Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[seeker77]

First let me thank you for all this posts, since without them I would have chosen the overcrowded camino frances. I will land in Santiago on Thursday, will head to A Coruna and will stay there for a day and then take a bus back to Ferrol. I don't know yet the exact stops I will make, I will have to improvise. It is intriguing on the on hand to only use alberges, but on the other hand if they are empty, it does not make real sense.
If someone is also traveling at this date it would be nice to hear of them.

[peregrina2000]

Hi, seeker77,

Hope you have a great walk. I will be about a week and a half behind you, my husband and I will be leaving from Ferrol on Aug. 27. We've decided to do the stages Johnny Walker outlined in his posting, which means at most one albergue. Let us know how it goes for you. Buen camino, Laurie

[JohnnieWalker]

Seeker - I have pm'd you about this. Hopefully we will connect before you go.

[Gareth Thomas]

It is intriguing on the on hand to only use alberges, but on the other hand if they are empty, it does not make real sense.

Stay at all the three albergues, if your timing works, and you will find all of them are very good. Take it nice and slow, and above all make the most of your stay in Betanzos which is a real treat! (Stay at Bar Cheino, 15 Euros per night, 8 Euros menu.) The Franciscan church in the old town and the other Gallegan gothic churches nearby took me by surprise. I couldn't quite believe it when I arrived in this astonishing concentration of medieval architecture. It is wonderful.

Johnnie Walker will give you all the info you need: follow his instructions closely - as I did two weeks ago - and you cannot go wrong! Enjoy!

Gareth

[seeker77]

Thanks for all your nice words and help. I will report my findings on the trip.

Gareth, I did read your blog. How did you escape the dogs, was it a serious attack? How can I avoid this, is there an alternative route to not confront the dogs? I'm a little bit scared now.

Thanks,

seeker77

[Gareth Thomas]

Gareth, I did read your blog. How did you escape the dogs, was it a serious attack? How can I avoid this, is there an alternative route to not confront the dogs? I'm a little bit scared now.

Don't be too bothered: I have a theory now that the bigger the stick you carry the bigger the dog you will attract. Carry a small stick.

Seriously through: the best approach, if you get into a dog situation, is to run at them making a loud noise and that will usually see them off. At night it is different, but I suppose you won't be walking at night!

Gareth

[peregrina2000]

I'm another one with a fear of dogs -- my camino walking partner says it must come from the bad bite I received at the age of 5. In fact, for my first Camino, I brought one of those dog dazer things but tossed it because it was so obviously not needed. I will be walking the Camino Ingles in a couple of weeks, and I was curious to read Gareth's suggestions for how to deal with a problem if it arises, because I've been told the opposite. I have been told to avoid eye contact completely and to back away slowly and without moving the stick.

On the way to Finisterre, about 2 km outside Oliveiroa, there is a walled compound that has very imposing gates. On my way past, the gates were open, and two huge German Shephards came lunging out at me, teeth bared and all that. I was pretty scared, but at that very moment a car drove by, stopped and picked me up and carried me 200 m or so. Later at the albergue, a woman arrived who had been bitten by those dogs. She had taken the approach of trying to show them "who's the boss" by staring them down and forging ahead. I don't know whether they would have bitten me if the car hadn't arrived, but it seems like the forceful approach didn't work in this case.

I'm hoping that with the increased traffic on these secondary caminos, dogs will be tied up, but if others have suggestions, they'd be welcome. Thanks, Laurie

[JohnnieWalker]

Funnily enough Gareth and I were just chatting about this the other day - somewhere, perhaps in an Alison Raju guide, the point is made that humans with rucksacks look pretty alien to dogs - humans wearing rucksacks and headlamps even more so! Therefore on these less travelled routes perahps it isn't surprising the dogs are used to us yet. But I've now walked the Camino Ingles several times with absolutely no problems with dogs - apart from their barking!

[falcon269]

No one is recommending Shirley MacLaine's, "Visualize a red heart, fill it with love, and project it toward the dog without feeling hostility"?

The only damage I saw a dog do was to prevent a fellow pilgrim from stopping at a bar for coffee. I stepped over the large, somnolent canine, and enjoyed a deserved rest. She walked on and found the next bar closed. No cafe con leche that morning.

No merchant will put danger between your wallet and his till, so ignore all dogs at business establishments. As to the others, for all the barking, I have not personally heard of anyone being bitten in 1,000 miles of walking in France and Spain.

I am as constrained by anxiety as much as anyone, but I would hate to ruin my Camino by fear at every bark!

[Bridget and Peter]

"Visualize a red heart, fill it with love, and project it toward the dog without feeling hostility"?

I was once advised that, in the event that a dog does come at you with fangs bared, you should present it with your least (less?) favoured arm (in my case, the left). When it leaps up and sinks its teeth in your unimportant limb you will be able to kick its soft under belly and it will drop off and slink away feeling sorry for itself and you will be able to get away.

Never had to test these instructions, fortunately, but I've never forgotten them, either!

[AJ]

On the Camino Mozarabe there are lots of dogs guarding stock. Mostly they are Pyrennean mountain dogs which are very big and very loud. I carried a stone with me which I threatened to throw at the dogs when they got too close. They always backed off.

[hastings1066]

Goodness something else to be nervous about apart from the hill to Bruma, the length of the etapas and the challenge of language.. I have bought an elctronic dog repeller- does anyone have any experience with these? I have not been able to try it out on neighbourhood dogs for obvious reasons- I dont want to zap some poor spaniel who is not even baring his teeth at me!

[Red Kite]

The only problem I had with dogs was trying to get rid of a particularly friendly little mutt who decided to befriend and walk with me near Castrojeriz. He eventually sauntered off in the opposite direction.

To read some of the posts on here you'd think there were packs of wild dogs round every corner.

It just isn't so.

[MermaidLilli]

Walking along the Via, I found a small can of dog repellant which was French. I do not remember the name. It blasts a spray pretty far, which I imagine would scare off a dog. I just don't think dogs are much of an issue really (which is probably why I found it.... either someone dropped it or they discarded it for weight issues), on the CF or the Via.
Now, a bull repellant.... yeah, anyone make one of those???
j/k
Lillian

[Gareth Thomas]

To read some of the posts on here you'd think there were packs of wild dogs round every corner.

Yes, of course. Let's keep it in perspective: the dogs are not half as troublesome as the packs of dangerous chickens. I'll be glad when somebody invents an electronic device for dealing with this menace, but meanwhile, we have to run the gauntlet.

Gareth