3 weeks on Camino Frances

[jake8078]

Hello folks,

I walked the Camino Frances in 2009 from SJPP to SdC. Due to vacation limitations, I will be only doing 3 weeks this time (my gf and I start this coming Sunday in SJPP).

We had planned to end in Leon or thereabouts (our return flight is out of Bilbao) but I wanted the community's opinion on skipping stages in order to finish in SdC.

My first thought is of course you lose out on all the relationships you build the first several weeks. However, the route after Leon becomes mountainous again and I think I'd like to go through those passes into Galicia once more. I suppose I should be able to answer my own question but it was 7 years ago.

Thoughts on skipping the middle section (maybe a bus from Burgos to Leon) in order to be able to squeeze it all in? I know we definitely want to start in SJPP. We will play it by ear no matter what, as I don't want to plan a schedule, but what do you all think about this?

Getting a compostella is not important to us, but we do love higher elevation hiking and Galicia is just so different from the rest of the Camino Frances.

 

[NualaOC]

Hi @jake8078

It's hard to know how to advise you since (a) you definitely want to start in St. Jean, (b) you might want to end in Santiago (c) you have 3 weeks to walk and (d) your return flight is from Bilbao. That's a tricky combination!

Firstly, it's a long way from Santiago to Bilbao. Given your 3-week timeframe, you might not want to spend a full day backtracking eastwards. Rome2Rio shows some options for this journey: https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Santiago-de-Compostela/Bilbao Much as I enjoy bus and train journeys, I don't think I'd want to do this at the end of a Camino.

You haven't mentioned where you are flying from/to. Assuming that you're arriving at an airport close to St. Jean (e.g. Biarritz), the simplest option is probably to start in St Jean and keep walking until you run out of time. You'll cover a lot of ground in three weeks and I'm sure it will be a memorable experience for you both. You can always come back another year and continue your walk to Santiago or beyond.

If you decide en-route that reaching Santiago is important, there are plenty of ways of skipping sections from Pamplona onwards. You mentioned skipping Burgos to Leon - this might work, but depending on your walking pace, you might need to skip another section too. In my opinion (and it's just an opinion!), this is making things a lot more complicated than they need to be.

Are your flight arrangement set in stone? If you want to keep an open mind about whether you end in Leon or Santiago, Madrid would be a much better option for your return flight.

Hope this helps. Buen Camino to you both!