Guide Revisions -- Confusion about place names

[peregrina2000]

I have finally, I think, with some help in the past from pelegrin and others, figured out the Galician way of naming places. What I am wondering is whether you think this kind of info is helpful or just adds to the confusion.

All territory in Galicia is within the borders of a Concello. Monforte de Lemos is a Concello, for instance. My impression is that Concellos have a city or town as their seat, but I could be wrong about that! Each concello is divided up into parroquias, and Moreda is one of those parroquias, within the concello of Monforte de Lemos. And then we get to the real micro level in which we have place names of hamlets or even one house.

So when the guide says -- (p.30) "The path continues on to Moreda and passes through A Lagoa, Campos, Reguiero, and Pacios on the way -- that's not exactly correct. Moreda, I learned, is a parroquia in Monforte de Lemos whose borders encompass all of those little hamlets mentioned above. In fact, you stay in the parroquia of Moreda all the way to the end of the Concello of Monforte de Lemos. Then you enter a new concello, Pantón.

What I'm struggling with is how to make this less, not more, confusing. It may not matter at all, now that the camino is so well marked, but maybe some want to brush up on their geography. One place where it might be good to mention is was coming into the parroquia of Diomondi. At that point, you are still about 2 km to the actual church, but that sign may throw people off. Then there is also a little hamlet place sign for the church itself.

So, what do people think? Just forget about this, or try to have some little explanation at the beginning, or just point it out when it might matter, like with the parroquia of Diomondi? I realize this is not a major issue, but I am getting down to the home stretch and want to take care of some details. Thanks, everyone.

 

[spursfan]

Quite frankly, I can't see why you should worry about naming such parishes / local government boundaries - unless of course it involves a change of language - just name the individual villages

 

[chinacat]

What I'm struggling with is how to make this less, not more, confusing.

Good luck with that!!

Is Moreda a place, as well as a parroquia?

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I vote to add the information. At the first mention of the place add the extra info; e.g. "you will see a sign pointing you to XYZ (a village/parroquia of the concello of ABC)". Somewhere at the beginning of the guide do the explanation as you did in post #1.

 

[peregrina2000]

Quite frankly, I can't see why you should worry about naming such parishes / local government boundaries - unless of course it involves a change of language - just name the individual villages

The only reason is that you will see signs for all of these places, and it can be confusing if you pay attention. But maybe most people don't.

 

[VNwalking]

Just forget about this, or try to have some little explanation at the beginning, or just point it out when it might matter, like with the parroquia of Diomondi?

A short explanation of what people might see (even with a few photos as examples?) would be interesting and useful, I think. But then I like this stuff.

The only reason is that you will see signs for all of these places, and it can be confusing if you pay attention. But maybe most people don't.

To mitigate that, you could say at the outset that there will be signs for districts, parishes, and towns - and then say that in the guide, the place names you'll mention are the actual town names (with a few exceptions) because these are the ones worth paying attention to.

 

[chinacat]

Details, comments, photos, remarks about bars off-camino are all helpful.
I, for one, would be grateful for anything which confirmed that I was on the right track.
I’ve seen posts telling pilgrims to ‘just follow the arrows’ but I seem to remember that there were several points where VN mentioned that there were choices to be made.

 

[Felipe]

Actually, there is another layer of political entities: Galicia has four provinces (A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra). When you are in Compostela (that is, the capital of the "comunidad autónoma de Galicia" and place of the archbishopric) you are in the A Coruña province. And obviously, A Coruña is also an important city. Yes, it is confusing...
But it should not be so for the pilgrim, Usually, signposts states the name of the town or village; when you are leaving (by the paved road), the signposts repeat the name, with a red diagonal.
I would bypass the issue, unless it be particularly relevant. Or maybe just a note in the introduction, for the geography fans. There is a case for avoiding an info overload, and keeping a guide as simple as possible.

 

[JohnMcM]

Perigrina2000,

I expect you will get a variety of responses to your OP.

It may bring you comfort and piece of mind if I tell you that I have been considering the Camino Invierno for some time now. During my planning I have referred to each version of your guide, including the latest.

I have every confidence that the information you, (and the rest of the guys and gals have put into the current guide), has given me, and I suspect, many others a reference that, in my opinion, does not need the additional information you are considering for the guide to be more than usable. It seems to me more information would be putting an extra layer of icing on a very tasty cake.

I think I recall you saying the guide was being passed on to someone for a "professional?" production. Before that happens, please allow me to congratulate you and your protagonists on a job well done.

Buen (happy-publishing) Camino

 

[KinkyOne]

...or try to have some little explanation at the beginning, or just point it out when it might matter, like with the parroquia of Diomondi? ...

That would be my suggestion. Explanation at the beginning, pointing out where it really matters but otherwise towns, villages and hamlets names are more important as I see it.

 

[Elle Bieling]

That would be my suggestion. Explanation at the beginning, pointing out where it really matters but otherwise towns, villages and hamlets names are more important as I see it.

Agree.

 

[Theatregal]

I agree with posts above re: a simple description at the beginning of the guide about territory structure and then within the body (daily stages) the specific names of towns, villages and hamlets as they are actually signposted, that we walk through that day.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

An alternative would be an appendix with each place listed as to what type and to what it belongs.

 

[C clearly]

I agree with the explanation at the front, and possibly pointing out in the text where it matters. An appendix would be very interesting, but that would be work that not too many people would ever use. And you'd want to be sure to get it right!

 

[Texas Walker]

I had noticed that there are concellos. I figured they were similar to US counties and didn't worry about it. I vote for the general note at the start about place names and jurisdictions.
Thanks for your very informative posts!