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Lots of folks have already said it, but I would like to reinforce the idea of walking the Meseta. Your stated goal is to walk and meditate. The Mesata is the best part of the Camino to do that. Everyday is an easy walk and you are free to think about whatever, not where your next step will...
I really admire the folks that own and run albergues. I also admire folks who volunteer to work in them. However, at 70 I think I am just too old to work that hard. ;-)
Perhaps some of the confusion of the numbers is the chart provided here is only the folks that walked from SJPDP. Most folks start closer to Santiago and those numbers are not included here.
I used a small point and shoot by Olympus, T-1 that fit in my pocket. The T stands for tough and it is. I forget how many times I dropped that camera but it kept on working. I took a lot of photos, over 15000. A German that I had met earlier walked by me one day and said that if I did not...
I started in Pamplona and after walking to Leon I began to question why I was walking. Then I got to Cruz de Ferro a few days later and all thought of stopping ended. My life changed at that pile of rocks. If you would like to see a video I made of that experience follow the link below.
My first Camino I bought a cheap phone over there and just used the local data plans. My second Camino I used my phone from home and paid the $10/day to AT&T. Both have their advantages. Using the local plan is much cheaper but very limited. Using the AT&T plan was much easier, more...
I have walked several Camino's alone. My wife has no interest in long distance walking. We have been married for 46 years and both of us were looking forward to some alone time. I do have the Camino bug and will walk again. I also tend to like traveling more than her and in a different way...
I have walked two Camino's alone (so far) and found that at dinner if I looked around a resturant I could almost always spot other pilgrims. I would go by their table and politely ask if I could join them. I was never turned down by other pilgrims. However, I tried this a few times with...
It is true that in my short post I did not include every reason someone might want to walk further than me in a day. It is not my place to decide how far anyone walks, but for myself. I am sorry that you viewed my message as negative, that was not my intent.
For those with limited time and are in a hurry to finish this is really great advice. For me though I take it slow. First Camino I walked 20k days, my second 16k days, with lots of days off. I may go even slower for the next one. However I will have fun taking photos of your back. ;-)
I walked the Camino in Sep to Oct of 2015 and found that the number of pilgrims was just right. There were no fights for beds but lots of folks to met and walk with if you liked. If you are interested I posted a series of videos about my Camino, part one...
My most worrisome moment was one night I was walking around a small town (by myself) and I came upon about 5 older teenage boys who all stopped talking and stared at me as I walked by. The fear was all in my head. They meant no harm.
Thanks to everyone for their responses. I am planning on walking the Camino Portugues next year and am starting to plan my training for the walk. I used the height measurement to get an average height gain per week to give me a number to train to for a while (I know they are different...
After I did a search of the site (and the web) I was surprised to not find one post on the total elevation gain while walking the Camino Frances. Perhaps I am just a poor searcher, so if someone can point me to the information that would be great, or if you have it and are willing to share...
Wynne, the Camino Frances is very well marked and most of the time you are following others who will see the arrows. I missed several along the trail but every time within a few minutes someone corrected me. I would not worry about getting lost. If you do it's not the end of the world, you...
I missed an arrow heading up to O'Cebreiro and walked up a very steep road for several kilos until a kind woman stopped her car and told me I was going the wrong way. I actually caught the moment on video (probably why I missed the arrow ;-) ). If you want to see it follow the link below.
My understanding of the history of Cruz de Ferro was that long before the Camino Romans were dropping rocks there. That said the site has been moved over the years and I have read that the local authorities remove some of the build up every year. I saw a photo of the spot from the 1990's and...
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