Caro1964
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Newbie!
Hello, I will be walking the Portuguese Coastal Camino in spring 2020 (mid-May’ish). This will be my first Camino and my first « walking » trip. I am fairly fit, but have never undertaken anything like this before. I’m 55 years old. After doing some research - including on this amazing site - I have decided to walk the coastal camino from Porto to Santiago, and then to Finisterre.
I have lived my whole life as an over-achiever, and I want this trip to be about the journey rather than making sure I walk X number of km each day, to get to my destination by X date. Therefore, I am looking to build as much flexibility into this trip as possible.
Ideally, I would like to decide each morning how much I feel like walking on that day, if I feel like walking it with my backpack or not (I have temperamental knees), where I would like to stay that night (albergues vs hostels vs hotels), and then set off on that day’s journey, without rushing to get to the destination before 2 pm each day, which I have read and heard is the time to get to where you are going in order to get a bed.
Is this type of flexibility possible? I read about the companies who can shuttle your bag to the next stop, but can I decide each morning where my next stop will be, or do I have to decide in advance? Is it possible to make reservations at any of the accommodations the morning of (assuming vacancy)? For accommodations, is there a real risk that I won’t find any accommodations if I don’t arrive before 5 pm? What is the worse case scenario in that regard? And are there companies that can work out all those things for me, each day as go (« one-stop service »); or if I want this type of « one-stop service », I have to make those arrangements well in advance?
Many thanks in advance!
Caroline
I have lived my whole life as an over-achiever, and I want this trip to be about the journey rather than making sure I walk X number of km each day, to get to my destination by X date. Therefore, I am looking to build as much flexibility into this trip as possible.
Ideally, I would like to decide each morning how much I feel like walking on that day, if I feel like walking it with my backpack or not (I have temperamental knees), where I would like to stay that night (albergues vs hostels vs hotels), and then set off on that day’s journey, without rushing to get to the destination before 2 pm each day, which I have read and heard is the time to get to where you are going in order to get a bed.
Is this type of flexibility possible? I read about the companies who can shuttle your bag to the next stop, but can I decide each morning where my next stop will be, or do I have to decide in advance? Is it possible to make reservations at any of the accommodations the morning of (assuming vacancy)? For accommodations, is there a real risk that I won’t find any accommodations if I don’t arrive before 5 pm? What is the worse case scenario in that regard? And are there companies that can work out all those things for me, each day as go (« one-stop service »); or if I want this type of « one-stop service », I have to make those arrangements well in advance?
Many thanks in advance!
Caroline