What are the negatives that people have come across that we dont hear about?

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Ivar Rekve — 18 Comments ↓

Negative experience

The question was:

We read mostly about the positive aspects of the Camino(written by wonderful,helpful,positive people!!)…..What are the negatives that people have come across that we dont hear about ? Your experiences may help others avoid the pitfalls.

Read the whole conversation on the negative things about the Camino de Santiago here in our Camino forum.

Tagged with: Bad experience, Negative
Posted in From the Camino de Santiago forum

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=582352230 Nick Jones

Snoring/loud conversation in the refugios. People racing past you to get a bed for the night. Missing the yellow arrows (although this is probably only applicable on the less well known caminos). Having to leave at the end of your Pilgrimage. Trying to convince other people to give it a go. The question “but why do you want to walk all that way ?”. The pancake lady on the CdS saying they are free, then requesting several Euros. Not being able to stay more than one night in a refugio if you are ill or cannot walk.
Errmm…not bad for four weeks of bliss.
- Fran
  
  Hi Nick,
  If you are ill or not able to walk due to an injury most of the albergues let you stay more than one night. If you ask the keepers will let you stay if they see you really need it.
  
  Buen Camino!
- nenemurckothomasy
  
  One thing not mentioned in anything that I’ve read is that the sleeping quarters is not a place for conversation even in the afternoon. A lot of pilgrims come in to sleep. Just etiquette that wasn’t shared.
  - Susan Toth
    
    What gets tiring is sharing personal space with so many night after night.
    - Krysia Russell
      
      that’s why we’re bringing our tent to have some ‘peace’ time …
- Susan Toth
  
  Ha! The pancake lady got me, too.
  - jenny
    
    and me
nenemurckothomasy

Only problem were the bicyclists who raced down hills without any warning to the walkers. My friend came very close to getting clobbered as did I. Note to bicyclists: We cannot hear you coming especially when it is raining and we have our hoods up.
- Susan Toth
  
  Cyclists who ring their bells because they don’t want to leave the side of the track that they and you are both walking on.
  - Krysia Russell
    
    … or maybe they are polite and considerate, informing walkers that they are behind and going past, so as not to frighten, etc.
    - Susan Toth
      
      Unfortunately, this is happening when the trail is quite wide, but the cyclists are riding in a groove they don’t want to leave. The worst was a group of cyclists last summer who had installed a horribly loud siren to get walkers to move.
      - Krysia Russell
        
        Now that would be horribly rude! We were thinking of cycling as our children did it last year, but in the end decided to walk it this August starting from Arles, hopefully we won’t come across such unpleasantness. Like your comments by the way.
      - Susan Toth
        
        Good luck! lots of cyclists are polite on the Camino. It’s just that when you’re in a silent and thoughtful stride, it can be unpleasant to have disrupted. Good luck this year! I will be volunteering at the alburgue in Ponferrada (I hope).
      - Krysia Russell
        
        Thank you Susan, you never know, we might see you there!
Susan Toth

The people who think it’s a competition. There are some who pass judgment upon others who don’t walk as far.
Susan Hughes

I had a basic guidebook with great map, but no info.

SO – I ended up missing some things such as the infamous fountain of wine

http://susanhughesartist.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/fuente-del-vino/
Regina Saunders

I had heard for nearly 3 years that anyone could walk the Camino Frances. My ego heard only that, but apparently there was a comma followed by ‘as long as you have a reasonable level of fitness’. I thought I had. How anyone can walk from SJPP to Roncesvalles in one day is beyond me. Walking it in 2 near killed me. It terrified me for certain, and mostly because I had my daughter with me who was only 10 years old. I had an Italian man laugh at my tales of fear and anger at the assumption of how ‘relatively easy’ the walk was, and nearly punched him in the face. It was HARD. It was LONG, There was NOT enough water (I read that there was ample water supplies if you take your water bottles), and NOBODY would have noticed our absence if we had not turned up. I was really scared. It took us nearly 8 hours to walk from Valcarlos to Roncesvalles. I know now that many others (yes, old and infirm) took longer – but I was angry because of my fear (for my daughter mostly) that there was an air of incompetence given to any discussion of the difficulty of the path.
Yet… throughout the journey when we told people we started at Saint Jean, they (The Spanish in particular) marveled at our BRAVERY. I should have spoken to them. Would it have stopped me? No, but I never heard anyone say it was really, really, really, scarey hard.
And it was.
Regina Saunders

nobody will understand except those who did it also…..

What are the negatives that people have come across that we dont hear about?

Camino Frances

Check if your question has been asked before