Portuguese Coastal, Part of the Primitivo, Week in Vigo
WynChar Diary, April 30
Camino walking: As Seixas to Melide, 9.3 miles in 5:41 hours, moving 3:37
Elevation: up 761 feet and down 1243, between 2290 and 1368 feet.
63 flights of stairs up.
Last day of April and our last day on the Camino Primitivo. A fairly long day.
Melide is where the Primitivo merges with the Frances, which is the main one and is, in some sense, THE Camino, that is, the one everyone knows and the most popular one. Most pilgrims merge into the Frances and walk the last 50-odd km to Santiago. We have been to Santiago several times and so tomorrow we take the bus to Vigo to stay for a week.
Frances Freakout: At a bar stop today we talked with a pilgrim who said the Frances is full. He tried to get a reservation for the night every place between Melide and Santiago and everything was full. He said hundreds of pilgrims were lining up at albergues trying to get a bed for the night. We have been reading on the Camino Forum about the crowds and the “bed race” where people get up at 3-4 in the morning in order to get a bed at the end of their days walk. People walking talk of being in long lines of pilgrims.
On the other hand we just finished the Primitivo and there were a fair number of pilgrims but not crowds in any sense and we were usually alone on the trail. Many people don’t know how many different Caminos there are.
Last night we stayed at an albergue in As Seixas, in a small but very nice private room with private bath. There were only two other pilgrims staying there. The woman who runs the place made us a wonderful dinner with the best Gallego soup we have ever had. We ate and chatted with a man from Australia and one from Germany.
We had another cattle incident today, our third, very low key with cattle who mainly wanted to get out to the field and start munching grass.
Today was another very pleasant day with a lot of variety. It was kind of sad to know it was our last day but we are ready to move to our stay in Vigo.
We finally saw some stork nests and storks, three nests at the top of the Melide Cathedral. Storks really like to next in church towers. We had been wondering where they all were.
We see horreos, that is, corn drying structures, all over now we are in the heart of Galicia. I have dozens of pictures of them but I have talked a lot about them in previous blogs so I will refrain.
A typical horreoThe cows mostly stayed to the right.Walking into Melide. We finally spotted stork nests on the church tower. If you look closely you can see a stork in the next on the lower right.
8 thoughts on “WynChar Diary, April 30”
I think the crowds on the Frances Camino would dissuade me from walking it. Did some “influencer” cause a rush to the Camino?
There have been so many books and movies from various countries. I know of big ones from Germany and Korea and the United States. And, ha ha, you’re right, Ella, there are probably influencers out there too now. And of course there’s always word of mouth which causes it to grow exponentially. By far the worst of the crowds are in the last 100 km. The first 600 km might not be too horrible yet.
That the Camino Frances is “full” this early in the season is just awful. Okay, April is a great time to walk, but schools are still on (for universities, maybe just ended) and it isn’t summer holiday time for businesses.
We hear a lot about overtourism in Venice and Barcelona, but that it has invaded the Camino is ridiculous.
The main trekking routes in Nepal are pretty crowded too.
I think people in Santiago are starting to get a lot of tourist fatigue as well. Can you imagine? We checked the statistics today and over 3,000 people got compostellas. We’ve heard estimates that only about 60% of people actually get one so the 3,000 count is far lower than the number of people who actually walk in.
May 1 was Labor Day in Spain and so there was a long weekend. Spaniards can get some benefits from getting a Compostela so it might have been that coincidence.
But there have been posts on the Camino forum about bed races for a few years as travel restarted after Covid. A lot of people don’t know there are other Caminos The problem seems to be only on the Frances. And mainly on the last 100 km that you need to get a Compostela.
We might walk the first half of the Frances sometime.
I think that some of this is the “if I’m only going to do one…” syndrome. Trek in Nepal: Everest Base Camp (way too busy). Camino walk: Camino Frances. If you only are going to do it once, you “have” to do the traditional walk. Especially the last 100 km, as you pointed out.
I think the crowds on the Frances Camino would dissuade me from walking it. Did some “influencer” cause a rush to the Camino?
There have been so many books and movies from various countries. I know of big ones from Germany and Korea and the United States. And, ha ha, you’re right, Ella, there are probably influencers out there too now. And of course there’s always word of mouth which causes it to grow exponentially. By far the worst of the crowds are in the last 100 km. The first 600 km might not be too horrible yet.
That the Camino Frances is “full” this early in the season is just awful. Okay, April is a great time to walk, but schools are still on (for universities, maybe just ended) and it isn’t summer holiday time for businesses.
We hear a lot about overtourism in Venice and Barcelona, but that it has invaded the Camino is ridiculous.
The main trekking routes in Nepal are pretty crowded too.
I think people in Santiago are starting to get a lot of tourist fatigue as well. Can you imagine? We checked the statistics today and over 3,000 people got compostellas. We’ve heard estimates that only about 60% of people actually get one so the 3,000 count is far lower than the number of people who actually walk in.
May 1 was Labor Day in Spain and so there was a long weekend. Spaniards can get some benefits from getting a Compostela so it might have been that coincidence.
But there have been posts on the Camino forum about bed races for a few years as travel restarted after Covid. A lot of people don’t know there are other Caminos The problem seems to be only on the Frances. And mainly on the last 100 km that you need to get a Compostela.
We might walk the first half of the Frances sometime.
One more thing. May and September are the most popular months. The summer is pretty hot.
I think that some of this is the “if I’m only going to do one…” syndrome. Trek in Nepal: Everest Base Camp (way too busy). Camino walk: Camino Frances. If you only are going to do it once, you “have” to do the traditional walk. Especially the last 100 km, as you pointed out.
Enjoy your last week.
You hit the nail on the head Henry. I think that is the big reason people do the Frances. I hadn’t realized that it is a more general phenomenon.