This will be a quick post but one I felt I needed to make. I don’t know many people who have the same interest in the Camino de Santiago. I know a lot through the Camino forum who talk about it on a daily basis; I also have a number of friends on Twitter who have walked it and of course, I have my two good friends whom I met in 2013 between Azofra and Santo Domingo. We meet when we can and discuss the Camino over Spanish food and wine.

Until last year, I didn’t realise I have a family friend who is a Camino veteran. Whenever she paid a visit to the family house, we ended up talking about her plans or if she has any hints. She has walked the Camino Frances a number of times, and is currently walking the Le Puy route in France, in stages. The hope is there for her to walk from Austria to France in the near future and this really intrigues me. This is something I hope to do in the future. The Camino Frances is getting a little too crowded for my liking, but that is another story for another day!!

Anyway…before Christmas, she dropped over to the house and asked for a favour. A friend of hers is walking the Camino Frances and has no reading material. At that point I gave her my Brierley and Michelin guides leaving me with little to read up on for my forthcoming Camino. She thanked me and off she went.

Fast forward to last Friday. I return home from a busy day at the office and find the books in a package. Along with the books is a card and a €20 gift voucher for The Great Outdoors. This was totally unexpected and shows that generosity is alive and well. Her friend had a ball and the reading material helped. I was just glad to be of assistance.

Let’s call this a Christmas present to myself!!

I own a few guides to the Camino de Santiago. You can read about them in a previous post here. The most well-known of these is the John Brierley guide. Some people swear by it, others don’t. I’m in the latter category. I brought it along with me in 2011 and in 2012 and read it once or twice a day while on the trail. It can be useful to get information on albergues, but I can find that information on my phone through apps. In 2013 and this year, I brought along the maps-only Brierley guide which again was rarely used. It is ultra-light but it was in my bag the majority of the time. Must be the reason why I got lost so many times 🙂 If you are a Brierley fan, I would encourage you to buy this book, and not the full guide.

Fast forward to now, I have just bought the Rother guide. I’ve been told the majority of German pilgrims use this. It is very compact and small and yet still holds alot of information…in 226 pages. At the same time, you don’t get the “words of wisdom” that Brierley likes to quote in his guide. Information on albergues is summed up in one line. The maps are well detailed. As well as the book, you get a set of GPS coordinates from the author’s website to use on smartphones. I’m going to like this I feel.

So do you use this book as a guide? Or are you happy to “wing it” and let the arrows guide you?

I have been on the Camino Francés three times now. I suppose one of the first things I decide on before going is “which way do I go”. Well, there are plenty of yellow arrows and it is next to near impossible to get lost. However, a lot of people, including myself, like to have some sort of guidebook to read up on where we are going, and where we have been. They are very useful and I would always carry some sort of book while there.

John Brierley’s books lead the way for most pilgrims. However,  it acts as some kind of bible for some people. Pilgrims tend to follow the start and end points in the book and miss out on the great little towns in between.

I brought this along on my first trip in 2011. It was pretty heavy, even though it contains pretty much “everything” related to the Camino. So for last year’s trip, I left it behind and brought along the Michelin guide. This is much lighter and contains maps and information on albergues. It is very much a stripped-down Brierley guide and I used it every single day. At the time of writing, it is battered, worn, and covered in notes in biro. The signs that it has done its’ job.

So I brought along this in 2012 and this year. I recommend it highly.

I have bought, this week, another Brierley guide which contains Maps and very small notes on each stage. It is 40 pages short compared to the original 250+ page book. However, the “recommended” stages are the same as the full guide and are different to the Michelin guide.

However, if you would rather not buy a guidebook and you want to keep your weight to a minimum, I think www.caminoguide.net would interest you. Or you can download a Smartphone app.  There are many different options.