I salute your great article! Wish all newbies would read it! Congratulations!
Great writing,
@jungleboy.
Thank you both!
Absolutely. But everyone has their own opinion.
@Dinah Shaw , can you say more, or do you just want to be the dissenting voice?
Of course, that was tongue in cheek!
You might be surprised that it's actually possible to walk with some sense of solitude on the meseta, even now. The secret is staying in small places between traditional stages — especially places that do not have Wi-Fi or even electricity. Last year I walked across the meseta in late May/early June and had a lot of time to myself, between the waves of pilgrims staying in more popular destinations.
Off-stage is an interesting discussion. When Wendy and I walked our first camino (the Francés), we planned to stay off-stage because we'd done this on other multi-day hikes like the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal and been very happy that we'd done so. But we didn't 'get' what the camino was at that stage, and soon we found that a) the shared experience with other pilgrims was a big part of it, and b) unlike in the Nepal example, where the traditional end-of-stage villages were just the larger ones that could better accommodate groups, some (though not all) traditional end-of-stage places on the Francés are part of camino lore and have sites to explore that are harder to appreciate/enjoy if you're just passing through on your way to the next town (e.g. early on the Francés: Puente la Reina, Estella etc). Now that we've walked a couple of solitary caminos (the Madrid,
the CP from Lisbon during the pandemic), I'm not sure how I'd feel about the enormous (non-COVID) crowds on the Francés.
To bring this back to the Meseta, if you're walking it for the first time, I would still recommend staying in some of the traditional places (e.g. Castrojeriz, Carrión, Mansilla de las Mulas) but maybe mixing up some of the other stops if that's practical stage-management-wise.
Finally, the last few days of the Camino de Madrid is an excellent Meseta alternative to the Francés because you still have the landscape, the canal (and it's an even better walk along the canal IMO), the Romanesque-Mudéjar fusion (
San Gervasio and San Protasio) and a historic albergue (Grajal) without the crowds.
Thanks so much
. I had an amazing journey all the way to Santiago de Compostela. My walking poles were indispensable to manage impact and balance. I just took my time, savouring each day and moment, even the days of continuous rain. Met some wonderful people and made heart to heart connections that continue to enrich my life. My spirit soared.
This time I think I will try León to Cruz de Ferro - more ups and downs for sure, but a stage I would really like to aim for.
lol) to be no different than the rest of the Camino Frances. No more challenging or austere. Not spooky, lonely or desolate. Just flat farm country, folks. Have similar terrain all over the world. There's plenty of accommodations on that stretch of the Frances and plenty of cafes and bars and restaurants. If so much was not mentioned/written about it I do not think anyone would give it any thought. Maybe I just do not have as much of an imagination as others, lol.
