Sharing Camino Itinerary: Need Template Suggestions

[MajorBozo]

Hello Y’all,
I have be asked to post an itinerary on blog covering my Camino. People on the home-front would like to have an idea of my route and see my planned progression. I am using the route from Gerald Kelly’s book. Could you omit me to a template that I can customize. Either in Numbers for IPad or Excel would be best. However I could work with anything. I just do not want to have to re-invent from scratch.
Thanks,

Major Bozo

 

[J Willhaus]

Don't know if this can help? I think you put in your stages and it prints it out as a table, but I have not used it. I know @trecile often recommends it.

Planificador - Vía de la Plata - Godesalco.com

Perfiles altitudinales, planificación de etapas y archivos GPS para la Vía de la Plata.

godesalco.com

 

[CWBuff]

IMHO Godesalco (referenced above by @J Willhaus ) is the best. You can play with it to your hearts desires and come up with a very nice comprehensive Excel
Here is an example of my Finistere (short enough which is why I chose it as example)

From Santiago de Compostela to Cabo de Finisterre through the Camino de Finisterre

From Santiago de Compostela to Cabo de Finisterre through the Camino de Finisterre
The table shows dates, stages, partial and cumulative distances, lodgings, sunrise and sunset times, and percentage of Moon illumination.
Summary
Longest stage: Negreira - Lago: 28.2 km
Shortest stage: Cee - Cabo de Finisterre: 16.4 km
Total distance: 92.9 km.
Stages: 4.
Average: 23.2 km per travel day.
Departure: Tuesday, 28 June 2022.
Arrival: Friday, 1 July 2022.
	Day	Stage	Partial (km)	Total (km)	Lodgings	End altitude (m)	Sun	Moon
1)	Tu, 28-Jun-2022	Santiago de Compostela - Negreira	21.5	21.5	A, 4P, 2H	167	6:56 to 22:19	70 %
2)	We, 29-Jun-2022	Negreira - Lago	28.2	49.7	P	333	6:57 to 22:20	60 %
3)	Th, 30-Jnl-2022	Lago - Cee	26.8	76.5	5P, 5H	4	6:59 to 22:21	51 %
4)	Fr, 1-Jul-2022	Cee - Cabo de Finisterre	16.4	92.9	H	93	7:00 to 22:21	41 %
Abbreviations
R: lodging in parishes, convents or religious communities.
F: lodging in private homes.
A: pilgrims public or non-profit hostel.
P: pilgrims private or private-driven hostel.
J: youth hostel or student residence.
H: hotel, guesthouse...
C: campsite.
FR: off-route.

And of course you can also use Profiles of all 34 Stages here on the Forum. if you are not religiously doing the indicated stages - you can always point out where you are\will be on a given map (I've dome most of my Frances off stages and did just that for the folks at home)
Buen Camino

 

[trecile]

I use Godesalco along with Gronze, and the Buen Camino and Wise Pilgrim apps to create a proposed plan of stages, which I make in a Google Sheets spreadsheet. I share that spreadsheet (read only) with my husband. I make notes to myself about things like side trips, alternate routes, etc. on the spreadsheet.

To share my journey with my friends and family I use the Find Penguins blogging site and app, where I upload photos and write brief summary of my day. Find Penguins creates a map of your Camino as you go.

Plan, track, and blog your trips

Automatically and effortlessly track your travels, simply with your phone in the pocket. Create a beautiful travel journal and enjoy the benefits of our leading travel app.

findpenguins.com

 

[SeñorJacques]

I made my own template in Google Sheets (which can be exported as a standard Excel file) that I have used to plan my two Caminos. It's quite simple, but I found it useful for figuring out my route and accommodations in advance when I needed to, and for recording things (like how much money I spent on daily accommodations and food and miscellaneous notes about things I saw and people I met) after each day's walking. It is also easily modifiable if you need to add other kinds of information I haven't included.

Unfortunately, the Camino Forum interface won't let me attach the .xlsx file to this message. So below is a .pdf screenshotcof what it looks like. If it seems like it would be of use to you, feel free to direct message me and we'll figure out how I can send you the Excel template file.

 

[Sirage]

An alternative for sharing is

TrackMyTour

trackmytour.com

which you use as an App on your phone

You can add all the places (with draft dates and draft locations) on a map before you leave (on your computer or phone) )and share it (the website) with all your family and friends.

On arrival at every place you stay you can update the draft information with the actual precise location and time of arrival. Of course a living map is vastly more interesting than a spreadsheet. (Spreadsheets have their place in planning.)

And add photos if you wish (eg of the Albergue, the morning sunrise, ......)

 

[AR1965]

Hello Y’all,
I have be asked to post an itinerary on blog covering my Camino. People on the home-front would like to have an idea of my route and see my planned progression. I am using the route from Gerald Kelly’s book. Could you omit me to a template that I can customize. Either in Numbers for IPad or Excel would be best. However I could work with anything. I just do not want to have to re-invent from scratch.
Thanks,

Major Bozo

I would be very, very careful of making your itinerary public via a blog.

 

[geraldkelly]

If you use https://godesalco.com/plan/plata please be aware that some of the places they mention as places to stop have albergues that aren't open and others have no (and never have had one). So always verify in the guide.

 

[henrythedog]

I would be very, very careful of making your itinerary public via a blog.

Why?

 

[J Willhaus]

Why?

Don't know about the UK, but people will may come to your home and rob it in the US if they know you are away...

 

[AR1965]

Why?

Personal safety, mainly. I wouldn't want random strangers on the internet knowing where to find me as a woman traveling alone.

 

[Tincatinker]

I’ll come from a slightly different angle. A preset itinerary for the whole of a Camino? What do you do when life changes your plan? Sit in a bar with moderate WiFi and re-write the damn thing?

How much panic do you want to cause back home the first time you ain’t where you’re supposed to be? If there are a bunch of folks back home who really want or need to know where and how you’re doing set up a Whatsup group and introduce them all to the joys of Google.maps.

I used to travel for months at a time and send postcards - some of which used to reach home before I did. Mum and me had a setup where every Sunday I’d make a reverse charges phone call that she would refuse to accept. Proof of life I suppose

 

[MajorBozo]

Thanks for all the replies, concerns and advice. I’ll address concerns below

1) blog is private only accessible to those I let in. Plus underlying password protected pages ie the itinerary and family communications
2) Home Front security. My wife will be at home with our two Australian Cattle Dogs- alert outstanding loyal guard dogs. See avitar. House is fully alarmed. Plus she has friends at arms reach that are quite loud and strong .
3) Squatters aren’t an issue in South Carolina as they are in Georgia. Stand your Ground state
4) itinerary is just tentative and is only a “plan”. I am open to where El Camino takes me the blog will updated to match reality so the followers can keep up. And tell friends
5)track tour looks like a nice app. It may do the trick
6) thanks for the template offers

Cheers,
MajorBozo

 

[MajorBozo]

Trackmytour app

 

[Jan Jones]

The numbers app on your iPhone/ipad has a travel template in which you can create an itinerary.
Last year my children asked for an itinerary- I doubt they looked at it . I gave them permission on my iPhone to access my location - I doubt they ever checked it. Perhaps if I didn’t send a photo every couple of days they might have checked up. I’m very happy that they still think that I can handle myself.
I will try Find Penguins for my own amusement on the Sanabrés later this month.

 

[henrythedog]

Don't know about the UK, but people will may come to your home and rob it in the US if they know you are away...

When I’m away (an ex rugby-playing military policeman who practices aikido) Mrs HtD is at home and she scares the living daylights out of me. Potential intruders are more at risk when I’m not there to apply the safety catch.

WRT publicising your future location; fair enough. If you perceive a risk then why take the chance.

 

[Finley]

Try using ChatGPT. It’s a A I app that will give you an itinerary based on how many days you want to walk or miles in a day.

 

[trecile]

Try using ChatGPT. It’s a A I app that will give you an itinerary based on how many days you want to walk or miles in a day.

Good luck with that. I can't find it now, but a while ago someone posted an itinerary from Chat GPT. It had some days of around 50 km, days that went east rather than west, etc.

 

[CA_Pilgrim]

Hello Y’all,
I have be asked to post an itinerary on blog covering my Camino. People on the home-front would like to have an idea of my route and see my planned progression. I am using the route from Gerald Kelly’s book. Could you omit me to a template that I can customize. Either in Numbers for IPad or Excel would be best. However I could work with anything. I just do not want to have to re-invent from scratch.
Thanks,

Major Bozo

Attached is a PDF of my spreadsheet for an upcoming Camino Portuguese. It's a modification of a similar spreadsheet I created for my 2022 Camino Frances. I found the spreadsheet to be invaluable on my 2022 Camino because I could pull it up on my phone to get information I needed for each day and also modify it on the fly when needed. The last date to cancel reservations column was particularly helpful.

 

[JavierLeon]

Good luck with that. I can't find it now, but a while ago someone posted an itinerary from Chat GPT. It had some days of around 50 km, days that went east rather than west, etc.

Working on this... maybe I could help someone to do some research in parallel with the forums.