HermanTheGerman]

The brochure I received in the Albergue in TUI explained what we need to look out for. The markings have been vandalised by local business owners who weren't happy with the loss of trade from pilgrims walking the river route. After crossing under the freeway you need to turn left instead of following the arrows which take you straight ahead into the industrial estate. Photo of this point attached...

 

[peregrina2000]

The brochure I received in the Albergue in TUI explained what we need to look out for. The markings have been vandalised by local business owners who weren't happy with the loss of trade from pilgrims walking the river route. After crossing under the freeway you need to turn left instead of following the arrows which take you straight ahead into the industrial estate. Photo of this point attached...

Thanks to Herman's permission, this photograph will now appear in the updated version of the CSJ online guide of the Caminho Portugues from Porto to Santiago. As I was looking at the picture in more detail, it was interesting to see that this turn-off happens at a Peugeot building. That is a crazy coincidence -- on the way into Ourense on the Vdlp, there is also a possible detour at the Peugeot building -- to the right follows the Camino through Ourense's industrial park, to the left follows a lovely riverside path. Seems like both alternatives are highly recommended.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[juansofia]

We are planning to walk the alternative route on the 23th of march and I have been worried to find the right spot to leave the old camino, untill I've found this website :

http://www.gronze.com/camino-de-san...acabo-la-penitencia-del-poligono-de-o-porrino

It seems the alternative route has become official and is well indicate.

 

[HermanTheGerman]

We are planning to walk the alternative route on the 23th of march and I have been worried to find the right spot to leave the old camino, untill I've found this website :

http://www.gronze.com/camino-de-san...acabo-la-penitencia-del-poligono-de-o-porrino

It seems the alternative route has become official and is well indicate.

You will receive brochures about the alternative route in the albergues as far back as Ponte de Lima. The map is in there too, but the problem is knowing which arrows are deliberately false and which to follow. Yes, they have been spraying new yellow arrows to direct pilgrims past their businesses. The alternate route was of course well way marked upon opening until the signs and arrows were vandalised.

 

[juansofia]

I've found the alternative route on gps track too (just in case)

http://nl.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=5686641

 

[HermanTheGerman]

I've found the alternative route on gps track too (just in case)

http://nl.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=5686641

Not a bad thing to have actually. On the few occasions I wanted to use my GPS, it wouldn't lock on to the satellites even though it had found up to 6. After a factory reset, things seem to be back to normal again. I could have used this on this section, as I did become a little lost towards the end. The brochure began to disintegrate in the rain every time I took it out of my jacket and all the drains covered with concrete lids, were gushing water out the top. Large parts of the low lying path were flooded and towards the end I found myself in the middle of the river under a bridge support with nowhere to go. I must have missed a turn-off somewhere along the route.

 

[Diogo92]

Not a bad thing to have actually. On the few occasions I wanted to use my GPS, it wouldn't lock on to the satellites even though it had found up to 6. After a factory reset, things seem to be back to normal again. I could have used this on this section, as I did become a little lost towards the end. The brochure began to disintegrate in the rain every time I took it out of my jacket and all the drains covered with concrete lids, were gushing water out the top. Large parts of the low lying path were flooded and towards the end I found myself in the middle of the river under a bridge support with nowhere to go. I must have missed a turn-off somewhere along the route.

Herman, great blog! Tell me something, from Ponte de Lima to Tui, did you used your GPS to count the km? I'm asking this because for what I remember, from Ponte de Lima to Valença it's 40 and some km, and from Valença to Tui other 2, and you have marked 38km in your post. Just checking it

Best Regards
Diogo

 

[HermanTheGerman]

Herman, great blog! Tell me something, from Ponte de Lima to Tui, did you used your GPS to count the km? I'm asking this because for what I remember, from Ponte de Lima to Valença it's 40 and som km, and from Vlaneça to Tui other 2, and you have marked 38km in your post. Just checking it

Best Regards
Diogo

Hey Diogo, I'm glad you like my blog. It was also fun writing it and it gave me something to do when I was sick and couldn't walk.

No the GPS didn't work once and it only served to drain the battery which was better saved for taking pictures. In the end I just turned it off. I could be wrong with the km count of course. That would make it 42km in total that day. My Nordic walking technique was really working that day. It's a good thing the 30 minute emergencies hadn't started at that stage, otherwise I would never have made it.

Bom Caminho!

 

[Diogo92]

Hey Diogo, I'm glad you like my blog. It was also fun writing it and it gave me something to do when I was sick and couldn't walk.

No the GPS didn't work once and it only served to drain the battery which was better saved for taking pictures. In the end I just turned it off. I could be wrong with the km count of course. That would make it 42km in total that day. My Nordic walking technique was really working that day. It's a good thing the 30 minute emergencies hadn't started at that stage, otherwise I would never have made it.

Bom Caminho!

Ahhh ok, no problem with that. I will brake that day in two, staying in Rubiães, and in the other day going to Tui. No more 40km walks

Best Regards
Diogo

 

[juansofia]

We have walked the Camino Portugues last week. There are actually two detours before PORRINO.
The first one is to avoid the industrial site of Porrino. The detour is very well marked (there is a big sign at the beginning and lots of new arrows along the way)
The second one is at the entrance of PORRINO itself. Here the waymarkers for the new path have dissappeared or have been painted over with black paint.
If you decide to take the path anyway (as we did) it is very simple, just follow the river and you'll end up at the albergue in PORRINO

 

[boilermike]

Juansoffia is correct. We just did this stage 2 days ago and we were thankful for whoever had posted that picture of the Peugot repair place. As juansoffia said, most of the arrows for the alternate route have been painted over in black, but just turn left and follow the black arrows! The local vandals gave up spraying them black after about 50 yards and the yellow arrows return. That was a horribly long stage. 22 miles according to my GPS