Andorinha
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Tomar to Sant (2019) (2024) Tui to Sant (SV)
https://sound-and-bites.home.blog/
About 5K before O Porrino on the Portuguese Camino you will come across two official camino pillars. One points left to a path that leads slightly downhill, and another leads straight slightly uphill which appears to be a town. You will approach it and just try and figure out which way to go.
Here are your two fates. If you take a left and walk slightly downhill you will enter the forest and a river path that you can follow - it will be in the same spirit as the beautiful paths with roman bridges that you followed earlier in the day. If you walk straight and slightly uphill thinking that option will lead to more nature, you are wrong apparently! I was informed at my albergue-mate that evening, that that way leads into town and to a 5K "concrete and road walking in an industrial area" trek -- and he did not seem happy about it. If you need provisions, then you might go into town and then backtrack to the trail that leads into the forest and river.
I think these double official camino markers are there due to the tensions that can arise between town and camino path makers - I am sure bypassing camino walkers off the town path is not supporting their businesses and they found a way to perhaps compromise and create official pillars with two arrows. I am not sure why he choose that path, but maybe he was not using a guidebook or maybe he just needed some coffee and walked that way not knowing how industrial his path would become. The book I was using, the village to village by Landis, Harms and Dintaman guide did have a little information that there were two paths that they noted on their elevation map, but I did not see anything in that book clearly explaining the consequences.
I must make a short statement about the various guide books. The orange one many European camino walkers used was followed very strictly from my observations - even to the extent of pushing stages past many people's comfort levels. For example, at the end of my camino in Santiago at dinner with some lovely women from Germany, they noted that their orange book was borrowed from a friend and that on the page with instructions for walking from Porto to Vila do Condo there was a sad frowny face next to that stage. They said after they walked that long stage they felt they understood that emoji exactly.
When I met the author of the orange book at the campground in LaBruge (as I talk about in my blog) he seemed really interested in my village to village book and asked to see it. He immediately remarked about how lightweight it was and he seemed impressed by that, but I was not able to engage with him much about his own book, and frankly the women who I walked into the late dark night with along the beach that previous night was in fact late because she followed his book exactly, even the extent of eating a fish he recommended along the way (she did say it was a very delicious fish) and many people find the orange book their perfect companion - it is only currently printed in the German language.
My village to village book I can recommend for anyone who wants just the minimal path information, some elevations maps, and some recommendations for places to stay. I did think to myself a few times that maybe the guides of my book had not walked a section, or just had space issues in their short book. For example, at the start of one day the map clearly points out more risky road crossings and narrow paths, but later in the day there were even more and worse issues to contend with with no mention of those at all. I am 80% sure I was just tired and grumpy, but I was also pretty sure there were earlier mentions and not later in the day mentons for safety lookouts. Once, I was walking with E. early on in Portugal and she noticed her book (I am not sure which book she has used) had some places to stay that in fact were closed down already for a full year. Therefore, the forum list of current albergues is much more useful in my mind that a printed book, but mine did work for a night to stay most nights. But, I just "followed the arrows" and always ended up where I ended up - and that worked fine for me.
About 5K before O Porrino on the Portuguese Camino you will come across two official camino pillars. One points left to a path that leads slightly downhill, and another leads straight slightly uphill which appears to be a town. You will approach it and just try and figure out which way to go.
Here are your two fates. If you take a left and walk slightly downhill you will enter the forest and a river path that you can follow - it will be in the same spirit as the beautiful paths with roman bridges that you followed earlier in the day. If you walk straight and slightly uphill thinking that option will lead to more nature, you are wrong apparently! I was informed at my albergue-mate that evening, that that way leads into town and to a 5K "concrete and road walking in an industrial area" trek -- and he did not seem happy about it. If you need provisions, then you might go into town and then backtrack to the trail that leads into the forest and river.
I think these double official camino markers are there due to the tensions that can arise between town and camino path makers - I am sure bypassing camino walkers off the town path is not supporting their businesses and they found a way to perhaps compromise and create official pillars with two arrows. I am not sure why he choose that path, but maybe he was not using a guidebook or maybe he just needed some coffee and walked that way not knowing how industrial his path would become. The book I was using, the village to village by Landis, Harms and Dintaman guide did have a little information that there were two paths that they noted on their elevation map, but I did not see anything in that book clearly explaining the consequences.
I must make a short statement about the various guide books. The orange one many European camino walkers used was followed very strictly from my observations - even to the extent of pushing stages past many people's comfort levels. For example, at the end of my camino in Santiago at dinner with some lovely women from Germany, they noted that their orange book was borrowed from a friend and that on the page with instructions for walking from Porto to Vila do Condo there was a sad frowny face next to that stage. They said after they walked that long stage they felt they understood that emoji exactly.
When I met the author of the orange book at the campground in LaBruge (as I talk about in my blog) he seemed really interested in my village to village book and asked to see it. He immediately remarked about how lightweight it was and he seemed impressed by that, but I was not able to engage with him much about his own book, and frankly the women who I walked into the late dark night with along the beach that previous night was in fact late because she followed his book exactly, even the extent of eating a fish he recommended along the way (she did say it was a very delicious fish) and many people find the orange book their perfect companion - it is only currently printed in the German language.
My village to village book I can recommend for anyone who wants just the minimal path information, some elevations maps, and some recommendations for places to stay. I did think to myself a few times that maybe the guides of my book had not walked a section, or just had space issues in their short book. For example, at the start of one day the map clearly points out more risky road crossings and narrow paths, but later in the day there were even more and worse issues to contend with with no mention of those at all. I am 80% sure I was just tired and grumpy, but I was also pretty sure there were earlier mentions and not later in the day mentons for safety lookouts. Once, I was walking with E. early on in Portugal and she noticed her book (I am not sure which book she has used) had some places to stay that in fact were closed down already for a full year. Therefore, the forum list of current albergues is much more useful in my mind that a printed book, but mine did work for a night to stay most nights. But, I just "followed the arrows" and always ended up where I ended up - and that worked fine for me.
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