Amsterdam to camino! !

[fearmeh]

Hello there! My name is Stefanos and I'm coming from Greece. I currently leave in Germany and on 21th of may I ll be in Holland (short of vacation) and wanna travel to camino through there!
The think is that I'm totally newbie and I need some tips from some experience members that can guide me and show me , from where I can get info's about this route. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I ll get any other change to have a trip like this. So I only have 1 month for research. Any help is welcome.

Cheers to you all! :smile:

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Take a train to Paris, then Bayonne, then St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port. From there, follow the yellow arrows to Santiago de Compostela.

Oh, and stop in the Pilgrim Office at SJPdP for some literature and a credencial! You need a credencial to stay in most of the low cost albergues.

Buen camino!

 

[tyrrek]

Hi Stefanos! If you want to start your Camino around SJPP/Roncesvalles there's a flight to Biarritz from Rotterdam with Transavia. It doesn't operate every day, though. Buen Camino!

 

[fearmeh]

Απ: Re: Amsterdam to camino! !

Hi Stefanos! If you want to start your Camino around SJPP/Roncesvalles there's a flight to Biarritz from Rotterdam with Transavia. It doesn't operate every day, though. Buen Camino!

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I wanr to walk from Amsterdam to Paris and then to Santiago de compostela .. :grin: I know that some people did that before. .

 

[tyrrek]

Re: Απ: Re: Amsterdam to camino! !

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I wanr to walk from Amsterdam to France and then to camino.. :grin:

My mistake! Good luck and Buen Camino!

 

[fearmeh]

Απ: Amsterdam to camino! !

Yo, thanks anyway. . So anyone can give me some research directions?

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hello.
I attempted the Pelgrimspad last year.
Someday I'd like to attempt it again, but it was not in the cards last spring.

If you do not speak Dutch, it is not easy, as the route is not as well-supported at all as the Camino itself. There are not albergues along the way. You must use a telephone and book lodging, and our experience was that the people did not speak English, only Dutch, so it was a problem communicating. Also, it is much more expensive, although there ARE some campgrounds.

That said, a few people have successfully done it and loved it.
The walking itself is beautiful, but we were unable to find lodging after a day or two.
That and the rain put us off.

This is a very good guidebook and the only one I know in English:
http://walkingtrailsworld.com/pelgrim.html

If you can do it, it will be a fantastic walk!
Buen Camino!
Annie

 

[fearmeh]

Απ: Amsterdam to camino! !

Thank you very much! That's absolutely helpful :-D now I have something to start with.

 

[nospacebar14]

I can't help much, but I met some who had walked from Essen so crossing France and Northern Europe is possible. He stayed in monasteries or slept the woods, mostly, but he made it alright even in winter with no French or Spanish. Interesting dude.

Anyway, these might help (particularly with signage)! At least to get you started!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GR_footpath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_walking_route

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mapa_ ... Europa.png

http://www.gronze.com/

And I'm a bit jealous -- it's going to be an adventure!

Buen Camino,

David

 

[fearmeh]

Απ: Amsterdam to camino! !

That's wonderful David, thank you very much for your info!! I also believe that it will be a great trip.

 

[Kiwi-family]

We met a guy who had walked from Amsterdam....but he was Dutch, so had not trouble with the language!

 

[Albertinho]

The Dutch Sint Jacobs Genootschap in Utrecht can help you out. Look at the website http://www.santiago.nl
Where you'll find telephonenumbers ,emailaddress etc etc.
However the site is in the Dutch language ,you could send them an email in english

Evenually give me a personal message and I will send you some links to websites about the camino from Amsterdam

Succes and buen camino

Ps if you want my help send your pm now. within 3 weeks I start my caminho Portuges

 

[Albertinho]

Hello.
I attempted the Pelgrimspad last year.
Someday I'd like to attempt it again, but it was not in the cards last spring.

If you do not speak Dutch, it is not easy, as the route is not as well-supported at all as the Camino itself. There are not albergues along the way. You must use a telephone and book lodging, and our experience was that the people did not speak English, only Dutch, so it was a problem communicating. Also, it is much more expensive, although there ARE some campgrounds.

That said, a few people have successfully done it and loved it.
The walking itself is beautiful, but we were unable to find lodging after a day or two.
That and the rain put us off.

This is a very good guidebook and the only one I know in English:
http://walkingtrailsworld.com/pelgrim.html

If you can do it, it will be a fantastic walk!
Buen Camino!
Annie

You must have bad luck by meeting the wrong people. Allmost all Dutch speak english. Many are multilingual as we learn English , German, French..at primary and grammar schools.
Because we are a trading and im-and export country with big harbours and transportfacilities we have to speak english at least.

 

[Luka]

I would not call us multilingual, but was surprised to read about Dutch people nog speaking English. Everyone speaks at least a little, even my mother who turns 70 next year.

I walked the Pelgrimspad. Went on to Belgium and France. The topic here is called "choices from Amsterdam".

 

[Anniesantiago]

All I know is we had no luck getting lodging after the second night.

I was exhausted, having walked from Lourdes to Santiago already. It was cold and raining, and we tried calling three different lodging numbers we had with no luck. People either had no vacancy, or did not or would not speak English (which is fine - we were in Netherlands) but we could not communicate and had no place to sleep for the night. We also could not find a place to eat, and at that point, we just tossed in the towel, took a bus to the airport, and flew to Wales.

I was fine with that, as there were walking trails there I wanted to walk.

I think a person who is fresh and adventurous could have a wonderful walk, and someday I will do it again. I'm not saying don't do it.. not at all. I think it was a beautiful walk, even the small amount we did. I just wasn't up to it at that point, and changed direction. I never lock myself into a situation, and tend to be pretty flexible. So rather than push on and sleep under a tree in the rain, we decided to visit our friends in Wales early.

 

[LTfit]

I definately agree with Luka and Albertinho! Annie must have had poor luck as the majority of the Dutch speak English and usually quite well. When I moved here 20 years ago I had to insist on speaking Dutch (and even pretended not to understand English) in order to practice!

Last fall I completed the first 8 stages of Pelgrimspad I but as I did so on Sundays I did not have to deal with lodging. Infrastructure as in France and Spain just doesn't exist. I understand that if you are a member of the Dutch Confraternity it is possible to get a list of members that offer lodging. Can anyone confirm this? As Luka has walked the entire route into France, she is probably the one who could give the most accurate information.

I enjoyed the stages thus far and plan on continuing this month and next in preparation for my return to Spain. But don't expect to meet up with anyone along the route, at least that was my experience. The Pelgrimspad crosses many other walking routes so you will see people from time to time but not on that route.

When I walked parts of the Pieterpad (also a long distance route from North to South) we slept in houses/lodging provided by Vrienden op de Fiets (Friends on Bikes): http://www.vriendenopdefiets.nl/nl/. Private people offer lodging and breakfast to bicyclers and walkers for a reasonable price - they are not B&B's. Once you become a member for E8.00 you receive a list of participants.

If I can be of any help than let me know.
Cheers,
LT

 

[Luka]

I did the stages in the Netherlands (Pelgrimspad) mostly without staying overnight. There aren't many option to find cheap places to stay. Best are the one mentioned bij LTFit (http://www.vriendenopdefiets.nl/en), some 'natuurvriendenhuizen' '('friends of nature', accomodations run by volunteers with cooking facilities, http://www.nivon.nl), youth hostels and former pilgrims who offer their home (I guess the Dutch association http://www.santiago.nl has a list). There is (as far as I know) only one special place for pilgrims on the pelgrimspad, in Vessem. Still about 18 euros a night (including breakfast) for a single room.

I have to say that a pilgrim who wants to walk through the Neterlands, Belgium and northern France (up to Vézelay at least) needs a lot of creativity (and money). I stayed at abbeys (wonderful), B&B's, campsites, small hotels, former schools... everywhere I could find a place to lay my head.