I've booked the flight for my first camino which I'll be doing with my brother, late March to late April in 2020. After accounting for travel time from and to Madrid, we'll have 27 actual days to walk. I would have preferred to have more days, but 4 weeks was most my brother could get away from work, and going together with him took priority over myself having more time.
So the question is, is doing the camino in 27 days realistic? Yes, I'm aware it's not a race.
But has anyone here done the camino in 27 days or less?
We'd like to start in SJPDP, and ideally walk the whole distance. We're both in our mid 40s, in average shape. I have the
Brierley book, and it looks like there are nearly always albergues between the recommended stages, so my thought is for a few stages in the middle (when we're hardened so to speak), we do three day's walking over two days, and stay at some of those between albergues.
Another option we've considered is renting bikes for a few days on the meseta to cover more distance. Has anyone here done a short term bike rental like that? We really don't want to take the bus for any stages if possible.
Hi Kevin, and congrats on making the plan to walk the Camino. My wife and I completed our first Camino this year so, like everyone else who has walked the Camino once, we are now experts. (That's sarcasm, by the way. I feel I have to point that out more these days because people seem to take things so seriously, even on the Camino forum.)
Toward the end of our journey, while walking from Santiago to Finisterre, we ran into a pilgrim who was walking the opposite direction. A friend in our group recognized him from several weeks prior so they started a conversation. We learned that he had walked from SJPP to Santiago in 24 days... and my jaw dropped. This guy was younger (early/mid 30's) and had a very small pack so it didn't seem strange to me that he was able to do it. What seemed strange to me was, why? But the answer to that is a whole other story. For your purposes, all you really need to know is that 27 days is doable, but here's another story of another Pilgrim.
Toward the beginning of our Camino, while walking through Puenta la Riena looking for an albergue, we ran into a friend and fellow pilgrim. Oddly enough, like the first story, he was walking in the opposite direction too. We had spent the day prior with him in Pamplona and knew he was planning on walking to the next village after Puenta la Riena so we were happily surprised to see him, yet curious as to what had happened. Like you, he had only four weeks to complete the Camino. This was the maximum allotted amount of time his wife would allow. His plan was to walk an average of 30 km or more per day, bike through the Maseta, then walk the last part through Galicia into Santiago. Why was he now only 25 km from where we had last seen him that morning?
Turns out, not all of the albergues listed in the guide books are open year round. This was the first week of April and many of the smaller villages were still shuttered for the winter. Our friend did not know this so he walked from Puenta la Riena to the next village, found the albergue closed, then walked to the next village. That too was closed so, faced with another 10 km hike to the next village on top of the roughly 38 km that he had just walked, all with no guarantee that would be open either, he decided to take a cab back to Puenta la Riena.
In the end, our friend was able to make up the time he lost and, we learned later through the Book of Faces, finish his Camino on schedule. The moral of these stories is this: anything is possible. Yes, people have done the
Camino Frances route in 27 days or even less. It is possible that you and your brother can plan and complete your journey in that time frame. It is also possible that your plans will go to hell in a hand-basket the moment you step off the plane in Spain. Any number of things can and will happen on the Camino that you won't expect. Make your plans but also plan to be flexible. Our friend didn't expect that albergues wouldn't be open early in the season but, because he was willing to be flexible, all of us had an unexpected, amazing, and unforgettable experience for that one evening in Puenta la Riena.
Buen Camino!