The "false camino" from Llanca or Port de la Selva

[peregrina2000]

I am planning to start walking this year north of Barcelona, close to the French border, probably in Llanca because I can get there by train and I found a 24 euro pensión, the Hostal Llanca. From there it´s about 9 days to Montserrat, where I will meet up with LTfit and we will walk the variant of the Camí Catalá that goes through Huesca and San Juan de la Peña.

I have pretty much given up on the Spanish forum that I used to participate on, but I went over this weekend to see about asking for help on some of the stages before Montserrat. I saw several kind of long diatribes about how this is a fake camino, an invention of the Catalán government, the Generalitat, etc etc. So I guess I won´t ask for help there.

I have pretty much decided, against my preferences, that I will be taking the GPS, primarily for this first stage. So I probably will be fine. I´ve gotten some great help from sulu and eze, but if there is anyone else out there with tips about this section, I´d very much appreciate them! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[nellpilgrim]

Have a good journey!

 

[Canuck]

I don't know your preferences, but personaly I would go:
GR92 Llança - Canet de Mar and
GR5 Canet de Mar - Montserrat
Have a safe trip.
Jean-Marc
P-S. I'm leaving in two hours for 5 weeks on the Camino Mozarabe, Camino Sur and Camino Teresiano (Avila-Salamanca).

 

[KinkyOne]

I don't know your preferences, but personaly I would go:
GR92 Llança - Canet de Mar and
GR5 Canet de Mar - Montserrat
Have a safe trip.
Jean-Marc
P-S. I'm leaving in two hours for 5 weeks on the Camino Mozarabe, Camino Sur and Camino Teresiano (Avila-Salamanca).

Sorry, Laurie, I'll allow myself just a short off-topic

Thanks Canuck for this info. I didn't now for Camino Teresiano and was looking for a traverse Camino for some time now. I would continue on Camino Torres from Salamanca and connect with Portugues. Should be a GEM!

Ultreia! For you and Laurie+LTfit!!!

 

[peregrina2000]

I don't know your preferences, but personaly I would go:
GR92 Llança - Canet de Mar and
GR5 Canet de Mar - Montserrat
Have a safe trip.
Jean-Marc
P-S. I'm leaving in two hours for 5 weeks on the Camino Mozarabe, Camino Sur and Camino Teresiano (Avila-Salamanca).

Thanks for this info, Canuck. I am one of those few odd ducks for whom walking along the coast is not a huge attraction. Don´t get me wrong, I loved the Norte and gasped frequently at the views, but the "camino falso" takes me to some places with amazing Romanesque and that is something I can´t resist (Girona, Vic, Sant Pere de Casseres, Santa Maria de l'Estany, etc.).

But I would be very interested in hearing all about your walk that is about to begin! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[LTfit]

IMHO there is no such thing as a "false" Camino. I heard the same thing when I walked the Levante, that it is an invention of the Amigos. So be it.

I am going to join Kinky and go off-topic: @Canuck have a wonder camino! Sounds like an interesting combo (not sure how you are going to combine them all!). I saw the signs for the Teresa route leaving Ávila, following the Levante for a stage or two. In Gotarrendura I met 3 Spanish men doing that route but they plodded on to the next town and didn't stay in the albergue. Curious, which part of the Mozárabe will you be doing? Hope you report back to us.

And while on the "false" camino topic here is what I read about the Camino Sur: "A newish route, created by the Asociación de Amigos del Camino de Santiago de Huelva, which starts in Huelva and goes north-east to Zafra where it joins the Vía de la Plata from Sevilla." source http://www.csj.org.uk/camino-sur-huelva-zafra/

 

[peregrina2000]

I have gotten a lot of information from my contact in Girona at the Amigos Association. I knew there was a dispute between the Generalitat, which has marked the "fake route" I'm planning to walk, and the Camino folks.

According to my contact in the Camino Association in Girona, the historical route to Girona starts in Coll de Banyuls in France. From there it goes to the Monastery of Sant Quirze de Colera (French border) and proceeds from there to the Monastery de Sant Pere de Rodes. That is essentially the route I am going to be doing, but I will be starting about a day's walk beyond the starting point. If I had more time, now that I know this, I would make it a point to get up to the monastery of Sant Quirze, but I don't, so I will join up with that route at the Monastery of Sant Pere.

On leaving Girona is where the real diversion starts. The "false camino" goes back up to Vic, and then through Manresa to Montserrat. The historical camino goes from Girona to Fornells de la Selva, Riudellots, Mallorquines, Sant Celoni, Granolleres, Sabadell, Terrasa, Montserrat. This is called the Via Augusta.

There is also an historical Camino to Vic. This is the route that I think Eze started. It goes from the French border to Coll d'Ares, Molló, Camprodón, Ripoll, Roda de Ter, Vic.

So it looks to me that to be historical, you have a choice of going either to Girona or Vic. What the Generalitat has done has been to patch together a new route that zigs around a bit, and takes a weird detour leading north of Girona to get to Vic so that it can go through both of them.

So, now I have a few doubts about whether to change my post-Girona route. I could try to walk the historical route to Montserrat from Girona, on google maps it is only 132 kms, which I should be able to do in the 6 days I have between leaving Girona and meeting up with LTfit in Montserrat (and Lee, I see that the historical route seems to join with one of the routes from Barcelona, since Terrassa is mentioned as being on the route from Girona and on Gronze from Barcelona).

But I have also learned that there is no guide on the route from Girona to Montserrat on the Via Augusta, so that leads me to think I should stick with my fake route. The other attraction is the amount of romanesque between Girona and Montserrat on the fake route. I count at least three monasteries, maybe more.

As you can see, I am sort of debating with myself on this thread, if anyone has insights, they would be much appreciated.

Buen camino, Laurie