Walking the Camino de Santiago

I did the camino 3 years ago and it was amazing! I absolutley loved it and I hope one day I get to do it again!

That movie was so inspiring and I hope one day to walk it. And that's coming from an atheist!

I started the walk in a small quaint town called St Jean Pied de Port, France and then I walked over the Pyreneese into Roncesvalles, Spain all the way to Santiago de Compestella. The walk took me approximately 5-6 weeks to do and I was walking between 20kms - 30kms per day. The year I did the walk was 2010 - it was a holy year or jubilee year and I think that happens every 11 years, so prices were a bit higher. In saying that it is relatively cheap. Maybe 3-10 euros for a overnight stay in a refugio/alburgue (hostel), 7 euros for a pilgrims meal (but you'll soon get stick of pasta and you'll be heading to the local supermarket to cook your own meals) Also depends where you are staying...In Basque region things were a bit cheaper. In Rioja the accom was more expensive, but the red wine was amazing! Nothing can prepare you for the mental and physical pain...but you'd be suprised that some of the fittest people didn't last, and the overweight and older ones made it to the end! Doing it with your partner/spouse is good, but you also see the ugliest side of each other...so if you can handle that go for it! Also, something to remember is that although it is traditionally a religious pilgrimmage, a lot of people do the walk for other reasons. I did it because I wanted to prove something to myself and I accomplished that Buy yourself a good pair of shoes, carry a small backpack and just do it. You are living frugally, you are carrying all your worldy possessions on your back and you soon realise what is and isn't important. I loved doing the camino, but it is tough...there were many times where I was sat on the side of the road crying because I didn't believe in myself or crying because I was in so much pain. And then when you get to Santiago, you realise the camino doesn't stop there. Your life is the camino! Buon Camino (Have a good journey) my friend!

I'm planning on doing the last 100 km the fall-- just for a taste of it. Hope to do the whole thing sometime too!

@BecsB

This was so beautifully written! I have had my sights on doing the Camino for about a year now...I can't seem to shake how much desire I have to attempt it. I'm starting to save to leave from Texas and I want to do the whole thing...not just a piece of it. I want to get the whole experience while I'm there, why not right??
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience. This has made me want to go even more and experience the joy of proving to myself that I can. I am a little nervous though about being a girl...I don't have many friends that make a whole lot of money that would probably be able to go so I might be going alone. Is the Camino a safe place for a single female American traveler or should I desperately attempt to find a friend to go with me?

Thanks so much!! (=

@BecsB

This was so beautifully written! I have had my sights on doing the Camino for about a year now...I can't seem to shake how much desire I have to attempt it. I'm starting to save to leave from Texas and I want to do the whole thing...not just a piece of it. I want to get the whole experience while I'm there, why not right??
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience. This has made me want to go even more and experience the joy of proving to myself that I can. I am a little nervous though about being a girl...I don't have many friends that make a whole lot of money that would probably be able to go so I might be going alone. Is the Camino a safe place for a single female American traveler or should I desperately attempt to find a friend to go with me?

Thanks so much!! (=

I'm not au fait with posting responses, i'm still quite new here...sorry if it's not right! It's very, very safe on the camino. I met lots of women walking solo. People who start the walk alone don't usually continue solo...it's incredibly easy to meet people along the way and walk with them. The people you meet with come and go as you walk (just like real life!), so it's a joyful occasion when you bump into an old walking companion weeks later. As a solo female walker you may get a lot of male attention...especially from European men, who love the ladies. I was walking with my boyfriend and it didn't stop the Spanish men from hitting on me, even when I explained to them that the man walking beside me was my boyfriend! They will try it on, probably because they've had success with female pilgrims before! A sad fact is that sometimes possessions will be stolen at the hostels you stay at...it never happened to me, but I heard about from others. If I can give a recommendation don't do the camino during the height of summer...it will be too hot, and accom is scarce, it's on a first come first served basis. Pilgrims who walk will always be given first priority, then it's cyclists, then horse riders and then final priority are the auto-pilgrims who get on tour buses and walk parts of the camino. Walking pilgrims and refugio proprieters always turn up their noses at auto-pilgrims...there's a bit of a hierachy. Start Planning

Definitely on my bucket list!! And I loved the movie "The Way"

I just realised, the photo on my ticker is my feet on the Camino! It must be admitted there was a certain amount of pain involved, especially as I was carrying 20kg of extra body weight.

It sounds great but read this first

http://francistapon.com/Travels/Spain-Trails/10-Reasons-Why-El-Camino-Santiago-Sucks

And the heat, omg, that would really be awful. OTOH, it doesn't seem that hard to do as far as walks go because you are never far from food. OTOH you are walking on pavement almost the entire way according to the link.

The Japanese ancient trail the Nakasendo which takes 12 days sounds great to me although I don't eat fish too often.

http://www.oxalis-adventures.com/walking-tours/nakasendo-trail/index.php

I think the camino is what you make of it and it really comes down to what you want to achieve. I somewhat disagree that 99% of the walk is on asphalt. Yes, there are times when you're passing through big cities or surburbia, but the landscape is different depending on the region you're in. I walked over metal paths, over mountains, rivers, bridges, countryside...it's all quite different.

In regards to food - some alburgues will provide a pilgrims menu, but majority of the time it will mean walking to a supermarket and buying something to cook in the communal kitchen. The walk is becoming commercialised...pro's and cons' with this.

This walk is not easy - I mentioned before in earlier posts that some of the fittest people didn't make it to the end and some of the overweight and older ones (I met a German man who is doing the walk for the 4th time and he's in his early 80s) did! That's because is more than being fit, it's about mental toughness as well.

I agree that this is not the most beautiful walk out there, but again I think the beauty comes from accomplishing a massive challenge of walking 800kms, as well as believing in yourself. It's hard to explain but when I did the walk I made lots of connections to life... the biggest one was believing in myself, having the faith that I could do it (especially when I had a lot of people, including my family tell me I wouldn't make it and that I was crazy) It was also amazing to discover that you can push through what you think your physical/mental limit is. Putting one foot in the front of the other should be easy, but it's not.

I can understand that for some people this walk might be disappointing...maybe it didn't live up to their expectations, or they didn't find what they were seeking. For me this this was a life changing moment.

Also, the red wine in Rioja is to die for

I would like to camino one day.... one day!

I am thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail. It goes from Georgia to Maine- 2,000 miles.

If you do it all at once, it's called a hike thru and people do it sections over a couple or years or even decades.

I would do it over a couple of years and be a "sectioner". We'll see - the journey starts with the first step!