| bagi26. 05. 2022 06:52:04 |
Camino Olvidado is, together with Camino del Norte and Camino Primitivo, one of the original paths that pilgrims from the Atlantic direction used around the 10th century to walk to Santiago de Compostela. With the withdrawal of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, more comfortable paths replaced it, so it was gradually forgotten.
A few years ago, they revived it and gave it the name Camino Olvidado, also Camino Viejo, or the Forgotten Path. It is 530 km long and has 11,000 m of elevation gain. It is now fully marked, better in some places, worse in others. It starts in the city of Bilbao and ends on the French Way in the village of Villafranca del Bierzo next to Ponferrada. But this path is a challenge for anyone and by no means the first one you would want to hike in Spain  . It is plagued mainly by the lack of infrastructure for pilgrims, so you have to rely on private accommodations and cheap hotels. The lengths of individual stages often depend on them, and they can reach considerable distances. Intermediate stops at refreshment places and shops are not exactly self-evident. There are few of them, and they operate on the principle of very loose Spanish working hours. Maybe it's open, maybe not  .
We planned to hike this ancient path already in 2020, but the Covid story prevented us for a while. It has finally calmed down enough that we could count on a return visit to Spain this year. The path is little known, so pre-departure homework with planning rough stages was necessary. It included a list of all potential accommodations, distances between individual places, and where we could restock. I haven't spent so much time on logistics for any other path yet. Just in case, I added a reserve day, then whatever happens.
And it worked out. Our legs served us diligently, we no longer felt the weight of the backpacks after a few initial days. The weather cooperated excellently with cold and mostly dry days. Only occasional light and short-term dew forced us to ventilate the rain gear. Fortunately, there was never any real rain. But we used the poncho several times as an effective additional garment in cold mornings with temperatures around zero.
The first two days we walked on asphalt, later the surface was more friendly. The path rises honestly through kilometers, as most of it runs above 1000 m. Numerous landscapes change, there are lots of remote villages, even some smaller towns appear. People are extremely friendly, but most don't know a word of English. Bright exceptions could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Nevertheless, we managed everything . Further on, there are two path variants. One goes over mountain passes between 1400 and 1600 m altitude, the other is a detour through lower areas. We did a combination of both. The first day over the passes was a great experience, but on the second day we had to skip the highest point of the path due to new snow and stormy wind. Definitely, the mountain variant shouldn't be missed.
The journey became routine. In the morning some or other breakfast, sometimes without it, packing backpacks and off to a new day. And every single day was a new story. We didn't know the name of the day of the week, let alone the date. You walk kilometer after kilometer, observe the world around you and above all enjoy. It taught us to stop every day at the first open refreshment place. The next one might not be there, even for dozens of kilometers. Every few hours we thoroughly ventilated our shoes, a mandatory task on such long paths. In the evening we found accommodation and, unlike the Spanish way, went to bed with the chickens. That's how day after day passed for us, we hadn't counted kilometers for a long time. You feel peace inside, only the moment you live is important. Priceless .
A few final words... Camino Olvidado is still extremely unknown, as we met only two pilgrims on the entire path. This is also its advantage for those who don't like mass-visited paths. However, you need enough experience for solitary travel and various improvisations. Accommodations are more expensive, around Easter many are sold out. Spaniards celebrate all sorts of holidays a week before and even a day later. We have such an experience from Camino Lebaniego, when due to holidays we were stuck in Potes for two days. This time we were better prepared.
Camino Olvidado meets several other paths on its way, namely Camino del Norte (KLIK), Camino Lebaniego (KLIK), Camino Vadiniense (KLIK), Camino del Salvador (KLIK) and Camino Frances (KLIK). As always, it passed too quickly, so at its end we continued on another great path... Camino Invierno (KLIK).
A snippet of impressions from the journey along Camino Olvidado follows in the photo story. Anyone who needs additional information can contact me without hesitation. Buen Camino .
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