New albergue to open between La Peza and Quéntar

[Deleted member 73526]

The Almeria association has started work to renovate a building in Tocón de Quéntar

https://www.facebook.com/CaminoMozarabeDesantiagodealmeriagranada/posts/2056242834459992

When it opens, this will be the eighth donativo albergue managed by the association on the route from Almeria to Granada. The stage from La Peza to Quéntar takes pilgrims through some beautiful scenery. But it's a bit challenging - climbing from 1,000m to 1,400m and back to 900m over a distance of 27km with no towns or villages on the route. Soon pilgrims will have an option to divide the stage into roughly equal parts.

When the work is completed, the new albergue will be added to the guide (which is updated monthly):

Camino Mozarabe De Santiago De Almeria a Granada

Camino Mozarabe De Santiago De Almeria a Granada, Almería. 3,001 likes · 457 talking about this · 98 were here. Asociación Jacobea de Almeria-Granada Camino Mozárabe. Todo lo concerniente al camino...

www.facebook.com

 

[peregrina2000]

What an amazing group. We had lunch in Alboloduy with the man in the blue sweatshirt. He had just finished a morning of work on the albergue in Alboloduy. In his "real life" he is a police officer in the Almeria port (I think I'm remembering correctly). He doesn't go to all the meet and greet events in Almeria, he isn't one of those who are always just a whatsApp away if you have a question, but he is always behind the scenes doing the construction work. I see that the Alboloduy albergue is now open! I remember Veronica telling me he has done all the heavy lifting for almost all of their albergues.

 

[amancio]

Buen trabajo, paisanos! That area is particularly beautiful, I was around in November and the colours were something else. I hope your Granada colleagues start learning your way of working.

 

[Deleted member 73526]

We had lunch in Alboloduy with the man in the blue sweatshirt.

I think his name is Pepe.
I agree that it's an amazing association with volunteers who play their part in different ways - Renovation of albergues, meeting and greeting pilgrims, daily follow up to ensure that everyone on the way is doing OK, route marking, negotiating pilgrim rates at private hostals, organizing weekend walks with locals, and cleaning the albergues. I am in awe of their energy.

 

[p_mci]

Great news! Thanks for sharing

 

[pelerine]

Great news! Thanks for sharing

Yes, thank you. And Mercedes of the Asociación is just helping me with me with my planning. I expect to pass through there on May 5. The new albergue in Tocón will not yet be open by then. Or will it?

 

[peregrina2000]

Yes, thank you. And Mercedes of the Asociación is just helping me with me with my planning. I expect to pass through there on May 5. The new albergue in Tocón will not yet be open by then. Or will it?

Given the state that Albodoluy was in last April, and the fact that it is now done and they are on to the next challenge, I woud not be surprised. But Mercedes will surely know. @pelerine, will you let us know if you find out?

 

[Magwood]

Given the state that Albodoluy was in last April, and the fact that it is now done and they are on to the next challenge, I woud not be surprised. But Mercedes will surely know. @pelerine, will you let us know if you find out?

Laurie, was it not the albergue in Alboloduy at the top of the hill, below the church? It all seemed in very good order last year.

 

[pelerine]

Given the state that Albodoluy was in last April, and the fact that it is now done and they are on to the next challenge, I woud not be surprised. But Mercedes will surely know. @pelerine, will you let us know if you find out?

Will do!

 

[peregrina2000]

Laurie, was it not the albergue in Alboloduy at the top of the hill, below the church? It all seemed in very good order last year.

No, that is a casa rural owned and rented by a young couple, she German he Spanish, We had no problem there, but some had reported rather rude treatment by the woman. I think the idea is that it’s important to have all albergues there to build the pilgrim traffic, and then the casas rurales will benefit too. Those amigos in Almería are really a force of nature. And think how much we have benefitted!

 

[Deleted member 73526]

The new albergue in Tocón will not yet be open by then. Or will it?

The Albergue at Tocon de Quentar is now open to pilgrims!

https://www.facebook.com/CaminoMozarabeComarcaDeGuadix/posts/2094969610794609

As you can see in the Facebook post above, you now have a choice to divert from the main Camino path to the village of Tocon - roughly half way between La Peza and Quentar. This is good news for people who were intimidated by the idea of walking 27.3 km with no villages on the way.

This puts the Camino within the comfort zone of more people. On the Camino from Almeria to Granada (200km), I believe that the longest distance between accommodations is now 24km (Alquife to Guadix). That stage is mostly a descent to Guadix with the possibility to stop for food and drink at the friendly bar in Collogos de Guadix.

 

[apoivre]

I just passed it the other day and had a quick look around the place. I pressed on to Quéntar but my walking companions were the first to stay there. The place is really nice but the signage is a bit confusing, I must say.

There’s a huge sign just past the Los Blancares pass where the path splits. Then you can follow the yellow arrows through a pine grove until you see a path with wooden railings running parallel to the road.

Shortly the path and the road part ways (there’s a ravine between the two). And here, if you look down, there’s a yellow arrow and the word “Camino” pointing back to the road. You feel silly a bit, having just followed all those arrows for maybe 300 meters just to come back to the road. But if you follow the road down all the way to Tocón, you’ll start seeing yellow arrows pointing in the opposite direction. Until you realize you should have ignored that last sign and stayed on the path with the wooden railings which eventually comes back to the village.

All in all the walk from La Peza to Quéntar via Tocón was 28,9 km.

 

[Deleted member 73526]

That does sound like it could be improved. Trying to work out what's going on - Is the word "Camino" actually pointing you back onto the route to Quentar? Perhaps it requires some additional text? Perhaps you could send a suggestion to the Camino Association? Or post a suggestion here and I'll alert them to it.

 

[apoivre]

Actually there was someone from the Association working on “improving signage” on the day I passed through. I meant to talk to him but he was gone by the time I got there.

Both routes eventually lead to Tocón (and I could have easily missed that sign and stayed on the path). So it’s no big deal, really

 

[apoivre]

That does sound like it could be improved. Trying to work out what's going on - Is the word "Camino" actually pointing you back onto the route to Quentar? Perhaps it requires some additional text?

Sorry it took me so long to answer.

1/ There's a nice big sign at the Blancares de la Rambla pass where the two paths split, complete with a topo map showing the two paths (straight to Quéntar and via Tocón).


2/ To go to Tocón, one should leave the road and take a nice walking path with wooden railings to the left.

3/ After some 300 m there's a (very incospicous) yellow arrow on the ground that reads 'Camino', pointing back to the road. If I didn't look down I would have missed it and stayed on the path.

4/The road is a very quiet one and it takes you to Tocón eventually. So no big deal, really. But some walkers might get confused as it has no arrows at first. And then there are arrows pointing back, as this is actually the road you take to walk OUT of Tocón.

Now where things could get exciting is if someone didn't have a smartphone with a map or didn't snap the picture of the map at the big sign back at the pass. Then they might get confused at seeing the arrows pointing back - and maybe even might have followed them back and go straight to Quéntar, thus missing the restaurant in Tocón and the albergue.

I made a crude route from my track showing where I took the wrong turn and adding some more pointers and photos. If you use Google Satellite as the background map, you can actually see the path from the wrong turn I took that leads straight to Tocón. Probably beats the road in terms of views, too, as it's higher.

La Peza to Quéntar

Via Tocón de Quéntar

my.viewranger.com

If anyone needs it, this can be downloaded and followed in your navigation app of choice.

Hope it helps

 

[AlanSykes]

I'm staying in the new albergue tonight. It's great. Three bedrooms, two with two bunks and one with one, an excellent kitchen, a washing machine and a full length bath, yum. Also a very nice sitting room and views from the bedrooms across the Sierra Nevada. I'm the 89th person to stay here this year. The Pastor bar, one hundred yards away, does decent food and is open 8am-whenever the last person leaves, seven days a week. Very necessary as no shop in the village (I brought some delicious bread this morning at the Júlian bakery near the albergue in La Peza, open from 7am).

As apoivre suggested, I ignored the "(very inconspicuous) yellow arrow..." and just carried on along the path with the railings, which brought me straight to the village, about a km shorter than going back onto the road.

One nice touch on the route amused me. Just after the place where the Tócon and Quéntar routes split is a franquiste war memorial on which somebody has neatly painted three republican flags.

 

[C clearly]

So you have passed the talc (?) quarry? That was spooky but I was mesmerized by it!

 

[pelerine]

So were we, my daughters and myself, when we passed through there in May....

I am trying to follow the amazing meanderings, if that is the word, of your walks this year. Pas facil pour moi, as you surface only occasionally on this forum....

 

[Deleted member 73526]

Very happy to read your glowing review of the new Albergue, @alansykes.
Are you continuing on the Mozarabe after Granada? I noticed that there is no longer an albergue listed in Pinos Puente ... Do you think you could inquire as to what has happened to it? It was a rather basic "refuge" but very welcome on the less well-appointed stretch of Camino between Granada and Cordoba. (The pilgrim facilities after Cordoba are more frequent and of a high standard).

 

[AlanSykes]

So you have passed the talc (?) quarry? That was spooky but I was mesmerized by it!

@C clearly think that's between Tocón and Quéntar, unless it's on the short section that I'll miss between Blancares and getting back onto the main La Peza-Quéntar route.

I am trying to follow the amazing meanderings, if that is the word, of your walks this year. Pas facil pour moi, ..

@pelerine vous pouvez voir mes anabases sur le site-web "Find Penguins", où j'essais de metre des photos de mon trajet chaque jour

Are you continuing on the Mozarabe after Granada? I noticed that there is no longer an albergue listed in Pinos Puente

@Raggy I'm stopping at Granada this time, sadly, but I bumped into somebody who lives in Pinos Puente and she said there is still an albergue but it's very dirty and in a dodgy part of town and I'd be better off staying in the hostal.

The Almería amigos are just amazing. Since last time the keys of their albergues are all now in little boxes by the door, and they send you the number-code each morning by WhatsApp. Alboloduy's new albergue is also great, above the medical centre in the middle of town, much better than the private one up the hill, and I also slept in Abla's for the first time.

 

[pelerine]

Ah! Je pense j’ai vu “Find Peguins” quelque part parmi mes mails. Probablement je l’ai supprime comme spam puisque je ne le connaissais pas. Merci!
Bonne continuation!

 

[pelerine]

The Find Penguins which appeared among my mails was a Photo book ad. Have gone to your Find Penguins website, but cannot get in. Will try again later.

As to communicating in French, my computer is English ( querty) and doesn’t do French accents nor German Umlauts nor Spanish thingies when on/in the internet - in mails or Word no problem. So the lack of accents in the right places irritates me. How do you manage to put them? Unless you work with azerty?