Adult off road buggy

[Kiwi-girl]

Hi, not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but please point me in the right direction if not, so here goes. My friend and I are in the planning stages of walking the Camino, not sure yet which route. My friend wants to take her mother with and push her in an off-road buggy, she is not clinically wheelchair bound, but is unable to walk even a short distance due to a severe back injury. How will the logistics of this work? Does she (mother) have to have her own credential and will she qualify for a Compostela certificate? TIA

 

[henrythedog]

Your friend’s mother should have her own credencial and whilst it may be a slightly grey area for the team in Santiago it’s almost inconceivable that it would not merit a compostella.

Your friend, on the other hand should get a medal the size of a bin-lid if she accomplishes the trip whilst pushing her mother.

Let’s see if Tom can advise - @t2andreo

 

[Keith H]

The movie I’ll Push You shows how hard it can be but with the mother being partially ambulatory it won’t be as bad as that.

 

[Susan Peacock]

I have been part of a team pushing/pulling a young man in a trekking chair, 2019 & 2022.
At a minimum we needed two people at a time and when going up and down hills we used up to 6 people. No matter how strong one person is, they can’t possibly keep the chair from becoming a run away train. Do a lot of research on your equipment. Most wheeled chair would quickly fall apart on the rocky, rutted trails. Even with a very expensive, specially made trekking chair we had to do repairs along the way.
I also suspect the mother might weigh more than our young man (guessing 130lbs)
I don’t mean to be discouraging, my experience was very fulfilling, but is difficult. However, when you take on this responsibility, it becomes your Camino! Just go into it with lots of research, the right equipment, the right attitude and eyes wide open. Know that there is a real possibility of injury for the pushers. The volunteers we picked up often ended with shin splints, tendinitis, and we had one young pass out from dehydration and cut his head.

 

[C clearly]

How will the logistics of this work?

That is something that you and your friend will need to do a lot of research on. It is not a trivial task!

What distance and time frame are you thinking of?

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Typically 5-15+ pilgrims a month complete a Camino in a wheelchair and are awarded a Compostela.

It is definitely doable and undoubtedly takes a lot of effort from those involved.

 

[Kiwi-girl]

That is something that you and your friend will need to do a lot of research on. It is not a trivial task!

What distance and time frame are you thinking of?

We were going to do the Via de la Plata (without mother), but not sure if this would be feasible for that distance. Time is not a problem for us.

 

[Kiwi-girl]

Thank you all for your encouraging response, we certainly have a lot of research to do.

 

[trecile]

You might want to look into the Accessible Camino organization founded by the two men from the film I'll Push You.

https://www.accessiblecamino.com/

 

[Bala]

You might want to look into the Accessible Camino organization founded by the two men from the film I'll Push You.

https://www.accessiblecamino.com/

@Kiwigirl I was confirmed to go on the Accessible Camino this year with my niece (in a wheelchair). Unfortunately, we had to cancel due to some personal situations.

However, the organizers Patrick and Justin told us they figure they need a minimum of 5 "pushers" per chair. That was based on taking groups previously, as well as their own experience from St. Jean. The Accessible Camino was from Sarria.

From the online postings it sounded like everyone had an amazing time. I'd also recommend looking into it. Whatever you decide, I hope it all works out for you!! Good luck!

 

[JerryStroebele]

Wow! Muchas gracias for this timely information. My 33 year old son and I are planning to walk from Burgos to Leon next spring. He is not wheelchair bound but has multiple sclerosis and has great difficulty walking. We think bringing a wheelchair to use for about half of his day's walking would be a great help. He walked from Porto to Santiago in 2015 but with great difficulty and some days had to taxi the last couple of kms. His walking is much worse now but he wants another father-son Camino. I do too. I walked Burgos to Astorga this spring and except for two areas I saw where it would be necessary to taxi around, this Camino seems very doable with a wheelchair. We have been looking at lightweight wheelchairs but based on what I read here yesterday, now we are looking at trekking wheelchairs. I had not heard about them before. Buen Camino

 

[C clearly]

I have tagged this thread with "disability". If you click on that tag at the top of the thread under the title, you will get many threads discussing how to manage various needs on the Camino.

 

[Susan Peacock]

Wow! Muchas gracias for this timely information. My 33 year old son and I are planning to walk from Burgos to Leon next spring. He is not wheelchair bound but has multiple sclerosis and has great difficulty walking. We think bringing a wheelchair to use for about half of his day's walking would be a great help. He walked from Porto to Santiago in 2015 but with great difficulty and some days had to taxi the last couple of kms. His walking is much worse now but he wants another father-son Camino. I do too. I walked Burgos to Astorga this spring and except for two areas I saw where it would be necessary to taxi around, this Camino seems very doable with a wheelchair. We have been looking at lightweight wheelchairs but based on what I read here yesterday, now we are looking at trekking wheelchairs. I had not heard about them before. Buen Camino

I am sure that one of the areas you are talking about taking a taxi is the ascent and descent out of Castrojeriz. It is possible to take the bike route around. It is about 3km longer but mostly flat.

 

[ivar]

I have a wheelchair in Santiago if you need to borrow one... I should take some pictures of it. It is very sturdy and was specially made for the Camino.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I have an ancedote about renting a wheelchair in Spain. In Astorga I asked at the tourist office for a place where I could rent one for Peg, temporarily lame. No place in town had one for rent. Then I thought "Of course. If someone needs one they get one given them by the health service." Probably true but I don't know for sure.

The tourist office came through for us though. They made a call and the Red Cross delivered a free loaner (we gave a good donation to them though just as we regularly do a home).

So, while cooped up for a few days in Astorga Peg still got to see the sights and I had fun terrorizing her with wild driving.

 

[JerryStroebele]

Susan, yes, when I slowly walked up out of Castrojeriz, I said to myself, this is beautiful and Alex can do it! But when I got to the drop off on the other side, I said NO WAY!! Gracias for the information on the bike route. I was not aware of it.

Ivar, takk skal du ha for your wheel chair offer. Yes, please do post a couple of photos. But, I will not "reserve" until my son and I do more research. Of course it would be fun to return it to you in Santiago.

C Clearly, muchas gracias.

Buen Camino

 

[Camino Chrissy]

You might want to look into the Accessible Camino organization founded by the two men from the film I'll Push You.

https://www.accessiblecamino.com/

It was a wonderful, beautiful movie, as well. A very touching story of best friends in it for the long haul...no matter come what may. Their loyalty and love for one another brought me to tears.

 

[miguel_gp]

I have a wheelchair in Santiago if you need to borrow one... I should take some pictures of it. It is very sturdy and was specially made for the Camino.

@ivar, did you ever take those photos? If so, can you share them?

 

[Northpole]

@Kiwigirl I was confirmed to go on the Accessible Camino this year with my niece (in a wheelchair). Unfortunately, we had to cancel due to some personal situations.

However, the organizers Patrick and Justin told us they figure they need a minimum of 5 "pushers" per chair. That was based on taking groups previously, as well as their own experience from St. Jean. The Accessible Camino was from Sarria.

From the online postings it sounded like everyone had an amazing time. I'd also recommend looking into it. Whatever you decide, I hope it all works out for you!! Good luck!

Bala, I hope you get to do the Accessible Camino some other time! After seeing the movie, and then learning about the trips they organize, I put my name down for the list for next year. My original plan is to walk by myself in September of 2023, but a shorter Camino in June would be a great first run. This year, they did one from Sarria and one on the Camino Portugues (from Tui I guess), I would be cool with either one. (Sorry for hijacking the thread but wanted to comment on this!)

 

[ivar]

@ivar, did you ever take those photos? If so, can you share them?

No yet... will do soon... maybe even do a video on it

 

[Bala]

Bala, I hope you get to do the Accessible Camino some other time! After seeing the movie, and then learning about the trips they organize, I put my name down for the list for next year. My original plan is to walk by myself in September of 2023, but a shorter Camino in June would be a great first run. This year, they did one from Sarria and one on the Camino Portugues (from Tui I guess), I would be cool with either one. (Sorry for hijacking the thread but wanted to comment on this!)

I hope you are able to go!

 

[Roland49]

There are offroad wheelchairs available. Sturdy, lightweight, but expensive (3000-4000€/$). Most of them offer fixingpoints for pulling-rigs and have retractable extended handle-bars for pushing and very effective breaks.

If you have a nice and sturdy wheelchair you can try to change the wheels to offroad-wheels. That'll much cheaper (300€/$ per pair), but you will have problems with the small frontwheels if you are going real "offroad".

 

[ajeebhaii]

Typically 5-15+ pilgrims a month complete a Camino in a wheelchair and are awarded a Compostela.
install vidmate get-mobdroapk.com

 

[overhaii896]

Thank you all for your encouraging response
get-mobdro.com