I'm considering the option of taking a light weight tent with me. I know this rout is more a challenge but I prefer it over the masses of people on the north and definitely the French rout have. I fell in love inmidiately when I discovered the olvidado.
It is a perfect, magical, beautiful combination.
Forum guide for Invierno, and
Ender’s guide for Olvidado in English are both here on the forum. Really all you need.
The Olvidado has a strong and developing pilgrim infrastructure. There are lots of people along the way and in the associations who are really trying to bring pilgrims to their towns. In the tiny village of Vegarienza, for instance, a retired woman (who moved back to her pueblo to take care of her brother after her retirement) spearheaded the movement to open a small albergue above the doctor’s office. She takes care of it, checks you in, and is a real gem. She has never set foot on a Camino, but sees the potential for her beloved town. Fasgar is another place where the sheer will of the residents has produced a very lovely place to stay. I could go on and on..... By all means, go with the mountain alternatives that Ender’s guide recommends - one through Vegacervera and the other from Guardo to Campamayo to Puente Almuhey. The latter one is a bit long, but there are ways to shorten it by continuing on from Guardo to shorten the subsequent stage.
And if you want to go to Ponferrada, you will have to leave the official Olvidado after Congosto, but there are threads here to alert you to that issue. And there is also a shorter and apparently nicer route that others have suggested and
I posted about.
Ah, and then comes the Invierno. There is just no better pairing of caminos imaginable, IMO.