Advice on the Camino de Santiago
September 26, 2014 11:15 AM Subscribe
Hi all, we are starting our planning to do the Camino de Santiago sometime next year. Just wanted to know if there are any MeFi members who have done the route and their advice on what the best time to do the route would be, and their recommendations on which route to go on?
Preferably a route that gives a good balance of scenic beauty and time spent on the trail (we'd like to devote a maximum of 2 weeks for this!). Thanks for your advice!
Preferably a route that gives a good balance of scenic beauty and time spent on the trail (we'd like to devote a maximum of 2 weeks for this!). Thanks for your advice!
I cycled from leon in June. I didn't find the scenery all that amazing, even when I had cycled up a mountain and was damn well going to enjoy the view. I also suspect that the first half would be prettier. As it is an old route, the main road now follows it a lot of the way.
Are you doing it for religious reasons? If not, you may find it a bit of an anticlimax. If you are then plan it around the wonderful churches and monestaries.
It was a bit of a slog. We had hot weather in June and were surrounded by clouds of biting flies. We lost them on the downhill, but the walkers didn't. On the other hand, the previous week it had rained torrentially all week.
posted by kadia_a at 1:08 PM on September 26, 2014
Are you doing it for religious reasons? If not, you may find it a bit of an anticlimax. If you are then plan it around the wonderful churches and monestaries.
It was a bit of a slog. We had hot weather in June and were surrounded by clouds of biting flies. We lost them on the downhill, but the walkers didn't. On the other hand, the previous week it had rained torrentially all week.
posted by kadia_a at 1:08 PM on September 26, 2014
Best answer: Yes! yes! Me! I have! Okay sorry, it's just the first time in a while that I've been excited to answer a question on here.
So, I walked half of the Camino Frances in Sept 2013. I did it alone and started in Burgos with a pack of ~10kg. It took me 20 days altogether to get to Santiago de Compostela (including a 'rest' day in Leon that was actually me spending all day and night wandering the city) and I averaged 20km per day. I didn't want to push myself to the point of stupidity (i.e. some people I met were doing 40km a day and just didn't seem to be enjoying the trip! or they had pushed too hard and had infected blisters on their feet... ick) I enjoyed the flatness of the meseta straight out of Burgos and it was still quite warm at that time ~30deg (celsius) and it was really fantastic one day to look back and seeing thunder storm clouds building and the sky going black... just as I walked into carrion de les condes. It did get a little monotonous but I was just excited I was actually in Spain, walking the camino after 12 months of planning and training. Then it got into the up, up, up and down, down, never-ending down of mountains but even there my favourite bit was the walk over the mountains after staying the night at Foncebadon. Made my heart sing and I was very glad I was there.
Not having done the start of the Camino Frances (yet) I can't compare however some of my fellow walkers raved about Camino Portugues as it was shorter, less travelled by pilgrims and immensely beautiful. I did the camino for spiritual reasons and man, was it fantastic, I learnt a lot about myself and God. It was hard work, hot and sweaty, I cried a lot, I learnt how to step out of my anxieties, I learnt I am super bad a speaking spanish but it was a life changing experience for me. I think the average age was about 40 but there was everyone in between - kids straight out of uni, people in their late 20s/early 30's, couples and singles all the way up to a man in his late 80's. An amazing mish mash of people - japanese, korean, german, spanish, dutch, american, canadian, australian, hungarian... you name it!
Happy to chat more if you want to memail me!
P.s.
There is a really fantastic online community that I recommend you get into - Camino de Santiago Forum.
Lots of advice on planning, training (yes yes yes break in your shoes and go for long walks carrying weight, pleaseeee!) and the pros and cons on different routes. It is run by a man who lives in SdC. Well worth your time.
posted by latch24 at 3:22 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
So, I walked half of the Camino Frances in Sept 2013. I did it alone and started in Burgos with a pack of ~10kg. It took me 20 days altogether to get to Santiago de Compostela (including a 'rest' day in Leon that was actually me spending all day and night wandering the city) and I averaged 20km per day. I didn't want to push myself to the point of stupidity (i.e. some people I met were doing 40km a day and just didn't seem to be enjoying the trip! or they had pushed too hard and had infected blisters on their feet... ick) I enjoyed the flatness of the meseta straight out of Burgos and it was still quite warm at that time ~30deg (celsius) and it was really fantastic one day to look back and seeing thunder storm clouds building and the sky going black... just as I walked into carrion de les condes. It did get a little monotonous but I was just excited I was actually in Spain, walking the camino after 12 months of planning and training. Then it got into the up, up, up and down, down, never-ending down of mountains but even there my favourite bit was the walk over the mountains after staying the night at Foncebadon. Made my heart sing and I was very glad I was there.
Not having done the start of the Camino Frances (yet) I can't compare however some of my fellow walkers raved about Camino Portugues as it was shorter, less travelled by pilgrims and immensely beautiful. I did the camino for spiritual reasons and man, was it fantastic, I learnt a lot about myself and God. It was hard work, hot and sweaty, I cried a lot, I learnt how to step out of my anxieties, I learnt I am super bad a speaking spanish but it was a life changing experience for me. I think the average age was about 40 but there was everyone in between - kids straight out of uni, people in their late 20s/early 30's, couples and singles all the way up to a man in his late 80's. An amazing mish mash of people - japanese, korean, german, spanish, dutch, american, canadian, australian, hungarian... you name it!
Happy to chat more if you want to memail me!
P.s.
There is a really fantastic online community that I recommend you get into - Camino de Santiago Forum.
Lots of advice on planning, training (yes yes yes break in your shoes and go for long walks carrying weight, pleaseeee!) and the pros and cons on different routes. It is run by a man who lives in SdC. Well worth your time.
posted by latch24 at 3:22 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks latch24 for the link to the forum! That will be very helpful indeed in getting suggestions on a good 2 week route. We are not going for entirely spiritual reasons so having some scenery would be important! We're currently researching more on the Camino Portuguese and the Camino Inglese - will definitely MeMail if we need more help
posted by epiphinite at 5:45 AM on October 8, 2014
posted by epiphinite at 5:45 AM on October 8, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
Since that route takes about 4 weeks, with significant under/over variation, many folks with 2 weeks to spare just do half of it. Most of them do the second half, for obvious reasons-- they want to end up in Santiago. However, if you do the Camino Francés, I would give a strong consideration to doing the first half instead. The Pyrenees and Navarra are amazing, and there's a great sense of camaraderie and newness among the people walking. Galicia is physically breathtaking as well, but much more crowded, much more touristy, and a lot of longer-haul pilgrims will turn inward and burn out a little on socializing as they approach their goal.
posted by threeants at 11:22 AM on September 26, 2014