Backpack Transport Question

[Heidi Cruise]

Beginning our 1st Camino in May in SJPDP and wondered about having my backpack transported for the 1st 8 days. I have a knee injury and figured transporting my pack at the beginning would give me a better chance of making it the whole way to Santiago. After the 8 days I will reevaluate whether I can take it myself from that point. I have looked into Jacotrans, which is easy to use, but the problem I have is that for my 3rd night we are staying in a place in Larrsoana that isn't listed on their website. So, I have a couple of questions: Is it pretty easy to just sort out the transporting of my backpack when I am at each place for the 1st 8 days, or should I lock something down now with another company, and if so which company might do this. Its getting pretty exciting now, countdown to just over 40 days until we hit the road! Thanks for any advice

 

[Chacharm]

Yes. Jacotrans is really nice. They'll take your stuff basically anywhere. If you hang around and wait for the driver the first day you can talk to him (or her) about it and get a few extra envelopes. Maybe give him/her a tip for the off schedule place. Once I wrote down the name of a place that was wayyy off. Some hotel out in the damn boonies. I realized my mistake on the way there...I don't remember where this was - some city. I thought I was going to have to take a cab out to this hotel to get my pack but the Jacotrans guy actually called the correct place while I was standing there fretting about it and asked if he should drop it off there instead of the place I had indicated. Every region/ 100 km you pass through will have a different driver, so for the first 8 days you will probably have the same person. Then, around Melide, you'll be using a different company all together. I forget the name of it. Just ask your hospitalero. It is super easy.

 

[naplesdon]

Yes. Jacotrans is really nice. They'll take your stuff basically anywhere. If you hang around and wait for the driver the first day you can talk to him (or her) about it and get a few extra envelopes. Maybe give him/her a tip for the off schedule place. Once I wrote down the name of a place that was wayyy off. Some hotel out in the damn boonies. I realized my mistake on the way there...I don't remember where this was - some city. I thought I was going to have to take a cab out to this hotel to get my pack but the Jacotrans guy actually called the correct place while I was standing there fretting about it and asked if he should drop it off there instead of the place I had indicated. Every region/ 100 km you pass through will have a different driver, so for the first 8 days you will probably have the same person. Then, around Melide, you'll be using a different company all together. I forget the name of it. Just ask your hospitalero. It is super easy.

Totally agree, the better you get to know them the better the service becomes and a tip in always a good idea. David's is another service as you get farther west, they are less expensive and will text you to let you know your bag has been delivered. In fours years I have only heard one story about a bag that went missing but the problem was sorted out within 24 hours. These guys are good.

 

[CaptBuddy]

Jacotrans has a sign-up on their web site where you can prepay with credit card. It is very trustworthy and safe.
We used it when my wife had knee problems, or when we just wanted to take a break.

 

[Chacharm]

Jacotrans has a sign-up on their web site where you can prepay with credit card. It is very trustworthy and safe.
We used it when my wife had knee problems, or when we just wanted to take a break.

Nice! I never knew!

 

[Bajaracer]

Beginning our 1st Camino in May in SJPDP and wondered about having my backpack transported for the 1st 8 days. I have a knee injury and figured transporting my pack at the beginning would give me a better chance of making it the whole way to Santiago. After the 8 days I will reevaluate whether I can take it myself from that point. I have looked into Jacotrans, which is easy to use, but the problem I have is that for my 3rd night we are staying in a place in Larrsoana that isn't listed on their website. So, I have a couple of questions: Is it pretty easy to just sort out the transporting of my backpack when I am at each place for the 1st 8 days, or should I lock something down now with another company, and if so which company might do this. Its getting pretty exciting now, countdown to just over 40 days until we hit the road! Thanks for any advice

If you have knee issues, I suggest Zubiri to ease yourself into the walk, I can almost guarantee that you'll be in no mood to walk to Larrasoana.

 

[mspath]

If you have knee issues, I suggest Zubiri to ease yourself into the walk, I can almost guarantee that you'll be in no mood to walk to Larrasoana.

Further to what Bajaracer wrote you might consider walking on the parallel road N 135 down from the Alto de Erro to Zubiri. The camino itself from the Alto on has several steep descents. At the Alto the road crosses the camino so it is easy to make the switch.

 

[Telelama]

Jacotrans works well and they understand the Pilgrim life style and accommodate it. We shipped our packs for a few days when all other changes failed to alleviate the blisters we continued to develop. We always found Jacotrans forms in the Albergues and simply wrote our destination on the form, contact info, slipped 7 euros into the envelope, attached envelope to the backpack and left them with the pile of other backpacks by the door. They always showed up. You are supposed to make reservations, which we eventually did after a few days. They were very patient with our very poor Spanish on the phone. If there are no backpacks waiting by the door, Jacotrans is probably not stopping there for a pickup. You could probably leave your backpack on a pile at another albergue.