Walking out of Leon

[Thomas1962]

Last september I did walk the Salvador. Just after the start I ended up walking on the shoulder of a nasty busy road for about 2 kms, not so nice. Only when I was at my first coffee in the next village (Carbajal de la Legua) I wondered if I could have taken another route away from this busy road. On google maps it does look possible.
Did anyone experience the same & does anyone know if it is possible to walk another way?

It started to be a good habbit to make maps on these salvador topics, so I did my best too
At the bottom of the picture there are the last houses of Leon, just north of the map there is Carbajal.

The bleu line is the official signed camino route I took, the yellow is the one which I think is possible to take, based on what I see on googlemaps. The straight bleu line up on the left is the past along the busy road.



Here is the busy nasty road where you need to walk along for 2 km's:



And here is the sign to take a right at the point where the blue and the yellow lines divert. You can see the arrows on the lightpole on the left. The route goes here to the busy road, but I think it would be possible to walk straight ahead. Knowing that busy road, the one in front looks very tempting.


So, does anyone know why the route is going right here and if it is possible to go straight ahead anyway to avoid the busy road?

 

[Susannafromsweden]

Ahh this is great Thomas. What a fantastic thread start. Beautiful.

Indeed I noticed the yellow option. It felt kinda stupid to walk on the road when there was a nice, soft path down there.
I could see people jogging on that path. Looked much more fun.

 

[Canuck]

Either way is well marked.
You had a choice before the roundabout, straight ahead or to the right(notice the two arrows pointing the different ways).
Cheers,
Jean-Marc

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I asked about that. A neighbor told me the path along the bottom land is often flooded and muddy.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Thomas,

You must be a mind-reader. Ender told me not too long ago that he has plans to investigate whether he can get pilgrims off the side of the road on the way out of Leon. I think he mentioned a path along the river but I'm a little fuzzy on that.
This seems to be what he was talking about!

On that pole, the arrows point in both directions -- is it possible this way is already marked?

 

[Anniesantiago]

There are often alternative routes to the Camino, which has sometimes been "rerouted" for one reason or another. It's fun to explore, as long as one is respectful and cautious.

 

[Susannafromsweden]

Hi, Thomas,

You must be a mind-reader. Ender told me not too long ago that he has plans to investigate whether he can get pilgrims off the side of the road on the way out of Leon. I think he mentioned a path along the river but I'm a little fuzzy on that.
This seems to be what he was talking about!

On that pole, the arrows point in both directions -- is it possible this way is already marked?

Maybe you can ask him?
If one walks it in google maps, there are arrows on the poles until the end of the asphalt road. But after that you can't see anything (no street view). And, looking at google maps, I'm not sure where one ends up. If you look close at the map, it seems like Thomas yellow road goes through an area where work and building things are going on.

 

[Thomas1962]

Thanks for all your repley's! We do solve the last secret of the Salvador now ?

Either way is well marked.
You had a choice before the roundabout, straight ahead or to the right(notice the two arrows pointing the different ways).
Cheers,
Jean-Marc

Indeed, it looked like that on this lightpole, I was confused at that moment. When I was at the roundabout I didn't see i sign straight on, but there was a very clear sign to the right, so I went right.

I asked about that. A neighbor told me the path along the bottom land is often flooded and muddy.

As far as I can see there is a path really down at the river, but also one more up. The one up doesn't seem that muddy. Can that be true?

Hi, Thomas,
You must be a mind-reader. Ender told me not too long ago that he has plans to investigate whether he can get pilgrims off the side of the road on the way out of Leon. I think he mentioned a path along the river but I'm a little fuzzy on that.
This seems to be what he was talking about!

On that pole, the arrows point in both directions -- is it possible this way is already marked?

Hmm, I might have discovered a new skill Hope Ender will be able to change the signs.
Maybe there is a path straight ahead, I find it quit difficult what direction to take when I'm don't know any information what to choose. If it is the case, I really hope the right turn will be crossed

... And, looking at google maps, I'm not sure where one ends up. If you look close at the map, it seems like Thomas yellow road goes through an area where work and building things are going on.

As far as I remember all the buildings there were half built, it stopped when the crisis started. So no works soon...

 

[Rebekah Scott]

We are off to Leon tomorrow, if there is time I will run up there and have a look-see.

 

[StuartM]

The Spanish road map I am looking at at the minute shows Camino paths as a sort of Roman road paving type pattern. It shows the route running up the river all the way to Cabanillas.

I wondered the same thing in August. The guides said the Camino followed the Rio Bernesga out of Leon so when it turned off sharp to the right I was really confused. I had to stop and check the map to make sure I hadn't made a mistake. It was indeed a long, boring slog and I was wishing I had taken the guide advice of getting the bus. I walked it on a Sunday and it was actually very quiet, almost a bit creepy. I passed all the construction sites and empty apartment blocks, the roads were dead, all a bit weird. I guess weekdays are a lot different.

And the Salvador investigations are not dead! Yay!

 

[Thomas1962]

We are off to Leon tomorrow, if there is time I will run up there and have a look-see.

Wow! What a luxery. Feels like we all do have a journalist who is going to investigate at the spot. I'm curious what will be the result, hope you find some time.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Yes, we went over there today.

You CAN take the straight-ahead path. The road forks, and faded yellow arrows guide you to the right , right up to where the new half-baked Luxury Villas development starts. You can hook left and follow the sidewalk around behind the entire spooky development, it is a much more pleasant walk than staying along the road (although I really did not feel the road was so bad...that stretch is not overly long, IMHO).

The aerial map above shows the path leaving the sidewalk and going down nearer to the river, but from what I could see, this area is heavily fenced-off and the land beyond drops off steeply. There could be breaks in the fence or other ways to access it, but I did not see any markings or openings. Once you get to the end of the Spooky Development you may be better off just regaining the road (only a short block by then), it saves you a number of steps into Carbajal and puts you in easy reach of the pharmacy and a nice bar/restaurant on the left.

Thomas, matter of fact I was a journalist for a good long time. It usually wasn´t this much fun.

 

[Thomas1962]

Thanks a lot Rebekah! How nice to get feedback about something I thought which might be possible.
The yellow line I made was just something I draw from the map, as an example of how the path could go. In reallity in must be different, like you experienced with fences and steep drop offs.

Laurie, as you are in contact with Ender, can you pass this information to him? As it seems like he is nearly the founding father of the present camino, it is for him off course to decide what's best.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

well, Thomas... with all due respect for Ender and all the fine work he has done, there have been waymarkers and volunteers at work all along the Salvador for at least 14 years that I know of.

 

[Thomas1962]

Sorry Rebekah, good point. That's indeed not fair to all these volunteers. Because of recent discussions here I focused too much on Ender's work.
Thanks to all the people who are working for the camino.