Camino de Santiago de Compostela

[ememe]

Hi,
I've read through lots of helpful posts, but am still unsure about how to plan my own journey. It's my first time doing a camino, although I've done quite a bit of walking before...Anyway, I'm hoping to start walking in May. just after the holiday! (is starting on the 4th late enough to avoid the holiday crowds?), and I'm really attracted by the camino aragones. So I was thinking to walk from Pau to Pamplona, and then continue on the camino frances- or travel from pamplona to oviedo and continue on the camino primitivo. I don't want to be stuck in crowds, but I don't want to be walking alone all the time either. Any tips of how to achieve this happy medium? Does this sound like a good plan- or a bit much for the first time walker??

Thanks!
Elizabeth

[omar504]

If you really don't like crowds I would rethink your route.Although the aragones would probably not be crowded once you rejoined the frances you will get crowds. The via de la plata might suit you,you wont be alone but you wont be swamped either

[ememe]

Thanks for the tips. I thought about Via de la plata, but I really want to walk in the pyrennees, which is what i like about the idea of the camino aragones. What do you think about the idea of doing that, and then the camino primitivo? Or is that a bit crazy?

[sillydoll]

How much time do you have?
I am walking for three weeks in June. Starting in Lourdes and walking to Puente la Reina. Then a bus to Pamplona - train to Lugo and Ferrol and walking on the Camino Ingles to Santiago.
Most of the resources for the walk on the Aragones, albergues etc, are on my blog at
http://www.2009pilgrims.blogspot.com

[Rebekah Scott]

Sil: Yours sounds like a brilliant plan.

[ememe]

That sounds like a good plan- but I also wonder if I'll be missing out if I don't walk the camino frances at all..I've got at least a month, but am pretty flexible with dates.

[Heloise]

Hi Elizabeth,

I understand you as you think if you´ll miss something when not walking on camino frances. It has a tradition, history and atmosphere of its own, sure. AND crowds, too, although they can turn out to be a blessing, too, when you meet so many other pilgrims and get many new friends. In the beginning of May there will be already much people on cf.

I walked the camino aragones in september 2006, and coming to Puente la Reina (where the road meets camino frances) was such a shock after those days of solitude and abandoned hamlets of aragon, that I was able to walk only one day, from Puente la Reina to Estella, due to the total change of atmosphere, and then I decided to take a bus to San Sebastian and spend the rest of my time in Basque country (not walking). You can always change your plans according to the voice of your heart. But the other reason for me to end walking in camino frances was that I had already walked it 4 months earlier, and I felt I prefered to keep those memories without blending them with the new ones (I hope you undestand what I mean - it´s a bit hard to write it in english, which is not my nativelanguage:))

Whatever route you choose, have a buen camino - it has already started as you plan it.

Heloise

[Rebekah Scott]

Heloise: your written English is superior to most native speakers I´ve read. Seriously.

Elizabeth: I can´t tell you the number of pilgrims I´ve met who walked part of the Frances, then hopped up, down, or over to another camino and finished from there. Sometimes it was the crowd, sometimes money, sometimes love... So maybe you should stick with your plan, walk over the Pyrenees and along the valley of the Aragonese, and then make up your mind once you hit the Frances. By then you may be part of a merry band of travelers, and you won´t want to miss a moment! The "other caminos" have much to offer, but there really is nothing to compare with the good ol´ Frances.

Reb.

[Heloise]

Rebekah, thank you...

As I read your comment, I remembered my third reason to hop to the Basque country: most of those wonderful pilgrims I had made friends with, had a plan to end their camino in Puente la Reina. As the members of our "family" went back to their homes (mostly in Spain), it changed my experience and lossed my motivation a lot. Afterwards we´ve met a couple of times with some members of that "banda de Arres" both in Finland and Spain. So let the camino take you... and surprise you.

[ememe]

Hi Heloise and Rebekah,

Thank you so much for your helpful thoughts- I suppose that, like you say, you really can't know until you get there! Am feeling good about the idea to walk the camino Aragones and then see what happens...
By the way, where do you you recommend starting from on the Aragones? I was thinking maybe Oloron Ste Marie.

Elizabeth

[Alan Pearce]

Hi Ememe

I walked from Pau last year beginning on 3rd of April. I joined the camino frances at Puenta la Reina and arrived in Compostela on 11th May, having averaged about 24 km each day. I enjoyed both the quietness of the Aragones [ and the GREENERY ] and the joy of company once we reached the more popular route. Each was different, but equally enjoyable.
I walked from Pau to Lescar beside sealed roads, and got my pilgrim passport from the tourist bureau there, where they were very helpful. If you follow the arrows on the route to Oloron Ste. Marie from Lescar, it is 32 km of steep and [ probably ] muddy going with no food or refreshment available. It is a tough introduction to the camino. From Oloron to Somport is more gentle, and I did the walk to Somport village on the most glorious spring day imaginable, surrounded by grand mountains covered in snow. If you wish to stay in the [very] old monastory in Serrance as I did you need to book by phone the evening before.
One of the attractions of starting at Pau was that it was 999.9 km from there to Finistere, so by the time I had gotten lost several [alright, many] times I had exceeded 1000 km on my trek. It helped make the 26 hour flight each way seem more worthwhile.
Please let me know if you would like any details of my itinerary.
Buen Camino
Alan

[Heloise]

Elizabeth - I started from Jaca, becouse I was afraid of climbing down the Pyrenees - now if I did it once again, I would defenitely start somewhere in France!

[Rebekah Scott]

I started in Jaca, too. Mostly because it took many shifts of trains, planes, and automobiles to get there, and by then I just wanted to get walking!

If it´s mountains you are interested in walking, definitely start out farther back, in Pau or Lourdes, even... though the Aragonese does offer its share of up-and-down!

[sillydoll]

If you have a month or more, you could walk for two weeks from Lourdes to Puente la Reina, get a bus/train to Oviedo and walk the 369km of the Primitivo to Santiago - about 15 days: and then to Finisterre - another 3 days.
There are any number of combinations and options but this way you get to walk three caminos on one ticket!! And, you can watch the sun go down on the coast of death at the end of your walk.

[ememe]

Thanks for the tips everyone, really helpful, definitely feeling inspired now!

[jl]

Hello Elizabeth, I too have walked the Aragonese way, but I began in Toulouse. There were some descrepancies with the guide book initially, but anywhere along that route would be lovely to begin - and I must admit that Oloron St Maire is one of my favourite towns in that area. Wlaking down the Aragon will be very quiet - when I walked I had a "family" of about 20 fellow pilgrims walking with me, and like others have already mentioned it was quite a shock when I got to Puente le Reina. This was my first Camino though, and I must admit that once I adjusted to the bigger numbers it was fun, interesting and a wonderful experience. If you are walking in May I would be surprised if you will be inundated with people - yes the numbers will be a lot more than on the Aragon, (and there will be even fewer in France!) but nothing like they will be in July and August. So long as you are aware of the potential change in your feelings when you meet more people you are most likely going to be able to adjust.

Whatever you choose - enjoy your planning. Regards, Janet

[peregrina2000]

Hello, Elizabeth, I haven't walked the Camino Aragones, but it sounds wonderful. Depending on how many weeks you're able to walk, one way to be able to experience the Camino Frances in some of its less crowded parts would be to walk from Pamplona to Leon on the Camino Frances. In Leon, you can walk the absolutely unbelievable four day Camino del Salvador from Leon to Oviedo, and then walk the Camino Primitivo from Oviedo into Santiago. I did Leon to Santiago this way last September (I have several long rambling posts on the two caminos in other parts of this forum) and it was an amazing experience. The Salvador is very untravelled (I was alone a couple of the nights in very nice albergues, but I never felt threatened or anxious), and the Primitivo was crowded enough to form some comraderie but not so crowded as to generate a race for beds.

I took 11 days for Oviedo to Santiago, I think, so that makes the total about 15 days from Leon. For those who want to postpone the inevitable end, this is a way to add a few more days onto your Camino, and because it's so different from the Camino Frances so you get a very different view of Spain -- this route really takes you out into "deep Spain," to borrow a term from the French.

Laurie