Planning.

[Ribeirasacra]

Tonight when going to one of our suppliers of wine near Diomondi. Drove past a woman who was obviously a pilgrim. We were travelling in the opposite direction to her.
After a while we started out the return journey to the house. The pilgrim had not walked far. During a quick conversation with her she confirmed she was heading towards Chantada for the night. However, the poor pilgrim still had not reached the church at Diomondi/ top of the Codos de Belesar. It was around 17:50 and it gets dark at around this time officially although it could be light a bit longer. There would not be light enough to carry on after Belesar.
She had damaged her leg and here progress was slow.
with these factors the only thing for us to do was to give her a lift to Chantada.
she is now safety tucked up either in Mogay or at a bar eating.
She told us that the Albergue in Quiroga was all for herself. She had not seen any other pilgrims. The weather was not very bad, only rain on Monday. The section between Monforte de Lemos and Chantada is long, with no facilities.
Moral is plan carefully and remember that daylight hours are much shorter at this time of year.

 

[alaskadiver]

Tonight when going to one of our suppliers of wine near Diomondi. Drove past a woman who was obviously a pilgrim. We were travelling in the opposite direction to her.
After a while we started out the return journey to the house. The pilgrim had not walked far. During a quick conversation with her she confirmed she was heading towards Chantada for the night. However, the poor pilgrim still had not reached the church at Diomondi/ top of the Codos de Belesar. It was around 17:50 and it gets dark at around this time officially although it could be light a bit longer. There would not be light enough to carry on after Belesar.
She had damaged her leg and here progress was slow.
with these factors the only thing for us to do was to give her a lift to Chantada.
she is now safety tucked up either in Mogay or at a bar eating.
She told us that the Albergue in Quiroga was all for herself. She had not seen any other pilgrims. The weather was not very bad, only rain on Monday. The section between Monforte de Lemos and Chantada is long, with no facilities.
Moral is plan carefully and remember that daylight hours are much shorter at this time of year.

That’s the reason I’m breaking up that stage into 2 days.
That was kind of you to help her.

 

[The Little Flower]

Couple of days ago I met theee strapping SPaniarrds who’d abounded de Inverino because they’d difficulty finding any facilities open, Albergues/bars. I found it interesting as I’d just come through Asturias on the Primitivo camino and found to my delight Albergues open. And in two weeks only had a couple of other peregrines but this was my choice and why I’d chosen this time of year/route

 

[t2andreo]

Having taken on the Invierno on a 10-day route plan, I advise that less than 12-days is not a good idea, at least IMHO. In fact, recently, another forum member did it in 16-days.

Remember, it is not the map reference distances between two places. Consider the daily up and down motion that adds significantly to both the actual distance walked and the effort involved. A daily walk of 25 km on the Meseta is a far cry from the same 25 km on the Invierno.

The next time I think of doing it, I plan to take a minimum of 12-days and likely 14 - 16 days...

Hope this helps.

 

[MikeJS]

It rather depends on the individual - I walked the Invierno in 8 days, however, I had walked from Alicante on the Sureste so was camino fit!
P.S. That is carrying 64 years and a hip replacement…….

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Consider the daily up and down motion that adds significantly to both the actual distance walked and the effort involved.

The length of a 20% slope is only 2% longer than the length of the horizontal distance. Effort; that's something more than 2% I would say.

 

[t2andreo]

Mathematically, you are likely correct. However, 'tweedle dee' and 'tweedle dum,' my lungs, beg to differ. Each time I have done this, they threaten to make an appearance via he oral route...

Don't forget to factor in the added effort of lifting the rucksack weight every time you take a step on a upward incline. It DOES add up. Imagine you have your rucksack on, and you are on a powered treadmill. Set the treadmill at about 1 10 percent incline and a 2.5 to 3 mile per hour pace and try to walk 5 miles / 8 km...

I think you will soon see my point...or YOUR lungs... the end, I submit it is about felt effort and strain, NOT just distance. This slope/felt effort paradigm applies to any vertical(ish) route.

I am not being argumentative. What I am saying is that after doing the Camino Frances from SJPdP personally twice, my wife (after seeing the road down into SJPdP from Orisson from a car as a tourist this past August) made be SWEAR to her that I would NEVER do it again.

Me being 65 she is afraid that I will have a heart attack from the effort. I note in passing that I have no CV conditions or symptoms, risk factors, other than carrying too much weight.

However, being married 40 years this coming March, I have learned which fights to pick. This ain't one of them. So, the next time I do this, I will taxi from SJPdP to the stone cross at the 10 km point, where the route hands a right towards the frontier with Spain.

 

[Richmond Gardner]

You are wise not to argue this point....of course, you could take another path (Valcarlos) or a 1k cab ride so you could truthfully say that you only walked part of the way.
Just keep that climb up to O Cebreiro a secret

 

[t2andreo]

I do ...every time...

 

[Ribeirasacra]

That’s the reason I’m breaking up that stage into 2 days.
That was kind of you to help her.

It is kind to do a lot of things. She was obviously not going to make Chantada for many hours.

 

[Ribeirasacra]

The story goes on. In the car all 3 of us had a good natter. We even stopped to look at the church at Diomondi from the main LU533 road in the Miño valley.
The conversation was everywhere. But the young woman did say she was meeting her mother and was afraid that she would not find anywhere to sleep in Rodeiro. she had not reserved and these past days area public holiday in Spain. Accommodation does get reserved quickly. At the same time she talked about her mother meeting her and had reserved a room for the next night.
The day after we was expecting a new guests. A woman turned up and was talking about her daughter walking the Camino. Yes it was the same young woman. The pilgrim did not not where she would be for this part of the Camino. But mother having a car it did not matter where she was going to sleep as transport could bring her to and from the start/finish points.
It turns out that the pilgrim took a taxi back to Diomondi and she walked the Miño section.
She walked to Rodeiro form Chantada. Again another very long day.
Here is the front cover of the book she was using.