• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.
  • Get your Camino Frances Guidebook here.
This is a mobile optimized page that loads fast, if you want to load the real page, click this text.

advice for first time walker

Vivienne Yung

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
start of july 2015
Hi everyone! I am 21 from Melbourne and am going to Europe in 2 months, and I am planning to walk from Sierra to Santiago start of July. Just a few questions:

1. Is 100km doable in 4 days or should I set aside more time?
2. Will I be ok doing it with my 65L backpack that I'm taking with my around Europe
3. Do I really need to invest in good walking shoes, or are runners ok? And if I do, then what shoes are good that I can store in my pack when I'm finished with the walk? I don't really want heavy hiking shoes to carry for another 4 months after finishing the camino

Any advice would be great thanks!
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Welcome Vivienne,
1. Yes it is doable in four days but five or six would be better to really enjoy it.
2. Depends on the weight of your pack. IMO you could leave un needed gear in Santiago with Ivars storage.
3. Runners would be ok IMO at that time of year, even good walking sandals would do.
Buen Camino.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/luggage-storage-in-santiago-de-compostela/
 
Exactly what wayfarer said!
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Wish you well and a Buen Camino, Peter.
 
Hi Vivienne, I live in Geelong. I'm afraid I have no suggestions as I haven't walked yet, wishing a great time.
Good luck ....Buen Camino.
 
Hi a
m on sanabres right now and older than you . So. Yes 25 a day doable for u but depends on terrain .65 litre too heavy . I like ankle boots or at least good walking shoes , extra shoes I hav sketchers or crocs . . Keep weight to under 10 kilos . Cheered from a Fremantle Australian .buen camino
 
Join our full-service guided tour of the Basque Country and let us pamper you!
The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
Sorry what is the Ivars storage? Is it easy to transfer my main pack to santiago and just walk with a day pack, will my pack be safe?
 


1. Absolutely, 25km is doable even for a novice walker. You start walking every day around 8am, and the average person walks about 5km an hour. If you stop for coffee/lunch/breaks you can easily get into the next town by 3pm which is about right. Make sure to give yourself short days, your body and mind needs a break every now and then. I would recommend not planning out your stops too intensely as you may find yourself maintaining the pace of fellow peregrinos.
2. 65L is more than enough, I did most of mine with a school backpack, using my guitar strap as a waist strap until it broke in Sahagun. That being said, make sure your backpack has a top notch waist strap, the difference it makes is incredible.
3. Don't let anyone tell you that you have to have walking shoes, take a pair of light relaxing shoes and a pair of good, breathable runners. Sure, waterproof shoes are nice on rainy days, but they will give you blisters if you were them constantly and they are heaving to strap to your bag during the majority of the time when it is not raining. Honestly, the best advice I can give you is to maintain a budget that would allow you to buy whatever shoe you would feel would be more suitable as you're completing your walk. I started with waterproof, switched to crocs by Zubiri and wore my crocs virtually straight on through to Sahagun. Bought cheap runners in Leon and by the time I got to Finisterre my feet were nearly healed enough to wear my hiking shoes again, lol.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-

Most read last week in this forum