Camino de Santiago

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Bobdesmet2009

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Hello ladies and gents!

I am planning a pilgrimage along the camino de Santiago and I had a few questions please answer any or all of the questions you can!!

What is the best time to go? (I’m looking at either may or July/August… Although that’s probably the same weather)

Any good suggestions on catholic guides? I’m looking for the most spiritual experience I can get with best catholic guide I can get!

What is the best route to take?? I’m looking to get, again, a good catholic experience as well as hitting some cool sites, but the walk with Christ is more important than the sites if there has to be a sacrifice : ) I’m Looking to travel for about 25-29 days-ish

Any other suggestions or advice!?

Thank you all!!
 
Bobdesmet2009 said:
Hello ladies and gents!

I am planning a pilgrimage along the camino de Santiago and I had a few questions please answer any or all of the questions you can!!

What is the best time to go? (I’m looking at either may or July/August… Although that’s probably the same weather)

Any good suggestions on catholic guides? I’m looking for the most spiritual experience I can get with best catholic guide I can get!

What is the best route to take?? I’m looking to get, again, a good catholic experience as well as hitting some cool sites, but the walk with Christ is more important than the sites if there has to be a sacrifice : ) I’m Looking to travel for about 25-29 days-ish

Any other suggestions or advice!?

Thank you all!!
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Go in May if you can. Spanish weather is penitentially hot in summer.

Although the “Camino” is really no more than a sporadically marked trail, the old route is well established through the cities of northern Spain. It should not be hard to find a map of it. Many famous old cities such as Burgos and Oviedo are part of it; the conch sign leads to their cathedrals.

BOn voyage and ICXC NIKA.
 
Bobdesmet2009 said:
Hello ladies and gents!

I am planning a pilgrimage along the camino de Santiago and I had a few questions please answer any or all of the questions you can!!

What is the best time to go? (I’m looking at either may or July/August… Although that’s probably the same weather)

Any good suggestions on catholic guides? I’m looking for the most spiritual experience I can get with best catholic guide I can get!

What is the best route to take?? I’m looking to get, again, a good catholic experience as well as hitting some cool sites, but the walk with Christ is more important than the sites if there has to be a sacrifice : ) I’m Looking to travel for about 25-29 days-ish

Any other suggestions or advice!?

Thank you all!!
Click to expand...
i went on the 1st of june and i would go again at that time. weather perfect. got to the top of the mountains behind Leon it was roasting hot, and saw a photo in the refugio of 6 inches of snow, photo was taken a week or two before.
august is holiday time for spaniards, so many spanish will do the camino then. august also means there will be less meltwater from the pyrenees feeding the fountains you will be using. so a bit less water in places in august.

i didn’t bring any books (guide books) or maps with me, they are heavy. in hindsight i might have read up a bit in advance about historic places and so on. and store that info in my head rather than on paper.
but the reality on the camino is that you don’t know where these sights will be. there might be an ancient castle on top of a hill beside the town, like castrojerez but with feet on fire and all your clothes-washing-by-hand thing to do, plus the heat and the legs, the reality is that you will not go up the hill, though i considered it.

even a simple walk across a bridge and a half mile in the wrong direction to a monastery will have you ‘set your face as flint’ and continue as you were.
this long distance walking gets kinda technical and all time and energy will be put into advancing forwards, not backwards or sideways.
but lots of interesting places are right on your route and you can usually pick up those leaflets in the entrance of the refugio you will be staying in. interesting like when you look for el Cid’s coffin you’ll be looking up not down.

if you have 29 days, walking days, you could start a bit further east than the usual start of the french route. start at the top of the pyrenees at Canfranc or the stop above it perhaps at canfranc-estacion. then its all downhill to Jaca, in Jaca just turn right and walk across northern Spain. that walk will take you about 29 days if you walk an average of 18 miles a day.
the catholic element of doing the canfranc start is that you can go to Lourdes first for a day or so and do all the catholic thing, then get a little train to Oleron-Sainte-Marie i think, though check that. then get a bus to either canfranc-estacion or canfranc. theres a refugio in canfranc so its a good place to stop for the night.

…any other suggestions or advice?

travel as light as possible. i’ve seen a fella carrying a bag almost as big as himself and he nearly fell over backwards putting it on. no good.
my gear inc. bag was 10 or 15 lbs in a tiny bag not a rucksack. a bit like this. you can carry it on the plane.
wear only nylon clothes, they dry almost straight away. i threw away a cotton vest it was still wet the next morning having been washed the previous afternoon, the nylon stuff was dry that evening.
don’t wash nylon hot or it will fall apart while you wear it. not that you will have the opportunity to wash it hot anyway.
a good treatment for blisters i found is to ignore them, puncture them early by threading thread through them using a needle and thread, cut the thread and leave it there to wick off the water. do this so the blister does not spread out under the skin. when the blister heals and the skin drys up well find a chair a basin salt and a sunny spot outside and soak your feet in salty water for a hour or so. when the skin softens scrape the thick dry skin off with your fingernails only.

things i should have brought but did not:
moleskine notebook and pencil.
tinwhistle
1 extra bar of soap.

buen camino - shout that at the cyclists in the distance.
 
Thank you paddy walker! Great advice. Thank you for taking your time to respond!
 
There is a good movie about the camino starrng Martin Sheen called “The Way”. Its really good. Its on netflix.
 
Hi there

I did the Camino Ingles in June 2012 and it was amazing. Its a 5 day walk (117km) and follows the old prilgrimage routes of the English and Irish originating in the port city of Ferrol. Whatever route you do, its lifechanging and I think everyone should do it in their lifetime.

The website of the Confraternity of St. James provides great information regarding all routes to Santiago. csj.org.uk/route-overview-pages.htm Bear in mind there are dozens of ways to get there but the overwhelmingly popular one is the Camino Frances. There is a particularly beautiful one that goes through the entire length of Portugal if you are feeling extra adventurous.
A good time to go would be May or June. When I was in Galicia, it was around 22C but Galicia has an atlantic climate and can bucket down so make sure you have some water proofs! Doing the camino in summer is utterly suicidal as tempertures can easily hit 40C. The camino may be penitential in nature but you are no good to anyone if you get heatstroke.

Things to remember-
-Bring extra socks in addition to your extra socks. Your feet will get very sweaty and its always good to change them at lunch time to give them some air.
-Travel light. Remember that everything you bring, you will have on your back for hours on end for the good course of a month. Think carefully when you are tempted to bring a 1000+ page paperback for reading.
-Alcohol hand gel, BLISTER BAND AIDS, sunglasses, sunscreen, and hat are essential.
-Do practice some spanish before you get there. Locals along the busy routes will know some English to get buy but in Galicia, its a whole different kettle of fish. We met one local in Galicia during our trip who spoke English, everyone else spoke Gallego (pronounced Gai-yehgo), the local dialect that is often classified as a seperate language. The basics are good but things like When is the checkout time, and Where do I leave my key, are very helpful and should be learned for your own sanity.

Once you are done pilgrimmaging in Santiago, there is a night train for Madrid that departs from the main station at around 10.30pm. The train is usually full to the brim so make sure you buy your ticket that afternoon. Going to Madrid is a great opportunity to go the big city for some cold beer and treat yourself for a job well done 👍
 
Thank you Alexandra! That was extremely helpful! And I will check out that site! So one thing that I seem to be getting is that it is pretty much inevitable that I am going to get blisters no matter what I do : )

Pray rosary, I know! Isn’t that a great movie!? Haha it’s one of the reasons I wanted to goin the first place… Yes… I’m one of those… But I had also gotten suggestions from friends who went too so I don’t feel like a total poser… That was just the deal maker
 
Bobdesmet2009 said:
Thank you Alexandra! That was extremely helpful! And I will check out that site! So one thing that I seem to be getting is that it is pretty much inevitable that I am going to get blisters no matter what I do : )

Pray rosary, I know! Isn’t that a great movie!? Haha it’s one of the reasons I wanted to goin the first place… Yes… I’m one of those… But I had also gotten suggestions from friends who went too so I don’t feel like a total poser… That was just the deal maker
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Its the reason why i want to do it too 😉
 
Hey y’all I have another question for who ever can answer. About how much does a trip on the camino cost? What are looking at here? And about how much should I bring with me? And credit or cash would be better? Thanks!
 
Bobdesmet2009 said:
Hey y’all I have another question for who ever can answer. About how much does a trip on the camino cost? What are looking at here? And about how much should I bring with me? And credit or cash would be better? Thanks!
Click to expand...
i’ll give you a rough estimate of my expenses, to give an idea.
theres lots of different types of people and some prefer hotels, some prefer guesthouse type accommodation, but most will use the pilgrim-only refugios which are basic communal, dormitory places run by volunteers. some are in old restored stone buildings and a couple are in weird, hard to understand municipal buildings.
refugios are almost always voluntary donation places, usually €6.00 for the night, but less if you have less for any reason.
thats the accommodation sorted out.
now water. free, fill your 1 litre bottle at all the fountains you pass. fill from the running pipe not from standing water of course.
food. in villages and small towns a three course dinner (only available at 7:30 pm outside of tourist cities), a three-course dinner costs about €8.00.
coffee and snacks a couple of euro a day.

so i worked it out that in spain on the french route of the camino it cost about €1.00 per mile.
on the french route you’ll be walking about 500 miles, so, easy!, walking costs €500.00.

you can work out the rest of your expenses yourself, flights in and out, or trains, plus allowing for a couple of nights in hotels if flights are delayed or whatever.
don’t forget insurance.

working on the principle of three, i would bring €1,500.00 just for the walking section, just so that you know you are well covered and don’t have to think about money again.

credit or cash?

as a european my bank card works everywhere in europe, except England possibly - have not been there for a while.
you need to carry enough cash to take you to the next nearest town. so start with €100.00 cash maybe and take out more as you need it when passing through Jaca, Logrono, Burgos, Leon and Santiago. that is, if you do the french route.

ah, yes. don’t forget all the gear you’ll need to buy before you leave, - add another €500.00 max, depending on what you want to spend.
 
Thank you paddy walker! That was so helpful! Yeah no didn’t even think to count in all of the gear I’ll have to buy before leaving. Good call!
 
I just found this website and want to thank all of you for the valuable information. My husband and I are just beginning to look into this and are thinking of going May, 2015. He is deaf and legally blind, so we are thinking of making this a fund raiser for research (similar to the walks for breast cancer, etc), in addition to a spiritual pilgrimage. We will be 55 years old and are pretty healthy. Does anyone know what is a typical length for hiking per day? Also, are the paths easy to navigate? Can 2 people walk easily side-by-side? Thank you!
 
Paddy_Walker said:
i’ll give you a rough estimate of my expenses, to give an idea.
theres lots of different types of people and some prefer hotels, some prefer guesthouse type accommodation, but most will use the pilgrim-only refugios which are basic communal, dormitory places run by volunteers. some are in old restored stone buildings and a couple are in weird, hard to understand municipal buildings.
refugios are almost always voluntary donation places, usually €6.00 for the night, but less if you have less for any reason.
thats the accommodation sorted out.
now water. free, fill your 1 litre bottle at all the fountains you pass. fill from the running pipe not from standing water of course.
food. in villages and small towns a three course dinner (only available at 7:30 pm outside of tourist cities), a three-course dinner costs about €8.00.
coffee and snacks a couple of euro a day.

so i worked it out that in spain on the french route of the camino it cost about €1.00 per mile.
on the french route you’ll be walking about 500 miles, so, easy!, walking costs €500.00.

you can work out the rest of your expenses yourself, flights in and out, or trains, plus allowing for a couple of nights in hotels if flights are delayed or whatever.
don’t forget insurance.

working on the principle of three, i would bring €1,500.00 just for the walking section, just so that you know you are well covered and don’t have to think about money again.

credit or cash?

as a european my bank card works everywhere in europe, except England possibly - have not been there for a while.
you need to carry enough cash to take you to the next nearest town. so start with €100.00 cash maybe and take out more as you need it when passing through Jaca, Logrono, Burgos, Leon and Santiago. that is, if you do the french route.

ah, yes. don’t forget all the gear you’ll need to buy before you leave, - add another €500.00 max, depending on what you want to spend.
Click to expand...
👍😃
 
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