Hi Keeley - not too sure about aeroplanes - apart from being madly polluting, they sometimes fall out of the sky you know
- and they never seem to land where you want to be - no airports near St Jean, for instance.
but! you can take the train all the way to St Jean from Leeds - take a visit to the man in seat 61 - loads of European train info on there, makes it easy peasy -
http://www.seat61.com/ considering how far it is it isn't that expensive, but, cheaper - and slower and bumpier - is to go by coach ... you may not get to St Jean but you could do the last miles by the little train that chugs in from the west coast, very pleasant - coaches here -
http://www.eurolines.co.uk/.
Getting back - well you could walk or bus back until you caught up with wherever the international coach stops, or if you wanted to fly I understand that there are very cheap flights from Santiago to the uk
Searching posts you will read all sorts of high figures for the daily cost of being on Camino but these are from people who live expensive lifestyles at home and import that lifestyle with them - SYates is absolutely right - you can do it really cheap, even much cheaper than 20 euros. The trick is - don't keep stopping at bars for coffee, etc - each time a few euros and it makes a day really expensive .. also, don't eat out in restaurants - to me the one of the great joys of being on Camino is the self-reliance, carrying what you
need with you - no one
'needs' coffee or coke, or cake, or pilgrim meals .... if you carry staples such as sausage, cheese, bread you have your lunch with you ... if you carry a small pack of wholewheat pasta or lentils all you have to do is to boil it in the refugio kitchen, slice in some cheese, olive oil, and pepper, maybe a chopped tomato - and you have a great meal - and what is wrong with eating that, or similar, every day for a few weeks? You will pass shops where you can buy tomatoes, fruit, delightful cheap treats to add interest to your meals, and if you carry some olive oil, sea-salt, and pepper - well - perfect! And if you stay at a refugio that doesn't have a kitchen, well, you have your staples and if you bought a bottle of wine that day in a shop for a couple of euros rather than in a bar for twelve - you will have a pleasant night and enough wine to share. With such real savings you will be able to join in with the occasional refugio pilgrim 'co-op' meals, where everyone puts in a few euros and folk go off and return laden with food and wine and cook something fantastic!
If you didn't mind carrying more weight you could take the fab Trangia Swedish army stove and mess kit - you can buy denatured alcohol in any chemist if you can't find methylated spirit - you can get a used one for under £10!! really cheap!! cheapest stove and kit in the world I think, though you would have to buy the little pan holders for £1.99 to tilt to pour - see the kit here -
http://www.militarymart.co.uk/index.php?_a=product&product_id=2322
then you will really be independent - and you can make your own tea or coffee wherever and whenever you want to stop - bliss!
So, as far as I am concerned, don't be stopped by having a small budget - I think being poor on Camino is a wonderful thing ... if you are called to go - you must go!
p.s. I met a young French woman on Camino some years ago. She was broke, broke in the sense of not having any money at all. She had made her own 'Camino clothes' which included a really cute green felt poncho - believe it or not she carried a piano accordian (they are heavy!) and busked all the way down, gave her enough for food and refugios .... she was having an absolutely wonderful Camino.
Buen Camino Keeley
