If you had 2 pre-teen girls and 5 days, to end at Santiago at Easter....?

[JustinNimmo]

From where would you begin walking? Sorry for the naive question.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Sarria.

 

[JustinNimmo]

Thank you!

 

[Tim Floyd]

Sarria. Nothing farther away. Sarria is easy to reach by train so it is convenient as a starting point with plenty of places to stay.

 

[daesdaemar]

Consider Camino Ingles if you'd like to do a "complete" route.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Ferrol - Camino Ingles, as above. Reached by bus from Santiago or A Coruna.
Lugo (Primitivo) joining Frances at Melide. The bus goes by Lugo for Sarria.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Consider Camino Ingles if you'd like to do a "complete" route.

Sarria is a complete route, at least for 79,718 pilgrims last year. The Camino Ingles is quite nice, but accommodation is much more limited. A group of three or more would need to do some planning and reserving (in those places that take reservations).

 

[t2andreo]

I recommend abiding by those who recommended doing the final 118 Km on the Camino Frances from Sarria. Getting there is easy and there are plenty of lodging possibilities at Sarria on the night before you start.

While this is the busiest segment of all the Camino routes, it also has the most infrastructure. So, essential things like cafes with bathrooms and available albergues will be plentiful.

To avoid crowds, just adjust you departure or arrival times to avoid others, to the extent you feel appropriate.

Hope this helps.

 

[AlwynWellington]

@JustinNimmo , are you sure you will be able to keep up with the pre-teens?

Kia kaha tatou (to all, take care, be strong, get going)

 

[Tincatinker]

Aah, thats what I like about this forum: its all warm, welcoming, encouraging, supportive, fluffy even.

So I'll just pop in the grumpy old pagan viewpoint. You want to walk into Santiago for Easter, so walk in Holy Week, when other than the festivals in July, its the busiest time of year on the last 100k or so of the caminos? You want to walk when available accommodation is under near maximum pressure and if not pre-booked already may leave you reliant on taking scratch or walking some extra km's at the end of a day?

You've not given us much to go on. How fit, how adaptable, how open to some pretty challenging exposures in crowded communal living your girls might be. But me, I wouldn't take two pre-teen girls into that environment without some experience or at least forewarned. My god-daughters in their time were pretty damn sure they didn't want to do any such thing even though, or perhaps because, most of their parents are Pilgs.

Happy planning and buen camino

 

[Mark McCarthy]

There are direct trains from Madrid to Sarria.