long trails
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances 2012
I finished up in Santiago two days ago and took a train to Vigo (nice place) and now in Porto, enjoying the lovely food!
Sorry, one of my main gripes about the Camino Frances is the lack of variety in food. Portugal seems much more accepting of foreign food places!
I camped only four times in the end.
Much less than I had planned, but I don't regret carrying the 800 grams tent. Always having another option to albergues took away a lot of stress and I would do the same again.
In the end the bed pressure wasn't there and even when I did camp, there were beds available.
The places I camped were three albergues within their grounds, and one time on a piece of land with local permission.
Part of the reason I didn't wild camp more was due to it never getting dark before 10.15pm! The issue is if you finish your walking by early afternoon there is a lot of hanging around.
I met two american girls camping and they would sit around in bars until 9pm and then go find somewhere. Probably ok if you are not alone.
Commercial campsites are more expensive than albergues, the three I enquired at were all over 10 euros!
I met plenty of pilgrims who camped most nights, just spending the odd night in an albergue. Their main reasons were being away from the snoring, bag rustling and privacy etc.
Also some didn't like the full on social side so much of an albergue. Some of us just liked being out in nature. I can relate to all those views!
It's worth remembering that not everyone's best memories of their camino is the people they meet. We all have our different reasons for doing a camino.
Although camping on the CF might seem harder as you are going through villages, built up areas etc and not national parks, there always seemed to be somewhere to camp discreetly. I don't think the locals are that bothered providing you don't leave a mess. Some people even camped in the main park nr the centre of Burgos and had no issues!
So to sum up, it's entirely possible to camp along the CF, and you might be surprised how many pilgrims are doing this. If you like camping and happy with extra weight then I'd recommend taking a tent, if only as a back up, particularly in the busy months.
If anyone missed my blog then the link is below. I did whinge a lot in it, but that's because travel writing can be awfully dull if the writer is always having an amazing time. I did have an amazing time though, so pinch of salt required if you read any of it
http://longtrails.org/caminofrances
Will be back again next summer, starting from Le Puy!
Sorry, one of my main gripes about the Camino Frances is the lack of variety in food. Portugal seems much more accepting of foreign food places!
I camped only four times in the end.
Much less than I had planned, but I don't regret carrying the 800 grams tent. Always having another option to albergues took away a lot of stress and I would do the same again.
In the end the bed pressure wasn't there and even when I did camp, there were beds available.
The places I camped were three albergues within their grounds, and one time on a piece of land with local permission.
Part of the reason I didn't wild camp more was due to it never getting dark before 10.15pm! The issue is if you finish your walking by early afternoon there is a lot of hanging around.
I met two american girls camping and they would sit around in bars until 9pm and then go find somewhere. Probably ok if you are not alone.
Commercial campsites are more expensive than albergues, the three I enquired at were all over 10 euros!
I met plenty of pilgrims who camped most nights, just spending the odd night in an albergue. Their main reasons were being away from the snoring, bag rustling and privacy etc.
Also some didn't like the full on social side so much of an albergue. Some of us just liked being out in nature. I can relate to all those views!
It's worth remembering that not everyone's best memories of their camino is the people they meet. We all have our different reasons for doing a camino.
Although camping on the CF might seem harder as you are going through villages, built up areas etc and not national parks, there always seemed to be somewhere to camp discreetly. I don't think the locals are that bothered providing you don't leave a mess. Some people even camped in the main park nr the centre of Burgos and had no issues!
So to sum up, it's entirely possible to camp along the CF, and you might be surprised how many pilgrims are doing this. If you like camping and happy with extra weight then I'd recommend taking a tent, if only as a back up, particularly in the busy months.
If anyone missed my blog then the link is below. I did whinge a lot in it, but that's because travel writing can be awfully dull if the writer is always having an amazing time. I did have an amazing time though, so pinch of salt required if you read any of it
http://longtrails.org/caminofrances
Will be back again next summer, starting from Le Puy!
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