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Luka, what a thoughtful and honest post asking questions that I believe have entered many a pilgrim’s consciousness!
Two immediate issues surface after reading your post and the already wonderful set of comments. How might this experience have been different had you not become ill? I believe...
The Camino Francés isn’t the only possibility for walking your kind of Camino. There are many other great Camino routes available for the pilgrim who doesn’t want the more “crowded” experience. To paraphrase an old Will Ragers saying, I’ve never met a Camino I didn’t like!
In just a few responses, a lot of good advice has been posted.
1. Size and fit are interrelated. The pack needs to be a good fit to your body. Regarding capacity, I’ve never needed anything larger than my 36L pack and always have room to spare. I could easily drop down to 28L, but I like that...
Let me second what @Albertinho recommended. Our stay at Casa da Fernanda was one of the highlights of our CP. Better hospitality won’t be found anywhere else. Do reserve beds and then enjoy wonderful food and company in Fernanda’s home.
Download the app Mapy.cz. You can easily follow the VE in reverse and always see you position as you walk. Just open the app and as you enlarge the map you’ll find the route in blue between Vilanova de Arouza and Pontevedra.
I find this to be a particularly interesting statistic. When you consider that some of the 31K Compostelas were awarded to individuals who did the CF in segments over several visits to the Camino, the percentage of pilgrims both starting in SJPP and finishing in 2023 is even lower. I guess I’m...
I can’t help you much with your route as I went the more traditional Ferrol, Pontedueme, Betanzos. However, regardless of how you get there, the Tortilla de Betanzos is worth the walk. Let me recommend a very nice eaterie, Casa Miranda. It offers an
excellent tortilla (but again, there’s...
Hey Jed, First, I would certainly encourage you to walk on from SdC to Finisterre and Muxia. Reaching the “end of the world” will be a second great culmination to your CF (the first being your arrival in Santiago). Second, if you still have the legs and enthusiasm for more walking, I’d head to...
We once caught a bus just past the airport in Castañares that took us to the edge of the historical district. It was an easy walk then to the center of Burgos and out the other side. If you haven’t visited Burgos, even if you don’t want to spend the night, I’d highly recommend at least a quick...
I can completely emphasize with you regarding large blisters. I would recommend that you open up those blisters so they can drain and dry out. After you begin walking again, apply pharmaceutical tape over the blisters. Remove the tape at the end of the walking day making sure they don’t fill up...
Three possible rest day spots come to mind: Caminha, Baiona, and Pontevedra. Caminha is a charming small town. Baiona is a bit larger, but full of character. And Pontevedra is a wonderfully beautiful city. I like your idea of walking in four day blocks. Bom caminho!
You also have the option of taking the bus from downtown up to Matosinhos. As I remember, it’s the #505 double decker bus that we caught right across the street from Sao Bento. Its route is along the Douro River and then up the coast. The last stop near the Matosinhos market is where you get...
I would first say that Padron is a pleasant town to overnight in on the CP. When we walked the Central Route, we very much enjoyed staying there. When we did the VE, we, too, arrived late morning. We had decided to walk on from Padron after gathering our Pedronías at the municipal albergue and...
What a wonderful photo show. It brought back to many good memories.
We walked the more traditional route of three days which, to our very good fortune, included a night at the Monestario in Armenteria in 2022 off-season. However, were we to walk the VE again, which I hope we can, we’d take a...
Personnally, I’m very pleased to see (excluyendo la bicicleta electrica) on the qualifications section for a Compostela. I certainly don’t want to restrict opportunities for people to accomplish a pilgrimage. However, on the crowded CF, care needs to be exercised by the cyclist not to injure...
In the same vein as the Harding article, I have enjoyed reading both before and after Caminos Paulo Coelho’s short novel The Alchemist. In this easy read, he address following the dream and the value of the journey to find it. IMHO it’s a far better read than his The Pilgrimage set on the CF.
After checking into your albergue, you’ll find that almost everyone leaves their pack near their assigned or chosen bed. I always roll out my sleeping bag and stow away rest of my gear except my valuables. Keep your valuable items (i.e., cameras, phones, notebooks, money and documents) with you...
Glad to hear that you had no difficulty getting a bed in Roncesvalles. Hopefully, that will continue for you. A lot has been written this spring regarding the large number of pilgrims particularly in the first stages of the CF and some difficulty finding accommodations.
The advice that I follow...
I modified this post since I realized that I misread what the OP was looking for. I’ve not seen the type of spreadsheet for the CP that I remember from the CF with distances between towns on each stage. So, the planning tool that I used for the CP was gronze.com. If you click on the profile of...
Check out Cycling Rentals. They have always been very helpful to me the times that I’ve talked with them. They deliver bikes anywhere in Portugal and Spain and then pick up in SdC. Their website describes all their options including e-bikes. The only difficulty that you might run into is that...
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