Update: I walked the
Camino Frances from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela starting September 20 and ending November 02,2017. This was the hardest thing, physically, I have ever done. I found, after two years of research and planning, that I got many things wrong. This hurts to admit since I am a retired engineer. I had written that I had gone to the gym everyday for two years and lifted a lot of weights and walked on treadmill for 3 Miles a day. I can tell you I learned the hard way on day one that walking on a tread mill is nothing like walking the Camino. Most people would tell me they had a much harder time with the down hill walking but for me the up hill was always much harder from beginning to end because of my lack of fitness.
Some of the many things I got wrong;
- 70 liter pack was way to big. I tried to carry all my “stuff” (40 pounds in pack) for the first few days and it darn near killed me. Thank god I found out about bag transport. I transported my bag for a couple of weeks until I got in better shape and got rid of many items I did not need. One issue I could not loose was my 6 pound CPAP machine. If I do this again I would use a 40 liter pack and get a travel CPAP.
- my trainng was all wrong. I should have been walking outside on trails and much less tread mill. I should have walked longer than 3 Miles a day and on hills.
- I should have walked for Miles in my rain gear. I bought lite weight breathable rain gear and found out in Spain that when wearing it I would sweat so much that I may as well just get wet from the rain. I ended up not wearing my rain pants due to the sweating. Next time I would just take a lite poncho.
- as I had stated in earlier threads I am 6’2” and weighed 320 pounds. I stayed in Albergues 90 percent of the time and then hotels in bigger city’s on rest days. I never had an issue on the bunks, I always got bottom, being to short or small. I found the bunks to be just fine for me.
I thought I could walk the guide book stages but found the first few weeks I was walking 8 to 15k due to fitness. Later I would walk 15 to 22k a day. I would walk fewer k’s many more hours than others due to my slow walking. I would meet people and walk with them a few minutes but then they would move on due to my slow pace. I would meet new people each night at the Albergue since ones I had met the night before would be a village or two beyond me the next night.
I wanted to quit everyday the first week out but my family back home kept telling me to keep going and I would be mad at myself if I quit. I kept going and it got easier after about 10 days. I will not lie to you it is hard but so very much worth it.
I could type for hours about what I did wrong and what I got right, etc but will cut it short.
Walking the Camino was one of the best thinks (things)I have ever done.
Best of luck to all of you larger folks looking to walk the Camino.