Camino Primitivo or Frances in September 2014?

[rsmith0000]

I'm a 58-year-old California woman who walked the Camino Frances this past spring and absolutely loved it. I especially liked the camaraderie and architecture. I'm planning to walk, again, with my 23-year-old daughter in 2014 and we are mulling whether to tackle the Frances or Primativo route. Looking for advice from members who have walked both paths. Which would you recommend for a two- to three-week walk in September, likely, with someone new to backpacking? I favor the Primativo, I guess, but don't want an experience marred by the frustration of getting lost, a shortage of accommodations, or really tough terrain. That sounds like an indirect endorsement for the Frances route, but I keep coming back to the Primativo because it's supposed to be so beautiful and relatively less traveled. Advice?

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi rsmith,

I've walked the Primitivo twice, most recently in 2012 when I was 62. I love it. You will find lots of suggested stages on the forum in the Primitivo section. I walked it once in 11 days, once in 12. My stages are here: http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/my-stages-on-the-camino-primitivo.4841/ and here:
http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/back-from-the-primitivo-june-2012.14728/

If you think those distances are too long for you, look for Tia Valeria's posts because she and her husband walked it in shorter stages and they have laid them out in a post, too.

Waymarking is generally outstanding, the scenery is great, and there is plenty of accommodation if you plan it right.

The nice thing about the Primitivo is that you can walk it in about two weeks or less, which might be nice for your daughter, as opposed to a chunk of the Frances. If you are worried about elevation gain, you should check mundicamino.com and in their tab "Trazado/perfil" you can always see how many meters up and down it is. There are ups and downs, but this isn't mountain climbing, so if your daughter is in good shape, she should be fine with some prep.

The city of Lugo with its roman walls is a great place to visit, you can take a short detour to some 3C roman paintings outside of Lugo, there are some beautiful communal albergues (San Juan de Villapanada and Bodenaya), the towns of Tineo, Salas and maybe a few others are nice to visit, and as you have heard, the scenery is beautful.

It's such a personal decision, but if you are drawn to the Primitivo, I say go for it! Laurie

 

[Tia Valeria]

Hola rsmith.
You can check out our posts on the forum, also our blogs. One is Terry's from 2009 (follow the links); the Norte from Santander and then via Villaviciosa to Oviedo and the Primitivo. The other is our walk from Tineo on the Primitivo in 2012. We walked the earlier part another year, but these two together should give you some ideas of stages that suit you.
Buen Camino
(Edit as promised) Terry's notes and distances for 2009 are here under his introduction, you can just scroll until you find the parts you want as I couldn't manage to pick up the post as a link, sorry.

 

[Theatregal]

I'm a 58-year-old California woman who walked the Camino Frances this past spring and absolutely loved it. I especially liked the camaraderie and architecture. I'm planning to walk, again, with my 23-year-old daughter in 2014 and we are mulling whether to tackle the Frances or Primativo route. Looking for advice from members who have walked both paths. Which would you recommend for a two- to three-week walk in September, likely, with someone new to backpacking? I favor the Primativo, I guess, but don't want an experience marred by the frustration of getting lost, a shortage of accommodations, or really tough terrain. That sounds like an indirect endorsement for the Frances route, but I keep coming back to the Primativo because it's supposed to be so beautiful and relatively less traveled. Advice?

Hi rsmith,

If you're interested, I just posted an overview of my experience in another post: http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/primitivo-instead-of-france.17481

 

[peregrina2013]

I'm a 58-year-old California woman who walked the Camino Frances this past spring and absolutely loved it. I especially liked the camaraderie and architecture. I'm planning to walk, again, with my 23-year-old daughter in 2014 and we are mulling whether to tackle the Frances or Primativo route. Looking for advice from members who have walked both paths. Which would you recommend for a two- to three-week walk in September, likely, with someone new to backpacking? I favor the Primativo, I guess, but don't want an experience marred by the frustration of getting lost, a shortage of accommodations, or really tough terrain. That sounds like an indirect endorsement for the Frances route, but I keep coming back to the Primativo because it's supposed to be so beautiful and relatively less traveled. Advice?

Greetings!
I also walked the Camino Frances in June 2013, on my own and loved it. I will be heading out for the Primitivo, starting to walk on Aug 30-31. I have shorter vacation time then but I am hoping to walk to Muxia. Perhaps I'll see you on the way.
Buen camino!

 

[rsmith0000]

Thank you, all, for your comments and links. Most helpful!
Peregrina2013, if we decide to walk the Primativo, we will be starting the same time as you and will look for you. Buen camino.
Regards,
Rebecca