Advice please!

[LIsa D]

I'm planning to walk the St Frances Camino route in April with my daughter - we plan to carry our own bags/stay in Refugio's most days. But I have friends who would like to join us for a few days at some point to walk with us Also my husband, who has a disability and can only walk short distances would like to meet us somewhere along the route. Do you have any advice on 1) easy access point for someone who can't walk far to join us 2) easy place where we could meet up with walking friends (coming from England) 3) recommendations for good places to have a rest day 4) recommendations for a nice hotel or two along the way when we want to indulge a little Thank you! Lisa

 

[Dave C.]

I walked the Frances with my daughter back in 2016. You are going to have an amazing pilgrimage together. All the best and Buen Camino!!

 

[trecile]

Just FYI it's not the St Frances route. It's the Camino Francés because it's the Camino de Santiago route that comes from France. Unless you are referring to the Via di Francesco (Way of St Francis) in Italy.

Walking stages on the St Francis' Way

Walk in the spirit of the ancient pilgrims. One route to reach Assisi following in the footsteps of St Francis, whether leaving from the North (La Verna) or the South (Rome)

www.viadifrancesco.it

 

[domigee]

Hi! I know a nice hotel in Viana ‘Palacio de Pujadas’, also in Burgos ‘Mesón del Cid’ .
I can’t really help with the rest, sorry. Where do you intend to start?

 

[Vacajoe]

Rest days (and splurge hotel spots!): Pamplona, Leon, Burgos

If friends are trying to meet up and walk with you, the easiest is for them to do it near a major city that has transit options (same cities as above).

Those are not the most beautiful of stages, but you have to balance the scenery with the issues of travel. Remember, too, that as you walk, your anticipated schedule will change due to weather, injuries, walking speed, etc. The further along the route, the harder it will be to meet up with folks if they have to schedule their flights before you start walking.

It’s possible, it just takes planning (and patience!). Buen Camino

 

[williamlittig]

I made a friend from Santa Barbara who's wife took a taxi between towns and would walk out to meet us.

 

[John Sikora]

The simplest solution to most of the questions is just to piggyback your meetings on a city that is relatively large. There, most hotels have easy access, can be easily found by people looking for you, are comfortable enough and have a wide enough choice of rooms that you can pretty much tailor the hotel to your budget. The aforementioned cities are great choices. Other main cities like Sarria, Astorga, and many others would fit the bill as well. It might depend on how the people that you want to meet are traveling. If by train, that might limit it a bit, if by bus there is a bigger choice. But either way mid to large towns and cities are the ideal meeting place and have all the convenience that you need.

 

[C clearly]

The Camino Frances is generally considered to be the route between the French border (either on the French side at St Jean Pied de Port or on the Spanish side at Roncesvalles) and Santiago. Where on that 800-km route are you planning to start? That will make a huge different in looking at the options for meeting up with others.

Organizing scheduling, timing, daily itinerary changes for your friends and your husband will be a distraction from the special character of a pilgrimage (even a non-religious one) for you and your daughter. So it would be unfortunate (in my opinion) to turn this into a logistical headache where your camino is focused on the meet-ups instead of the Camino time with you and your daughter. Interrupting a long camino to spend time with non-pilgrims can be a bit disconcerting. Interrupting a short camino will change it completely.

Maybe meeting in Santiago is the best idea. Then walk from Santiago to Finisterre with your friends.

 

[jsalt]

Work out a rough itinerary of what you and your daughter want to do. I use a spreadsheet. I have to include a long haul flight to get there and back, so I book my accommodation at start and end.

Once you’ve established roughly where you will be, and when, give your friends your itinerary, and let THEM fit in with YOU. More likely than not they will back out anyway.

Then walk your own camino together, just the two of you.

As for hubby, it would be great if he could join you somewhere along the way.

My hubby and I have attempted to walk the camino together twice. He is not a walker, but maybe my enthusiasm rubs off. Both times were a disaster.

We are going to have another go this year (born optimists we are).

I have chosen sections where we can walk a bit together and bus a bit together. I love albergues but he hates them, so we’re staying in hotels. If he’s happy, I’m happy, and then we’re both happy.

But it’s not your camino anymore, and you have to adapt to looking after someone else instead of yourself, which you are used to anyway, but it’s a whole different ball game when you are on the camino and you are out of your comfort zone and he is just plain miserable.

He has always wanted to walk the last day into Santiago with me. Maybe we will succeed this year.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[LIsa D]

Thank you for all your replies - really helpful.
We're not doing this for religious reasons - but I'm hoping it will be an opportunity to step outside my (over-busy) life and have some time to learn whatever the walk has to teach me.
C Clearly - I completely take your point about not wanting to turn this into a logistical nightmare and I agree - my daughter hiked the Appalachian trail and I joined her for a fortnight which imposed a focus on that section of the walk I know she could have done without - but there she was walking for days in the woods miles from any roads so defining a time/place to meet was essential. But I'm hoping this will be quite different - if friends arrive and we're 30 miles away from where we thought we'd be, they'll have to wait for us to catch up or bus to find us - and time spent with friends is always precious and I'm sure I'll have things to learn from them too! And the friends will be walking too for a few days.
JSalt - love the fact you're giving it another go - must be worth it - good luck! I'm an optimist too so I'm sure it'll be good this time!
Domigee- thanks for suggestions of ‘Palacio de Pujadas’in Viana, ‘Mesón del Cid’ in Burgos - duly noted!
Trecile - thanks for the info re correct names - bit of a newbie to this! Camino Frances is the route we'll be taking starting in France at St Jean Pied de Port.
Vacajoe and JohnSikora - sounds like big cities Leon, Pamplona, Burgos, Sarria and Astorga are good meeting points - thank you.
Dave C - so great to hear you walked this with your daughter too - am hoping it will be something quite special for us to share
Thank you everyone - any further suggestions welcome!