Ender’s Olvidado Guide in English

[peregrina2000]

Here is a link to the English version of the Olvidado guide. Sorry for the delay, but I was walking when I should have been cleaning up some of the language. But since I was walking the Olvidado, all was forgiven.

I hope more forum members will strike out and soak up the beauty here.

There are some stretches where the municipalities have still not actually installed the Olvidado mojones (which are kind of a rusty metal with “camino olvidado” cut out), so there are places where a GPS, IMO is still essential. At least if you have my cartographic skills rather than VN’s!

As always, updates and suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

Guía del Camino Olvidado ingles.pdf

drive.google.com

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[MikeJS]

Thank you very much. I seem to have loads of info about the Olvidado now!

 

[jungleboy]

This looks great, thank you.

Having skimmed a couple of pages, I see there are a lot of photos in the guide. If there is a ‘market’ for it, would it be possible to create a text-only version (perhaps excepting cases where photos might help with way-marking)? That would be helpful for people who want to print the guide, and for people like me who prefer not to see photos of places before I visit them.

 

[VNwalking]

I hope more forum members will strike out and soak up the beauty here.

It's definitely on the list.
Thank you Laurie - I look forward to reading this....and hopefully (some day) actually using it.

 

[peregrina2000]

This looks great, thank you.

Having skimmed a couple of pages, I see there are a lot of photos in the guide. If there is a ‘market’ for it, would it be possible to create a text-only version (perhaps excepting cases where photos might help with way-marking)? That would be helpful for people who want to print the guide, and for people like me who prefer not to see photos of places before I visit them.

This is an issue with the Salvador guide as well. I will broach the subject, but there is a lot of pride of authorship here.

 

[VNwalking]

I just had a quick look at it, Laurie, and am blown away. So beautifully done, and I like the gorgeous photos. They really give a sense of the feeling of the walk. Please relay my heartfelt congratulations and thanks to Ender; if there is pride of authorship, it is not without reason.
@jungleboy, I'd suggest copying the text and pasting it onto a blank Word document, and printing that. If you don't want the photos, far better for you to find a way around that yourself, than to ask the author to make a bespoke version that meets your individual specs.

 

[jungleboy]

I will broach the subject, but there is a lot of pride of authorship here.

Thanks, understood.

If you don't want the photos, far better for you to find a way around that yourself, than to ask the author to make a bespoke version that meets your individual specs.

I did not ask for a bespoke version that meets my individual specs. I made one request and specifically said if there is a market for it (i.e. if enough other people also request it). Of course I will find a way around it myself if the author prefers not to offer a text-only version, but I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request.

In any case, thanks again to Ender for providing this resource for us.

 

[Simon Shum]

Laurie, muchas muchas gracias for your dedication to help pilgrims! And thanks Ender for his works -- I truly enjoy the Salvador with his guide a few years ago, and now the Olvidado is on my list for next year or very soon!
Beun Camino de Vida!
Simon

 

[Canche]

Here is a link to the English version of the Olvidado guide. Sorry for the delay, but I was walking when I should have been cleaning up some of the language. But since I was walking the Olvidado, all was forgiven.

I hope more forum members will strike out and soak up the beauty here.

There are some stretches where the municipalities have still not actually installed the Olvidado mojones (which are kind of a rusty metal with “camino olvidado” cut out), so there are places where a GPS, IMO is still essential. At least if you have my cartographic skills rather than VN’s!

As always, updates and suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

Guía del Camino Olvidado ingles.pdf

drive.google.com

Buen camino, Laurie

I'd like to do this Camino but I don't want to do the Frances. Is there anyway to detour and do San Salvador, Primitivo or something else to get to Santiago

 

[peregrina2000]

I'd like to do this Camino but I don't want to do the Frances. Is there anyway to detour and do San Salvador, Primitivo or something else to get to Santiago

The easiest “untraveled camino” combo is to walk the Olvidado from Bilbao to Ponferrada and then the Invierno (another camino with a core bunch of forum fanatical fans) to Santiago.

You could also walk the Olvidado from Bilbao to Buiza and then continue on the Salvador to Pajares - Bendueños - Pola de Lena - Mieres - Oviedo. From there the Primitivo.

If I had to choose between those two options it would be a VERY hard decision.

 

[Mycroft]

Here is a link to the English version of the Olvidado guide. Sorry for the delay, but I was walking when I should have been cleaning up some of the language. But since I was walking the Olvidado, all was forgiven.

I hope more forum members will strike out and soak up the beauty here.

There are some stretches where the municipalities have still not actually installed the Olvidado mojones (which are kind of a rusty metal with “camino olvidado” cut out), so there are places where a GPS, IMO is still essential. At least if you have my cartographic skills rather than VN’s!

As always, updates and suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

Guía del Camino Olvidado ingles.pdf

drive.google.com

Buen camino, Laurie

Many thanks for this. Looks lovely! I do not own a mobile phone, nor have anything with GPS, so are you saying it would be impossible for a luddite to travel this route?

 

[peregrina2000]

Many thanks for this. Looks lovely! I do not own a mobile phone, nor have anything with GPS, so are you saying it would be impossible for a luddite to travel this route?

It is lovely, very very lovely. I would not walk this route alone without a GPS. But if I were with someone, and if I were armed with a good guide I think it would be possible, and certainly safer than going alone without a GPS. The “problem” is that there are routes that take you up in the mountains, real mountains, far from towns. The day after Pola de Gordón, for instance, you could really get stuck in nowhere, with no people or towns for many kms in any direction. And the day to Vegacervera, with its incredible ascent to a ring of peaks, though there are many trails, I was glad to have my GPS to point me onto the right one. But I know there are forum members who have and will walk this route with no GPS. It just depends on your skill set. Mine obviously has a few big defecits.

 

[Canche]

The easiest “untraveled camino” combo is to walk the Olvidado from Bilbao to Ponferrada and then the Invierno (another camino with a core bunch of forum fanatical fans) to Santiago.

You could also walk the Olvidado from Bilbao to Buiza and then continue on the Salvador to Pajares - Bendueños - Pola de Lena - Mieres - Oviedo. From there the Primitivo.

If I had to choose between those two options it would be a VERY hard decision.

Thanks so much. Sounds good. I wanted to do the San Salvador and Primitivo anyway. I think the Frances is boring and overrated.

 

[VNwalking]

I think the Frances is boring and overrated.

Yeah. There are no volcanoes.
(A friend said that to me after her first visit to Europe with her father, to see where he had come from. She was kidding. Sort of. When you grow up on a volcano and eruptions are your work...everything else seems a little bland by comparison.)

 

[Canche]

Yeah. There are no volcanoes.
(A friend said that to me after her first visit to Europe with her father, to see where he had come from. She was kidding. Sort of. When you grow up on a volcano and eruptions are your work...everything else seems a little bland by comparison.)

You are absolutely right

 

[Mycroft]

It is lovely, very very lovely. I would not walk this route alone without a GPS. But if I were with someone, and if I were armed with a good guide I think it would be possible, and certainly safer than going alone without a GPS. The “problem” is that there are routes that take you up in the mountains, real mountains, far from towns. The day after Pola de Gordón, for instance, you could really get stuck in nowhere, with no people or towns for many kms in any direction. And the day to Vegacervera, with its incredible ascent to a ring of peaks, though there are many trails, I was glad to have my GPS to point me onto the right one. But I know there are forum members who have and will walk this route with no GPS. It just depends on your skill set. Mine obviously has a few big defecits.

Many thanks. I think at this point in my life I need to be wise, so your advice is appreciated.

 

[Former member 56625]

Here is a link to the English version of the Olvidado guide. Sorry for the delay, but I was walking when I should have been cleaning up some of the language. But since I was walking the Olvidado, all was forgiven.

I hope more forum members will strike out and soak up the beauty here.

There are some stretches where the municipalities have still not actually installed the Olvidado mojones (which are kind of a rusty metal with “camino olvidado” cut out), so there are places where a GPS, IMO is still essential. At least if you have my cartographic skills rather than VN’s!

As always, updates and suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

Guía del Camino Olvidado ingles.pdf

drive.google.com

Buen camino, Laurie

Thank you very much, we are planning the Olvidado and Invierno in 2020.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thank you very much, we are planning the Olvidado and Invierno in 2020.

Oh, E du P B,
You will absolutely not regret this choice. What month are you planning to go, if I may ask?

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Sitkapilgrim]

Oh, E du P B,
You will absolutely not regret this choice. What month are you planning to go, if I may ask?

Buen camino, Laurie

And while this thread is on the topic of when folks are going, I'm thinking of starting from Bilbao late March or early April. What are your thoughts on snow, impassable trails, etc. starting so early in the spring?

 

[peregrina2000]

And while this thread is on the topic of when folks are going, I'm thinking of starting from Bilbao late March or early April. What are your thoughts on snow, impassable trails, etc. starting so early in the spring?

These are just my opinions, and I know others will have very different opinions and recommendations, but if I had total flexibility, I would never start a northern camino until June. June and July are perfect months for the Salvador, Olvidado, Norte, Vasco, Aragonés, Baztán, Catalán, etc. Usually, the rains are a lot less, the temps are fine, and the tourist crowds not in full-blown August swing. In years when I have to start in spring, I look south — think Ebro, Mozárabe, Levante, Lana. Usually, but not always, the rains have subsided a lot, the wildflowers are going gangbusters, and temps are good.

I think you may well hit snow in the mountains of the Olvidado in April, especially if you do the new mountain alternatives Ender has marked. If there is still any water left up in the heavens next year after all the rain this fall, March and April are usually prime months for rain. But my disclaimer — none of this is based on any meteorological expertise or consultation, just my own experiences after years of doing this. And of course, as we all know, the climate is changing and becoming less predictable and more extreme, so that makes predictions even less valuable than they might have been otherwise.

 

[Sitkapilgrim]

Thanks Laurie.
For me, fall in the north, spring in the south has been a good rule.......but I am doing the reverse right now. Summer is never an option for me. (Why would I want to leave home in Southeast Alaska in the summer?) I know I tolerate cool/cold walking/sleeping temperatures more than many, so I usually start walking in March, April at the latest. But I worry about snow in the mountains. I did the San Salvador in November and lucked out. And met Enders who hooked me on the Olvidado, including the new mountain routes. Does anyone have experience with the Olvidado in March and April?

 

[Former member 56625]

Oh, E du P B,
You will absolutely not regret this choice. What month are you planning to go, if I may ask?

Buen camino, Laurie

Hi Laurie, we are planning two caminos this year, so it will be April May or September October depending on weather conditions. Most likely sept oct for the Olvidado/Invierno, looking forward to it we love the mountain routes.
Ellie

 

[peregrina2000]

Interview with Ender on the Eroski website.

Read Ender’s interview HERE

(I am like a kid in a candy shop with my newly recovered expertise in how to create clickable links that aren’t long strings of letters, thanks @jungleboy.)

 

[peregrina2000]

Several forum members have expressed a real interest in the Olvidado. Our zoom meetings were great! I thought I’d paste in a link to a recent blog about the first stages between Bilbao and Aguilar de Campoo. I walked that first part years ago, so my memories were not quite as sharp. It’s in Spanish, but there are some nice pictures of places along those first days.

 

[VNwalking]

Bookmarked!! Thanks Laurie...

 

[MikeJS]

Just a reminder that I did the Olvidado from Bilbao to the San Salvador at Buixa in Sept/Oct 19 (with much help from Laurie) - details here https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/starting-the-olvidado-on-sept-18-2019.64505/ and https://mikesroaming.blogspot.com

 

[peregrina2000]

Just a reminder that I did the Olvidado from Bilbao to the San Salvador at Buixa in Sept/Oct 19 (with much help from Laurie) - details here https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/starting-the-olvidado-on-sept-18-2019.64505/ and https://mikesroaming.blogspot.com

Thanks, Mike, I had somehow forgotten to make your post a sticky, so it is now in a deservedly more prominent place in the Olvidado forum list.

 

[Fred Gaudet]

Have there been updates since this was published?

 

[peregrina2000]

This is the only version of the guide, but I have posted new info as it comes in on the forum. The caminoolvidado.com website and app are also good sources of information. If you are thinking about walking now, I would check the Ray y Rosa’s facebook page, where you can get some current information. And you could also ask questions there, because I have been told that they are very prompt in their responses.

Log into Facebook

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www.facebook.com

I posted some updates in late May on the forum and have not gotten more from Ender.

@Fred Gaudet, when are you thinking about walking?

 

[Fred Gaudet]

This is the only version of the guide, but I have posted new info as it comes in on the forum. The caminoolvidado.com website and app are also good sources of information. If you are thinking about walking now, I would check the Ray y Rosa’s facebook page, where you can get some current information. And you could also ask questions there, because I have been told that they are very prompt in their responses.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

I posted some updates in late May on the forum and have not gotten more from Ender.

@Fred Gaudet, when are you thinking about walking?

Planning to leave Bilbao Aug. 29. Plans could change if the delta variant surges in Spain.

 

[peregrina2000]

I will contact Ender closer to the date of your hoped-for departure. Both he and Rosi (hospitalera in Fasgar) were optimistic that things would be better in the summer, but as you say, who knows what the variants will bring. Fingers crossed.

I do think the Olvidado is one of the more difficult to navigate with the closures of covid. Fewer accommodations overall, some stages where there are only albergues. If any forum members make it that way soon, a report back would be great. I’m assuming there will be updates on Ray Y Rosa’s facebook page as well.

 

[Fred Gaudet]

Thanks.

When, or if, I'm on the Olviddo, I'll send reports to the forum, especially if I notice any changes.

 

[High Endeavours]

Recently Fred indirectly brought my attention to the Olividdo when we were chatting about a different route. A follow-up search produced the official website which I've really enjoyed looking through. Now I find that Laurie has put together a guide (thanks for the link) and this has increased my interest even more. I referred to her Invierno guide in 2016 so I know the quality will be there, and thanks for this Laurie! This fall if I can responsibly leave Canada to walk it will likely be in France, and with a covid postponed 2020 Via Francigena scheduled hopefully for Spring, 2022 it means that 2023 will be the earliest I can enjoy this route. Nice to have it to look forward to though, and if Fred is able to walk it this year then I'll follow his progress and there will be an additional resource available. I hope you get there this year Fred. Buen Camino!

 

[peregrina2000]

Now I find that Laurie has put together a guide (thanks for the link) and this has increased my interest even more.

Just one correction — I translated Ender’s guide into English, I didn’t write it! There is a lot of excellent Olvidado info here on the forum, @High Endeavours, and a very passionate group that loves to answer questions and give opinions. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[PaulMost]

Ecco un link alla versione inglese della guida di Olvidado. Scusate il ritardo, ma stavo camminando quando avrei dovuto ripulire un po' la lingua. Ma siccome percorrevo l'Olvidado, tutto mi fu perdonato.

Spero che più membri del forum colpiscano e assorbano la bellezza qui.

Ci sono alcuni tratti in cui i comuni non hanno ancora effettivamente installato gli Olvidado mojones (che sono una specie di metallo arrugginito con il "camino olvidado" ritagliato), quindi ci sono luoghi in cui un GPS, IMO è ancora essenziale. Almeno se hai le mie capacità cartografiche piuttosto che quelle di VN!

Come sempre aggiornamenti e suggerimenti sono ben accetti e molto apprezzati.

Guía del Camino Olvidado ingles.pdf

drive.google.com

Buen Camino, Laurie

Bongiorno Peregrina Laurie, sono un camminante di 70 anni, mi chiamo Paolo e sono Italiano di Chiavari Provincia di Genova. Ho fatto 10 Cammini di Santiago negli ultimi 10 anni, sempre diversi con arrivo sempre a Santiago.
Poichè vorrei intraprendere il Camino Olvidado ad Agosto, puoi indicarmi dove reperire la guida di Ender in SPAGNOLO? Grazie

 

[VNwalking]

Ciao, Paolo!
Non sono Laurie. Ma forse questo aiuterà?

Etapas – Camino Olvidado

www.caminoolvidado.com

C'è anche un PDF.

https://caminoolvidado.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/guia_camino_olvidado.pdf

Buen camino!

 

[PaulMost]

Ciao, Paolo!
Non sono Laurie. Ma forse questo aiuta?

Etapas – Camino Olvidado

www.caminoolvidado.com

C'è anche un PDF.

https://caminoolvidado.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/guia_camino_olvidado.pdf

Buon cammino!

Grazie, ma mi piacerebbe

 

[peregrina2000]

C'è anche un PDF.
https://caminoolvidado.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/guia_camino_olvidado.pdf

Grazie, ma mi piacerebbe

The English guide that I translated and is linked in the original post is not the same as the caminoolvidado.com website. The guide is like the Salvador guide Ender did, full of pictures and helpful information. The website, which also has a guide, was done with his cooperation but is really a product of a larger Olvidado Association, including 4 Valles. It is also great, but it is more professional, while Ender’s is more personal. Both are valuable. I have WhatsApped Ender and will post the link to the Spanish version when he sends it to me.

 

[peregrina2000]

Grazie, ma mi piacerebbe

Here is a link to the Spanish (original) version of Ender’s Olvidado guide.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LVtQW64pGcbM_2R5R4IhatggNSnxuDoC/view?usp=sharing

There are a few updates that haven’t made it into the English version — some new albergues, some new telephone numbers. And some changes after Igüeña. Guess the English-language translator has fallen asleep at the wheel.

 

[VNwalking]

Or is super busy.
Thanks for the clarification and link, Laurie. I assumes these were one and the same guides.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Hola (or G'Day), Laurie - thanks for the link. Is the guide only available as a "download"/ soft copy or is there a printed version?? I would prefer a printed one. Alternatively can we make a donation for downloading the soft copy??

Regards
Mike

Here is a link to the English version of the Olvidado guide. Sorry for the delay, but I was walking when I should have been cleaning up some of the language. But since I was walking the Olvidado, all was forgiven.

I hope more forum members will strike out and soak up the beauty here.

There are some stretches where the municipalities have still not actually installed the Olvidado mojones (which are kind of a rusty metal with “camino olvidado” cut out), so there are places where a GPS, IMO is still essential. At least if you have my cartographic skills rather than VN’s!

As always, updates and suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

Guía del Camino Olvidado ingles.pdf

drive.google.com

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Sitkapilgrim]

Hola (or G'Day), Laurie - thanks for the link. Is the guide only available as a "download"/ soft copy or is there a printed version?? I would prefer a printed one. Alternatively can we make a donation for downloading the soft copy??

Regards
Mike

This is mostly a Laurie question, but maybe others know the answer. I am confused. If this link is to the original Ender's guide, is there a different link to the updated April 2022 Ender's guide in Spanish? I start early next week from Bilbao, and currently am feeling overwhelmed by the immense but scattered great information on the Olvidado. Of course, I know it will sort itself out, day by day....
Also - does the Olvidado app (the orange colored one with the shell on the left and the words camino olvidado on the right) function as a GPS gizmo so that the blue dot of where I am will show my location relative to the camino path, or do I need to use my wikilocs app as well. I'm afraid this is my perpetual question showing my relative ignorance of GPS stuff.

 

[peregrina2000]

I’ve just confirmed with Ender that the link to the guide in Spanish is the latest version. He edits the document and the link stays the same. Here are the newest Albergues that do not appear in the English guide but are there in Spanish.

1. Quintanilla has an albergue run by Rafa
2. The amigos have an Albergue in Taranco
3. If you want to stop in Riello, Laura will come pick you up and take you to her casa rural, La Magia de las Nubes, a few kilometers away. Laura was the hospitalera in Mansilla de las mulas for many years.
4. A municipal albergue in Noceda.

As far as the GPS question goes, I have enough problems with technology to know that I am always better off to work with what I know. And wikiloc is what I know. Ender has put the trails on Wikiloc, so if you are comfortable using it, that’s what I would do. I don’t really know how the Olvidado app works. I used it for the information, and then I used wikiloc for the GPS.

Buen camino, @Sitkapilgrim!

 

[BrettP]

Thank you so much for the link to that guide. I've just arrived in Aguilar de Campoo by bus from Burgos, and intending to head west on the Olvidado as soon as the rain stops tomorrow morning. The accommodation options are greatly appreciated, since they don't seem to appear anywhere else. I'm hoping to go as far as La Robla before turning north on the San Salvador, and am wondering if there's anyone else on this part of the route at the moment?

Regards, Brett