@Albertagirl, all fair questions, and they gave me a chance to think more precisely about the specific issue I was trying to address, but I appear to have done so clumsily in my earlier posts.
As to the question of placing reservations on the Camino, I was not advising against them; I believe the person needs to make their own decision on the matter. If they want/need the certainty of a place to stay (regardless of reason --- health issues, fear, lack of proper sleeping kit, etc.), then by all means they should do so. On the other hand, if they can live with a little uncertainty, I personally believe there is greater opportunity for all kinds of benefits (which I listed in the earlier posts), and I encourage them to that if they can. For those caught in the post-Easter surge this year, reserving ahead appears to have been a necessity; for those in the relative calm behind them, it doesn't appear to be necessary.
As to your question of whether you should book ahead in France, I believe you should because it is a matter of justice to your host so they can prepare adequate food (there are places on lesser traveled routes in Spain where the same advice also applies). To do otherwise would be an imposition on the charity of your host. However, once in Spain on a route like the Frances, there is little to no need to reserve ahead, except in extraordinary personal circumstances or in the case of really high volumes. REGARDLESS, I advise a person to be prepared in the event that they end up homeless for a night or two, or, far worse, stranded outside of cellular service. An emergency shelter is appropriate; in my case, my Tyvek fabric "sleeping sheet" has loops so I can pitch it like a tarp for shelter using my walking sticks and some titanium stakes and guy lines. Going over the Route Napoleon, I came very near to pitching it when we were trapped in an extended fog and I was worried about losing the trail. Thankfully, things cleared, but I was prepared if they didn't. Anyone spending much time in the back country needs the basic skills in case something unexpected happens (injury, illness, weather, getting lost, whatever).
I have compassion for almost anyone in a difficult situation, but I don't always have sympathy. By compassion, I mean that I am willing to "suffer with" (com = with, passio = suffer) them to bring them aid. If they need a place to stay, or a lower bunk, or food or water from my pack, or whatever, I will help, regardless of why they need it. Don't get me wrong, I'm no model of a saint, but I do strive to live from a posture of compassion. Sympathy, on the other hand involves feelings of pity or sorrow over their situation, and my sympathy tends to be much more conditional (whether that is right or wrong is a moral question and worthy of a different thread).
The shorthand example of this is when my teenage son ignored my repeated advice about how to ascend and descend the first few days from SJPdP to Zubiri, and then several days later he experienced a nasty case of tendinitis in one of his knees as a direct result. I cared for him, and carried almost all of his gear as well as my own. I helped him get medication, knee wraps, etc. I bused him ahead rather than risk further injury while he healed up enough to walk. I had plenty of compassion for him, in that I shared readily in his suffering. However, I had no sympathy for him. His tendinitis wasn't because he was ignorant or because we went too far or too hard; rather, it was because of dumb teenage hubris, ignoring "the old man's" advice on proper technique while telling everyone that he'd be walking me into the ground. If he'd simply jumped off the roof and broken his leg, I'd have been just as compassionate, and just as unsympathetic.
What you were picking up on was a lack of sympathy on my part for one who doesn't even carry a sleeping bag and then has to endure hardship as a natural consequence. If their safety net is to book ahead, that's fine. If it's to buy a bag, that's probably even better. But to do neither and then experience the hardship a second time . . . well, I'm not sure what to say. If I'm there and able to help in some way, I'll gladly show compassion, but I will likely lack sympathy.
If one walks without adequate sleeping kit because their plan is to stay in upmarket places, what happens if things don't work out? What if they walk without adequate food or water or weather gear? The middle ground between fear and carelessness is prudence. The Camino isn't Death Valley or the Maze in the Canyonlands or the Australian Outback, and that so many ill-prepared people do it successfully is a tribute to just how hiker-friendly it is, but stuff can still happen, and the prudent person ought to prepare accordingly.
Anyways, if you hung in for this one, bully for you! Thanks for your patience on what turned into a much longer post than I'd planned.
